Derelict Miscellany: Ten Year Retrospective
Page Updated: November 2014
DerelictMisc started in November 2004 under the banner of "Derelict Horsham" — a website which sought to document derelict and abandoned places in my hometown. In those days, urban exploration was still new and exciting, media attention for the subject was practically non-existent and the number of UrbEx websites numbered no more than ten or twenty.
I began by photographing small sites: pillboxes, ruined barns, demolition sites in town. Horsham was in the midst of a major redevelopment and new housing threatened to swallow vast swathes of the surrounding countryside. Recording the disappearing relics of the old Horsham became something of an obsession: every weekend, half-day and lunchbreak consumed with directionless wanderings in search of abandoned or transitional spaces.
Soon, with the aid of a map and my trusty bicycle, I began visiting larger sites: a disused station, secret bunkers and even a brooding gothic mansion. Inevitably I also widened my search geographically and so in January 2005 the present Derelict Miscellany was born.
Since then, I have explored hundreds of sites, of which more than fifty are written up here. These include twelve factories, eleven churches, six hospitals, five country houses, a graveyard of fighter jets and Wales' last lead mine.
This gallery displays some of my older photographs which no longer have their own pages (many pages were lost due to a hard drive failure in 2007).
Row I, L-R: [1]. Demolished building, Denne Parade, Horsham, 2004; [2]. Forestry Commission Ranger Station, St. Leonard's Forest, 2005; [3–4]. The Nook, Dorking Hospital Nurses' Home, shortly before demolition in 2005.
Row II, L-R: [1]. Dorking Hospital redevelopment, 2005; [2]. Auclaye Brickworks, Capel, 2005; [3]. The webmaster explores, 2005; [4]. Fulfords Farm, Itchingfield, 2004 (being redeveloped in 2014).
Row III, L-R: [1]. Lower Lodge, Netherne Hospital (demolished c2006); [2]. The webmaster at Netherne, 2005; [3]. Netherne Hospital Recreation Hall, 2005; [4]. Graylands Farm, Warnham, 2004 (now converted to housing).
Row IV, L-R: [1]. Fox skull, Scott's Barn, Warnham, 2006; [2]. Bathtub and shed, Lampeter, 2005; [3]. Netherne Hospital, 2005; [4]. Abattoir/angling shop behind Springfield Road, Horsham, 2004 (demolished c.2007).
Row V, L-R: [1]. Farm machinery at Broadbridge Heath, 2005; [2]. Fairlight Cove, 2005; [3]. Sports pavilion, Graylands Estate, Warnham, 2006; [4]. Derelict allotments, Rushams Road area, Horsham, 2004.
Row VI, L-R: [1]. Horsham Yard weighbridge, 2006; [2]. Crane at Horsham Yard, 2005 (removed shortly after); [3]. Sedgwick Park, 2005; [4]. Brighton Road Baptist Church, Horsham (demolished c.2006).
Row VII, L-R: [1]. Broadbridge Farm, Broadbridge Heath, 2005 (now converted to housing); [2]. Ockley Brickworks, 2005; [3]. Brains, 2005; [4]. Graylands Farm, Warnham, 2004 (now converted to housing).
A note on image quality: My first digital camera, the Sony Mavica MVC-FD75, was a formidable beast: weighing in at 1lb 5oz with an impressive 0.35 megapixels, it recorded 640×480 images to a 3½" floppy diskette with a series of unpleasant grinding noises. Many of the photos I took with it were resized for dial-up internet speeds and the originals have subsequently been lost. The average size of these images is therefore 448×336 and many have suffered from JPEG deterioration. Nonetheless, many of the places shown have now disappeared or changed beyond recognition and as such the images cannot be recreated. I present them here as a record of the early days of my exploring, between 2004 and 2006.