Corrie and Sannox are two villages next to each other on the Northeast coast of the island – the mines aren’t linked, though. The first one I explored was the limestone mine above Corrie. The mine follows a seam down at about 45 degrees, with several entrances. Continue Reading
Built in 1961, the British Gas Westfield Development Centre was a gasification plant to produce gas from coal – up until 1974 it was producing 20% of Scotland’s gas.
The Hydro is Glasgow’s latest new big construction – it’s going to be a concert venue, and also play host to a bunch of Commonwealth Games events. It’s not finished yet, but I’ve been visiting the site for a while now, so it seems time for a report. Continue Reading
Ruchill Hospital’s imposing red sandstone and brick water tower has loomed over north Glasgow for 120 years – most of the rest of the hospital has been demolished, but Scottish Enterprise are saving the A-listed tower. Continue Reading
When Diageo closed down the Johnnie Walker distillery in Glasgow, I was in there like a shot, but when the bottling plant in Kilmarnock closed a bit later it was a trickier nut to crack – I had several goes around the beginning of the year, and got into a few bits of it, but it was very secure with loads of CCTV, 3-4 guards and even those infrared barrier things. Not fun. Continue Reading
Birkwood House started as a Georgian villa built at the end of the 18th Century for the Mackirdy family. The original villa was surrounded on two sides by later larger additions in 1858, and a large front addition by James Thomson in 1890. The house was bought by Lanarkshire Council in 1920 to use as a hospital for children, and it remained a hospital until 2005. Continue Reading
Just some forgotten pictures from the last trip to Caldwell’s Paper Mill in Inverkeithing before it was demolished.
St Mary’s College in Bangor was founded in 1893 as a women’s teacher training college, the main buildings here were built in 1905. The college merged with the University of Bangor in 1977 and the college, now called St Mary’s Site, was mostly used for accommodation until it was closed in 2008. Continue Reading
Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital is a lovely old Victorian hospital, and is a real mish-mash of uses and buildings – some parts are almost cottage hospital like, some parts are traditional corridors-and-wards, and there are also some brand new high tech buildings. The main Victorian bit – the general hospital – closed at the beginning of the year.
This is the organ of Glasgow University Chapel – the same chapel I explored the roof of recently. This was a visit by invitation. Continue Reading
