Daredevils whose Everest is an abandoned asylum
The latest craze is to explore derelict, forbidden relics of our past, Gillian Harris hears why
AT TWILIGHT the Gothic towers of an abandoned hospital loom like a haunted house. But the shadowy figures flitting along crumbling corridors are not ghosts, they are self-styled agents of a secretive undergound movement.
The six men who scaled a wrought iron fence and crawled in through a broken window call themselves urban explorers. Their quest is to infiltrate every forbidden corner of the land.
The intrepid adventurers climb bridges, explore disused factories and slither through dank sewers for the thrill of inspecting a hidden piece of the urban landscape. Trespass is their hobby and the more razor wire, warning signs and locked gates they encounter the more daring the challenge.
Trekking in the Andes or conquering Mount Everest hold no appeal for urban explorers who prefer obscure sites closer to home: an underground river beneath Croydon, derelict Tube stations or a network of tin mines in Cornwall.
“You get a chance to discover places where no one has set foot for maybe 50 years. These secret places exist all over the country but most people don’t even realise they are there or give them a second glance,” said Steve Higgins, 23, from Ilminster, Somerset.
Armed with torches and cameras to record each mission, Britain’s urban explorers live out their fantasies after dark. They convene at an arranged point and waste no time in entering their chosen site. Loitering or looking shifty attracts attention and urban explorers like to operate under the radar. Depending on the location, some wear suits and carry “credibility props” such as a briefcase or clipboard.
One veteran explorer, who goes by the name Laughing Boy, insists that a smart suit, purposeful stride and confident manner have allowed him to bypass security in most city buildings. Another tip he shares is that a significant number of alarmed doors are in fact disconnected. “There is always a moment of sheer terror when you turn the handle and wait for the alarm to go off but four times out of five, it doesn’t,” he said.
Often the problem is not security staff but curious passers-by who see a flickering torch beam or catch a glimpse of someone slipping over a wall. “Busybodies are the worst,” Laughing Boy said. “They are the ones who get us into trouble.”
The aim of any urban explorer is not to get caught, but those who do often find that professing an interest in urban archaeology or history can convince police or security guards that the escapade was harmless.
The explorers — or creepers are they are sometimes known — have the motto “We don’t take anything but photographs and leave nothing but footprints”. According to the unwritten rules, agents do not deface sites or steal mementoes but simply record what they see.
The excitement lies in the unknown. Another devotee, whose nickname is Milo, remembers creeping up a rotting wooden staircase in an abandoned mental asylum in London at the dead of night. “It was pitch dark and my torch was making weird shadows on the wall. I could feel the spirits of the poor people who were locked up in here. It was very creepy but it made me feel good to have been there and seen it for myself,” he said.
Urban exploration missions are planned in secret with the details and photographs only released after the explorers have got in and out safely. Many of the expeditions involve clambering around unsafe buildings, but the elements of danger and risk add to the adventure. Few explorers wear hard hats or other protective clothing. Getting wet and dirty is part of the experience.
Members communicate via the internet where there are dozens of websites dedicated to a cultural phenomenon which is kept hidden from view.
The infiltration movement began in the late 1970s in San Francisco with the San Francisco Suicide Club which carried out daredevil expeditions. It spread across the United States where there are now thousands of urban explorer clubs holding monthly meetings and publishing magazines about their exploits.
In Britain there are probably fewer than 900 devotees taking part in regular missions. Hotspots include London, Wiltshire and Kent, where Second World War underground bunkers and disused railway tunnels are a favourite haunt.
But in some city centres derelict buildings have become impenetrable fortresses. Battles, a retired urban explorer from Edinburgh, blames developers who have introduced increased security around old buildings, making it impossible for trespassers to sneak inside.
“Urban exploration in Edinburgh is, as far as I can tell, off the menu thanks to the developers who are munching their way through the city. It’s easy to understand that they would wish to protect their investment and that urban explorers are not their worry but the value of these properties means that it’s worth investing a fortune in security,” he said.
But for the hardcore explorers there is always a way. Evading CCTV or clambering over a barbed wire fence adds to the sense that they are taking part in a clandestine operation. Most urban explorers are frustrated spies.
“It’s about getting away with something that you’re not supposed to and going to places no one wants you to go. It’s liberating,” Laughing Boy said.
FAVOURITE HAUNTS
Cane Hill Hospital, London
Rambling mental asylum in Coulsdon built in 1883 and closed in 1988. Favourite spot for urban explorers because of its size and variety of outbuildings, including a water tower and boiler house chimney
River Wandle, Croydon
Underground river that runs beneath Croydon accessible through a narrow navigable tunnel. Begins as a small stream in the North Downs. Dangerous after heavy rain
Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital, Maidenhead, Berkshire
Built in the grounds of Cliveden under the patronage of the Astor family to provide medical care and recuperation for servicemen of both World Wars. Closed in 1985, having become a leading establishment for research into children’s diseases
Down Street Underground station
Disused station between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park on the Piccadilly Line, closed May 1932. Station used as a shelter by the War Cabinet at outbreak of the Second World War until the better known Cabinet War Rooms were built in Whitehall
Greenwich District Hospital, London
An 800-bed hospital on eight acres. Closed in 2001, but the main building and wards are still standing
|
|
'It's like playing on building sites'
By Simon de Bruxelles
THROUGH sheeting rain, Steve Higgins struggles over piles of rusting metal in a wooded gully nicknamed Ammo Case Alley.
Just over the ridge lies a muddy slope which leads down to the secret entrance to his destination, a warren of underground passages and tunnels carved by long-dead quarrymen.
North Wiltshire is a magnet for self-styled urban explorers like Mr Higgins. The tunnels and quarries were used to store tens of thousands of tonnes of ammunition during the Second World War. Beneath the gently rolling hills between Bath and Corsham lie more than 200 acres of an underground world that most of those who live above it are barely aware of.
Mr Higgins’s destination is Brown’s Folly mine, an underground quarry that supplied much of the honey-coloured stone with which Bath was built. The long-abandoned mine workings near the village of Monkton Farleigh are a maze that has fascinated him since he first discovered it two years ago.
Until recently access was relatively easy through one of the many narrow entrances that emerge from the rocky outcrop beneath the 19th-century tower that gives the mine its name.
Since then most of the openings have been barred to deter intruders who might disturb the bats living in its dank tunnels. But Mr Higgins knows another way in, bypassing both the bats and iron gates, and has explored most of the long-abandoned workings.
His expeditions are meticulously recorded using a digital camera and then logged on his internet website for other urban explorers to read.
It was thanks to the internet that the 23-year-old supermarket worker realised he was part of one of the fastest growing underground activities in Britain.
He said: “I started posting pictures on my website and other people with similar interests began to make contact. Now we have a group that meets regularly to explore new places.”
Mr Higgins admits that a large part of the attraction is visiting places other people do not want them to go. He said: “It’s like playing on building sites when you’re a kid. You’re not supposed to do it but it’s fun, so you do it anyway.
“My interest is in exploring underground but I also like old mental hospitals because they are spooky and have great atmosphere.”
He added: “We usually meet up a couple of times a week to go exploring. There are a lot of places still to be discovered.”
|
