A duty to the derelict

I thought we’d have a change for this week’s pictures from the past feature. I’ve long had an interest in urbex, or urban exploration – there are links to some of my favourite urbex sites in the sidebar – but don’t really have time to keep up with it as I should. The general idea of such explorations is that without causing damage, or breaking and entering, one enters a derelict site and records it photographically. Most often, this is trespass, but through great sites like Simon Cornwell’s superlative urbex|uk, the almost heart-wrenchingly raw Mechanised and forums like 28dayslater, this odd hobby has become a creative and social phenomena.

During my regular searches for Brownhills material, I often come upon odd urbex missions in the locality on forums and photo sites, so I thought I’d share some this week and see what they stir up. This fantastic set of the former Deakin Avenue maisonettes prior to demolition was posted on the Midlands Heritage forum by user Chedd in December, 2008.

User Dweeb on 28dayslater  explored the former Wagon Automotive site in Brownhills, before it was redeveloped into the new council depot. Sadly, many of the photos are now missing, but there are some interesting ones there:

Also from Chedd, on Midlands Heritage, The Potters Clay & Coal Company, Swan Works, Brownhills: