Tag: Manchester
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#671 – Astley Green revisited 3
A (belated) last photograph from Astley Green, maybe slightly influenced by the street photographer Saul Leiter. OK, very influenced – my influences are many and diverse, although there’s no evidence of Leiter ever taking a photograph of a coal mine! This was very much a chance photograph – I’d finished looking round and had retired…
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#670 – Astley Green revisited 2
June 2024 saw a lot of changeable weather, and the day i visited alternated between sunshine and blue skies and dark clouds and rain. I’d taken a few photos of the headgear with an old railway crane in the foreground, as I liked the way the lattice structure on the boom complimented the lattice structure…
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#669 – Astley Green revisited 1
Astley Green Colliery – a geographical ambiguity. Saying it’s in Wigan will trigger the locals into fits of raging denial. While it doesn’t actually sit in the town of Wigan, it sits within the borough of Wigan, specifically Astley Green which comes under Tyldesley. The site is leased from Wigan Council, and if you’re travelling…
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#628 – Talbot Mill, Manchester 2
As I often do, I’ve inverted this reflection because, well it just works better this way in my opinion. I like the way the texture of the fluffy clouds gives way to the lumpy asphalt. This was taken on my phone, the grittiness of the puddle and the textures elsewhere make up for some of…
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#627 – Talbot Mill, Manchester 1
As of the time of writing (November 2023), there are very few mills and warehouses around city centre Manchester that haven’t been renovated or pulled down. Medlock Mill is I think the only one left within the ring road (Chatham Mill potentially but seems to have had some internal refurbishment), but just beyond it is…
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#626 – DOT Motorcycles factory, Manchester 2
A few reflections as I seem to be in that groove of late. I’m in two minds about how to present these reflections. The natural way i.e. as photographed is fine, but when you see it inverted it makes more sense as you can see what it is. But then you are tempted to read…
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#625 – DOT Motorcycles factory, Manchester 1
The old DOT Motorcycles factory stands on Ellesmere Street, just off the Mancunian Way. I must have driven past this place countless times and never noticed it which is slightly embarrassing given my ability to spot old mills and industrial buildings from hundreds of metres away, often at great speed. It was once the home…
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#613 – Manchester – A Strange Survivor From The Past
Much of Manchester’s industrial past is exactly that – in the past. For better or worse, there is less and less evidence that it was a major industrial city and the skyline is now one of shimmering glass towers. I did think that the only remaining chimney was at Bloom Street power station, itself now…
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#565 – Astley Green Colliery 1
Astley Green Colliery is only a 30 minute drive down the M61 from me, but I’ve not been since 2012, so I decided that my first post-lockdown jaunt would be for a quick look. As of the time of the visit (June 27th 2020), the place hadn’t yet reopened for visitors, but that was fine…
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#551 – Review of the decade – 2019
As per the last few years, 2019 saw no urbex and a continuing focus on the industrial and urban landscape. After several years of waiting for a drone with the spec I wanted at the right price I finally took the plunge and bought a DJI Mavic Pro 2 and it’s seen a bit of…
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#550 – Review of the decade – 2018
A most productive year, with a revisit to Redcar, some abandonment – albeit explored with permission – and more experimentation with long exposures. Pincroft Dyers – January 2018 I live at the other end of Chorley to this Dyeworks, pretty much the last remnant of Chorley’s textile industry that is still in use. It’s in…
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#520 – Hotspur Press Again
A few more of Hotspur Press in Manchester, this time taken with a proper camera! As I was visiting Manchester anyway, I thought I’d park in the multi storey car park behind as it would allow me to get a different perspective on the place. I wanted to capture the contrast between the new and…
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#519 – Manchester – English Steel, Armstrong Whitworth and a railway line to nowhere…..
Looking north to Ashton Old Road and the site of the old North Street Works This is Redby Street in Manchester, a short insignificant street in the Openshaw district. It connects Ashton Old Road and Whitworth Street and is surrounded by wasteland. There doesn’t seem to be that much in Openshaw these days, but at…
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#516 – Hotspur Press
Medlock Mill, aka Hotspur Press has been on my radar for some time but has never been a priority and I always forget to take a look when I’m in Manchester. I finally remembered when I was in the area but only had my IPhone and not much time, so it’s another one to add…
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#503 – 500 Post Retrospective No.3 – Mills
The mills of the north of England have held a lifelong fascination for me. Growing up in Bolton in the 1980’s meant that the towns industrial heyday had long passed and while there were still plenty of mills around, hardly any were still spinning cotton and with every passing year, more and more mills were…
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#501 – 500 Post Retrospective No.2 – More Urbex
Urbex has always been a means to an end, rather than an end in itself for me. My interest is in the industrial landscape which is why the overwhelming majority of the places I’ve seen have been industrial with the odd non-industrial place thrown in because the opportunity presented itself. I make no apologies for…
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#487 – Manchester Mayfield Station 2
After closure, the site remained in Railway ownership and has been used as a location for numerous TV series. In 2005 it was hit by a fire, and in 2013 the majority of the huge roof structure was removed due to it being unsafe. A small section of framework was kept in place, probably to…
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#486 – Manchester Mayfield Station 1
Manchester Mayfield Railway Station (NOT ‘train station’ please, we’re not in America), is the largest derelict space in Manchester, a remarkable feat given that it’s been abandoned for over 30 years. It’s even more remarkable when you consider the extraordinary amount of development that has happened in Manchester since the infamous bomb in 1996. Mind…
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#470 – Best of 2016 part 3
So a (belated) third part to my 2016 retrospective continues with a quick look at Mutual Mills in Heywood – not an explore, more a drive by as I was in the area. I’ve a few more from the Manchester area that I’ve not yet got round to posting up – I’ll put these up some…
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#469 – Best of 2016 Part 2
The early year tour of mills in monochrome, came to a shuddering halt when I was approached by a PR company to do an urbex style shoot using the new Samsung Galaxy S7. London Road Fire Station in Manchester was the first location, a magnificent late Victorian building that was last used in the 90’s,…
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#463 – English Fine Cottons – a tour of Tower Mill
If, on the off-chance you’re a regular reader of this blog, you might recall me mentioning on a number of occasions that the only things made in Manchester these days are cornflakes and Coronation Street. I’m only half joking here – large scale manufacturing has been decimated while new industries such as media have prospered.…
Mechanical Landscapes 