September 2009
Monthly ArchivesPunuk Islands: The Graveyard of the Bering Sea
There’s something deeply unsettling about an isolated cluster of islands that is also a natural graveyard. But thanks to the strong Bering Sea currents, the Punuk Islands have become the final resting place of both man and beast.
The Abandoned City of Pripyat
As seen in this earlier post, there are numerous reasons why settlements become deserted and are reduced to ghost towns. Depletion of natural resources, surplus industry and lawlessness have all contributed to settlers uprooting themselves and their families and moving on. But sometimes disasters on an unprecedented scale can lead to larger urban areas – even whole cities – being abandoned.
Abandoned Stilt Village of Ukivok
The abandoned village of Ukivok clings precariously to the edge of a cliff in one of the most bleak and inhospitable corners of the world.
Little John’s Grave and the Robin Hood Connection
The Peak District in Northern England is an ancient landscape steeped in myth and legend, none more enduring than that of Robin Hood. Robin’s friend Little John appears alongside him in early accounts dating from 1420 to 1440, and a headstone in Hathersage churchyard is even marked with his name.
Images of Abandoned RAF Binbrook
For those who enjoyed the article several days ago about the former RAF base at Binbrook and the associated mystery that surrounds it, here are some photographs of the disused base, taken yesterday! While the base is now a trading estate, most of the buildings remain intact and in a state of utter disrepair. Small … Continue Reading
The Land Time Forgot: Sheffield General Cemetery
Since its closure in 1978, Sheffield’s General Cemetery has become a tangled exhibition of plants and undergrowth. Coveted by urban explorers, the final resting place of 87,000 people is ironically now a tranquil haven where plant and animal life blossoms.
Deserted Wartime Airfields and Bases of the UK
The UK is littered with deserted air bases, lonely yet poignant reminders of a time when Europe was torn apart by war. Even today their giant forms can still be seen from the air, hiding in the long grass of rural Britain.
Oxford Malmaison: From Dingy Medieval Prison to Luxury Hotel
This former prison must be one of the most imaginative British hotel conversions – and certainly the first to be developed from Her Majesty’s Pleasure! Oxford Castle, now a Malmaison, was originally built as a Norman fortress in 1071, during the reign of William the Conqueror.
Titanic Yard: The World’s Most Famous (Abandoned) Slipway
RMS Titanic is without doubt the most famous ocean liner in history and most of us know how the story of its sinking. But less well known are its origins, and that Titanic began life on a now sorry-looking concrete slipway in a Belfast shipyard.
Brutalism: Love It or Hate It
Brutalist architecture gained momentum in the United Kingdom from 1950s to the mid 1970s, emerging from the modernist architectural movement. The English architects Alison and Peter Smithson coined the term in 1954, from the French béton brut, or “raw concrete”.