Fails of the Urban Explorer: Burnley and Bacup

Sometimes one doesn’t get into Urbex locations due to them being ‘sealed’. It doesn’t stop me from having a nosey around and taking some snaps.

I always like to do a little research and find out how long they have been empty, why they were abandoned (usually not possible) and any history.

Woodside Infant School

Closed in 2000, and now sealed up tightly.

I wasn’t exactly expecting to gain entrance to this Grade II listed building and I can’t find any info on when it was built other than some extra work done to it in 1873.

It now belongs to the local council after the fools bought it for £300,000 in 2009.

There’s a free to use snap of the school sometime in the 19th century (below).

Source

Caveman managed to get in years ago, so you can see what it used to look like inside here

Walking around the circumference of the school I now find it has a double layer of anti-climbing fencing erected and little points of entry.

I technically came alone with @bingbabe waiting around in the car (she’s my bad luck charm when doing Urbex).

…’The sign says, ‘Warning fragile roof’, oh really…? I would never have guessed!'...

There was one place I could have vaulted over the fencing by way of a friendly wall being there to help out.

Retreat would have been more difficult as the wall was not present on the other side, which would have meant I now lived on the school grounds permanently.

Someone very skinny had crawled under this part and mangled the fence beyond. I’m not skinny enough these days to take on such activities.

Broadwater Hall

This one was a drive-by, a screech of the brakes, get out and have a look around. It was a community centre and closed in 2015

Source

It did look like this once. Some places I would really like to see demolished and these old buildings built in the 1960s are right up there.

3 years later and this building is very tightly sealed. I walked all the way around it and found no entrance ways whatsoever.

…’You can get on the roof but even the windows up there have those silver mesh things covering them’…

...'No parking my arse! Lots of spaces but nobody wants to park there anymore'...

These buildings remind me of when I was a kid; ugly horrible and full of smoking beer, swilling blokes who spend all their money on shit that they shouldn't. It should be pulled down and why it's still there beats me.

Waterside Mill

Just a few yards further toward the town of Bacup and another screech of the brakes. It’s like every few yards there’s some run down boarded up place.

When I do a little research it’s always the same. There was a fire, this time in 2003. It’s been rotting away ever since and there are plans to demolish it and rebuild houses.

It may happen but the local councils take around 15 years to decide such complicated matters and that leaves the like of yours truly free to have a look around before they are gone forever.

On the face of it, it looked like I could gain access but there were many bars added to the lower windows. I could peek inside and see the mess within.

Spiders have taken up residence and provide me with some interesting photography.

Is this a way in; balance on the wood; spike your feet and jump? Not for me, too energetic for my liking thanks.

They have erected some scaffolding probably because its in danger of collapsing. I noticed support pipes inside too while looking through a barred window.

…'This path has gotten a little overgrown and it's right next to a domestic property. Yet it looks un-trodden for years'…

This particular day we looked at NINE potential Urbex locations and managed to gain access to ZERO. Talks about fails! I’ll post the rest of them in a future post.