Urbexplore
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Rock Nook Mill - Lancashire | 02/15
I decided to pass the task of writing a report onto one of the other guys this time so I hope it's readable!
I decided to pass the task of writing a report onto one of the other guys this time so I hope it's readable!
On getting out of the car and making our way towards this site, we were hit by an array of old buildings of varying size and shape, all made for the same original purpose - fabric manufacturing. This particular area of Lancashire was a prime location for cotton mills and the fabric industry, which has since subsided, leaving many abandoned mills for us to discover.
This particular abandoned mill was well locked down, it had spiked metal fences extending round the perimeter as well as each window and door being both boarded up and fenced off. This made our entry very difficult. With no weak links in the fencing and no broken walls or windows we decided to follow the fence all the way up one side of the mill. We eventually got to the end of the fence near a public walking pathway. There was a very tight gap between the end of the metal fence and the start of the wooden fence that made its way down the side of the public path, so we decided this would be our entry point. One thing that made this entry especially dangerous was that we were on a hill top, at the same height as the 2nd floor of the mill. This meant scaling along a steep drop on the other side of the fencing, digging our hands and feet into the wall face to keep hold. We then approached a ledge that was adjoined to the mill. Luckily the mill had many windows along every side of the building, most of which were broken. This meant we could easily slip into the mill though a broken window.
As we set foot in the mill for the first time, something became immediately obvious. The floor was unstable. Concerns were raised about the state of the floor, and although it was concrete there were holes present. This usually wouldn't put us off as unstable floors and ceilings contribute to the thrill of urbexploring. However when we looked through these holes down through 3 floors towards the basement we couldn't help but second guess whether this was a great idea. We pursued on though. The mill was filled with concrete pillars, old machinery and employee rooms. We made our way to one end of this floor and entered what appeared to be the staff toilets. To no surprise there was nothing of interest in the toilets so we attempted to back out when suddenly we heard a bang from the area where we had entered. We stood perched on broken glass from a nearby toilet mirror, trying not to move and make any sound by crunching it. Another 10 seconds passed and again a loud bang. Then again 3 more times. We decided it would be best to move out of the toilets to not leave ourselves trapped in a small space in case we were being followed by homeless people (again!). We very slowly creeped towards the noise - which was coming from an empty managerial office on the other side of the mill. That was when we saw the cause of our upset. A broken window was allowing the wind to smash some metal blinds against the windowsill. Disaster averted. It's no wonder we were all on such high alert after our recent encounter in the hospital.
The exploration carried on however, we delved down further, exploring each floor as we went. We hurdled over some desks and chairs that were blocking the stairwell to enter the basement. We came upon some scaffolding that was stopping our descent to the basement. The scaffolding was 25 feet off of the ground and made of rotting wood. We had a little chat about the risks involved in walking across wet, rotting wood but again decided to press on. We entered the basement, which was pitch black. So we relied on our torches to guide us through the dark. This area of the mill looks like it was used for storage of goods, it was filled with big corrugated doors for trucks to back up to and weighing scales that still worked. The basement was at ground level and located close to a road which meant we had to keep a low profile to avoid making noise and alerting anyone to our presence.
We made our way back up to the entrance, avoiding holes in the scaffolding as we went. The mill was all round a very interesting and intense find. Vandals have unfortunately made their way in and left some of the building graffitied but further into the mill it was more and more pure, still retaining that feeling of recent abandonment and giving us the buzz we get every time we go urbexploring.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPhvBduCeWM[/ame]
Hope you enjoyed this report guys, more to come soon!
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