Reports - Essex
Beacon Hill Fort
Where? Harwich, Essex. Photos 43. Comments 9. Posted 12 August 2006.
Beacon Hill Fort is one of three defences on the estruary of the River Orwell. One is at Felixstowe, and the other at Shotley.
Harwich has had a long naval history, with something at Beacon Hill since at least Henry VIII's time. Much of the fort was built in the 1890's, and used a novel idea of camoflaging it with the landscape. It was extended during WWII. It finally closed in 1956, but military presence continued until the 1970's. Since then it has deteriorated and suffered at the hands of local vandals.
That's a very very brief history of the place - SubBrit has an excellent piece about it.
Beacon Hill Fort revisited
Where? Harwich, Essex. Photos 17. Comments 1. Posted 1 October 2006.
Had a very short visit to Beacon Hill again - this time to venture into the underground areas. Armed with a ton of torches, the trip was successful...
Colchester Hospitals
Where? Colchester, Essex. Photos 14. Comments 2. Posted 3 September 2006.
Colchester is quite a hotspot for closed hospitals. Apart from Severalls, there are at least two more...
ColDock
Where? Colchester, Essex. Photos 23. Comments 3. Posted 25 August 2006.
Colchester has a few old derelict buildings in it's Hythe region. A lot of them have been demolished to make way for luxury(/student?) flats, but a few remain.
Epping Forest District Council Emergency Bunker
Where? North Weald. Photos 29. Comments 1. Posted 25 February 2007.
This bunker was used by the nearby airfield and used as an operations room. During the 1980's, the local council took the bunker over and used it as an emergency centre.
As always, SubBrit has an excellent piece explaining what this place was for, and shows some interesting pre-fire photos.
Read full Epping Forest District Council Emergency Bunker article here
North Weald Redoubt
Where? North Weald, Essex. Photos 29. Comments 13. Posted 25 February 2007.
The Redoubt / Mobilisation Centre at North Weald was built at the end of the 19th century. It was one of several built to provide ammuntion to protect London if war ever broke out.
ROC posts - Fordham, Parsons Drove & Rainham
Where? Essex and Cambridgeshire. Photos 31. Comments 1. Posted 5 August 2007.
Several failry good ROC posts were visited during July. Here's a quick round up...
Read full ROC posts - Fordham, Parsons Drove & Rainham article here
Runwell Hospital
Where? Chelmesford, Essex. Photos 12. Comments 11. Posted 14 November 2006.
Sooo, with about 20 explores under the belt with no real problems, it's about time I had a bad one...
I recently paid a little visit to the hospital at Runwell, near Chelmsford, with Speed. Our first thoughts upon arriving were "this looks quite active". It was. We waited for the security guy to walk off on his rounds, and then we went for a little walk around the place. There were several old buildings but the were all very well boarded up.
There was one "compound" of closed buildings, but bang in the middle of them was a security hut. The other security gaurd-ette was cleaning her car. She was a total jobsworth. And she busted us as we were leaving. 
Luckily Mr Two-Cameras pretended to delete the photos from the camera he wasn't using. Haha.
Actually, I'm not sure why I'm laughing. The very few pics I got aren't very interesting
Severalls Asylum
Where? Colchester, Essex. Photos 82. Comments 8. Posted 3 September 2006.
Severalls Asylum was built in 1913. It closed in the late 1990s. In it's heyday it housed 2000 patients; some of which were used in experimental medical tests/operations.
Recently it has been sold for redevelopment. Apparently the whole site is to be demolished. I thought I should go for a quick (4 hour) look...
Severalls Asylum - Myland Court
Where? Colchester, Essex. Photos 30. Comments 5. Posted 1 October 2006.
Went back to Severalls. The last visit barely scratched the surface! Also took my tripod this time - cue better pictures inside.
Or so I imagined.
Sadly we didn't get to the main complex, so we settled on exploring Myland Court. In the past this building housed a mother & baby unit, an occupational therapy department, and an E.C.T clinic..
Severalls Asylum again
Where? Colchester, Essex. Photos 46. Comments 6. Posted 10 December 2006.
On previous visits to Severalls I always managed to miss some things - like upstairs, cells and the morgue. Today I made another trip there to see these things... with success 
Also met up with about 10 other members of 28DL which was quite fun!
Severalls Asylum revisited
Where? Colchester, Essex. Photos 67. Comments 9. Posted 30 October 2006.
A return visit to Severalls Asylum was on the cards after last month's slightly short trip. Went back with Abo for quite a successful little trip.
