During my years of exploring I have been lucky enough to see dozens and dozens of industrial sites and former factories in all sorts of states of repair and dereliction. They are my favourite subject matter to shoot as there is so much variety to be found, I am happy wandering around a ruined factory that most people would probably turn their noses up at and pass on.

Granted, on their own these places aren't much to look at and wouldn't be worthy of a thread to themselves. But seeing as I'm having a rubbish year for exploring so far and am getting thoroughly itchy feet wanting to get back to the States again here I present a totally mixed bag selection of the smaller, or more ruined (or both!) factories I have had the pleasure to wander around. They are kind of in a backwards chronological order starting with my most recent and getting older.

Rains Mill - Former carpet mill, mostly converted save for the oldest part. Most recently had the lower floors used as a car workshop.

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Publishing Press - Required a massive amount of effort to get into for comparatively little reward.

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Estate Water Tower - Quite the enigma, it once serviced a large estate built nearby but has since been abandoned and sits alone in some woods surrounded by trees.

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Prospector Mill - Found by accident while driving to an overnight hotel, pretty ruined and as it had been subdivided into units after closing as a mill I could only access a few areas as most were closed off from one another.

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Brewery C - Long abandoned brewery nestled in a Belgian backwater.

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Ruined Factory - To this day I still know nothing about this place in Belgium. It was so far gone I don't have any clue what they manufactured but it could have been an old foundry-type place.

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Gieterij Vuylsteke Foundry - Another Belgian foundry, demolished a few years back now. Visited in the middle of a major storm with no tripod, so my photos came out majorly awful for the most part.

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Viyella Works - Former clothing manufacturer, only one tiny part of a massive mill complex was empty which is still to this day one of the biggest disappointments I've felt looking at the outside of a place compared to the inside. The whole place was demolished a couple of years ago.

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I'll stop there or else this will be one massive thread!

Nice mix of spots.
Seems as if you guys have so much over there compared to the U.S. I could be wrong, though.

Posted by relik Nice mix of spots. Seems as if you guys have so much over there compared to the U.S. I could be wrong, though.

It depends what you're after. We have a massive amount of derelict industry and military sites over here but comparatively few hospitals and asylum-type places. Of course it helps that the land mass is so much smaller in the UK, so things are more concentrated and easier to get to.

Dude, man, bro... That was fucking beautiful!

Some really good locations here. I don't think you're giving them enough credit!
I really like the last one of the Estate Water Tower. Looks like something from Jurassic Park. The ruined foundry is pretty neat as well, even though it seems pretty gutted. I'm just a sucker for the light coming through the roofs of industrial buildings.

This might sound crazy, but, i like all the shots with Red accents. Really draws my eye to them...Like the RED door and brick in first shot. Red boxes in 13, Red circular opening in 16 and so on. My fave otherwise is 23, hands down!!

Thanks guys and girls, I've got so many of these places I should really do a 'Part 2'. Lots of stuff that wouldn't see the light of day otherwise.