Blairs Theatre

Been trying for almost 7 months to see this little Theatre in Aberdeenshire, on probably the 10th visit here, the door was open.  The Theatre is part of Blairs College / Seminary and has sat unused since the late 80's and surprisingly there is quite a lot of items left inside.

Luckily the theatre has been fairly well sealed, protecting it from the elements, however on this visit it was mighty cold inside!  From the outside the building does not look very promising, but the treasure lies within!  For being such a small theatre there is a real sense of drama inside.  The architecture inside is not of a grandeur style, a simplistic style with the red cloth seats and domed ceiling give it a excellent setting to explore!

It was re-modelled in 1827 by John Gall, under the supervision of Rev Gordon and John Menzies.  John Menzies was a very wealthy Catholic Laird who gifted the land for the college construction.  The Older Seminary is situated behind the very impressive new college which is partly used as a museum.

Blairs Theatre




Fire exit with a nasty rotten floor!


Theatre stalls




The Stage








Quite a few music accessories left behind.






No Seminary explore is complete without a picutre of the one they call their saviour!


Think the bottom one is pretty good!




Not a proper explore without a piano in the corner.


Loved this domed ceiling!

Hartwood Nurses Home - Oct 2012

In the early hours on a very wet, cold and miserable day myself and 2 friends found our way inside this impressive building.  It was still too dark to actually see with out torches, so effectively had to sit and wait for the beginnings of sunlight too appear.

The Category C listed Hartwood Hospital Nurses Home was designed by Glasgow Architect James Lochhead in 1926. It was designed to blend in with the 1890's Baronial style Hartwood Mental Hospital, located on the not far from this site.  Originally built as Nurses Accommodation for the Hartwood Nursing staff, it was finally opened in 1931.

In 1974, the Scottish Western Region's Hartwood School of Nursing was based here and trained the vast majority of nurses, who then initially practiced in the area.

It was latterly home to the Bell College of Technology School of Nursing and Midwifery. The building was officially vacated in 1996.

After hiding out on the 4th floor, this was our first view as the sun began to come up




A couple of the top floor corridors, they are massively long




Typical bedroom of the nurses


The stairs are some of the most impressive I've seen!




Ground Floor Corridor, this area was pretty much completely trashed, awesome!


I think this is one of the many classrooms


Another awesome set of stairs with the added bonus of dereliction!


I think this was once the Lounge / Sitting Area to the front of the building


The former Library


Main hall complete with mini stage


Couple shots of the front elevation, its was still heaving down with rain so this was the best I could do.


The impressive towers in the background.




The main stairs, epic in my eyes


My final shot before we left.


This building is massive in size, if only the weather was better and wasn't so tired after being up for over 30 hours I would have take more. We did head to the main building complex but a run in with a couple pikey scum then the security guard we were forced to make a retreat.

Edinburgh's Secret Tunnel

After meeting a few guys in a local pub - JFRsteve, Scattergun, Eggbox and Fake Snowman in the one of the busiest nightlife scenes in Edinburgh we went on the hunt for a hard too find and my first explore of a tunnel.

Of course as always with Scottish weather the rain started to hammer down, but undeterred we set of on the hunt for the tunnel.

After receiving a few clues on its rough location we found our way to the gardens we thought contained the entrance, after searching around a garden just off a main street for about 30 minutes it was obvious we were in the wrong place. If anyone is familiar with Edinburgh old town the difference between street levels can be quite daunting.

After hopefully locating a promising location we clambered a wall to be presented with a shear drop of approx 30 feet, not for the faint hearted! but it again lead to a dead end and no easily passable route to the promised tunnel!

Again we searched around and located a secondary entrance right on the one of the busiest areas in Edinburgh we, so god knows how it looked for 5 guys in the pouring rain clambering over walls and security gates, thankfully hardly anyone batted an eyelid!

We were in!

I only took photos after walking as far as I was willing to go without clambering over and under valves and and pipe junctions. I must have walked along the tunnel for a good mile before deciding that was far enough, so not sure how long it actually goes, but i can confirm that the tunnel does go right under Edinburgh Castle and where we stopped was under Princes Street.

With the traffic thundering overhead I started to shoot away, not many came out good, but here is my efforts. The only really wet section of the tunnel was here where the valve was broken and water was pouring out, crudely blocked up with a sandbag!


There weren't many crossing in the tunnel, it was almost a one way tour!


I have no idea what the yellow stuff is, but it was fairly solid, so presuming it was minerals forming from the brickwork, someone will quickly correct me!


In a few sections the tunnel was blaste through the red bed, it was quite impressive!


Many of the sections of the pipe have been replaced, but did see dates stamped on the from 1821, so some have been here quite a while!


I made my way out but to be confronted by a big dog, but luckily it was pretty old and didn't care or notice I was there, quickly making my exit!

Templedean Nusring Home

Templedean was originally built in 1893, with further additions and alterations in 1902, with final amendments in 1911 by Architect John Alexander Carfrae.  Also known as Carmendean Hall, it was once originally linked to the Templdean (Carmendean) House by a series of corridors when in use as a Girls Orphanage by Christie Homes.

The Girls Home was open until the 70's when it was split into 2 separate residences, once being a home, and the hall being turned into a Nursing Home.

The Nursing Home closed sometime around 2006-8, it was sold to a private developer and is being converted into residential flats.