Brading Underground Reservoir

[fluffy5518]

I know very little about this site other than what i learned from Urban Moles post of a few years back.The reservoir is situated high up on a hill overlooking the town of Brading on the Isle of Wight and is obviously long since disused,however it is in fantastic condition and still boasts some rather large ballcocks(Not many of us can say the same !!)and an external semaphore type indicator which presumably indicated the level of water contained in the reservoir to an office down the hill.Now,apparantly a couple of years ago the site was sold off to become an underground cafe/restaraunt-Who the hell thinks of these ideas-but all has since gone quiet,HOWEVER i did find a design on the internet for its conversion but if this is still on the agenda is anyones guess.
This is the proposed plan

.....different i suppose but is there no end to the amount of once purposeful objects that can be turned into eateries ?!!!!!
Internal shots,not a lot to see i suppose but still a wonderfully preserved piece of Victorian engineering with some beautiful brickwork.

External shots showing the semaphore signal(operated by the ballcock in the previous phots) and one of four ventilators !!

WELL, There you have it,i must nip in for egg n chips and a fried slice the next time i'm passing NOT !!!

 

[night crawler]

Wonderful stuff, love the cast pillars holding up the roof and the giant Ballcock

 

[godzilla73]

Spectacular ballcock! I've never seen one that big before! But seriously, what an interesting site. Good pics Fluff, especially for a night visit - you must let me know about your set up for those internals.
GDZ

 

[djrich]

Interesting place that, thanks for the pics.

 

[Pincheck]

nice find mate

 

[fluffy5518]

Thanx Ladz !!!
GDZ Nothing more than a Canon D40 + good sturdy tripod(manfrotto)+Half decent lens ( Canon 17-55mm f2.8 )+A lovely little 1million candle power torch !! Really lightweight and compact and just about the right brightness !!

 

[godzilla73]

Hmmm...do you normally work in Manual for this sort of thing or Tv/Av? If so what sort of f/stop?

 

[fluffy5518]

Hi mate;
Always in manual !!! And usually its pretty much the same exposure in total darkness (obviously depending on the distance to be photted)around about 15secs at f11ish with a super bright torch or around 30secs at f5.6 with a normal household one !!In actual fact its a lot easier to photo indoor scenes in darkness rather than shade/low light situations.AND if you use RAW you can always correct it a little bit if you balls it up.!!

 

[spacepunk]

Scary stuff M8.

 

[godzilla73]

Hi mate;
Always in manual !!! And usually its pretty much the same exposure in total darkness (obviously depending on the distance to be photted)around about 15secs at f11ish with a super bright torch or around 30secs at f5.6 with a normal household one !!In actual fact its a lot easier to photo indoor scenes in darkness rather than shade/low light situations.AND if you use RAW you can always correct it a little bit if you balls it up.!!

Thanks for that - always trying to improve my low light photography and I find all tips useful!

 

[T-bar]

I past by a few weeks back and noticed it was bust open again with the cover hanging off. We covered it over after we left