Cherry Knowle Asylum, Sunderland. Look what they've done to the organ! PIC INTENSIVE.

[wolfism]

Interesting to see Cherry Knowle stripped back – perhaps it's a sign that the construction industry is grinding into gear again. Generally speaking demo work is much faster now than even twenty years ago, as the machines contractors use are bigger and much more capable (longer reach and more powerful hydraulics) so one 30 ton class excavator can keep several tipper lorries fed. The speed of demolition will keep on increasing, too.

Shame about the organ, I guess they deemed it too far gone to salvage.

ps. The thing you reckoned was a secure area door release is an electromagnetic hold-open, if the alarm sounds it would release the door and the latter would close.

 

[Talularainbow26]

great images

 

[tumbles]

The organ was already heavily vandalised in the 10 or so years that the buildings stood unprotected/unsecured. In a way it doesn't look much different in part demo as it did when it was still standing.

The murials in the chapel & swimming pool were painted by a lady called Suzanne - she was the artist in residence in 1985/6 - She's been living in the US since 91 but still checks in on sites like this to see the state of them!

 

[TeeJF]

Fascinating info, thanks for that. Best wishes, M and TJ

 

[Advent]

Tis sad indeed the number of times I have passed those buildings on route to the A19 south bound. My wife had an appointment there once back in the 1970s.. Weird questions they asked one she recalls Why do you want to marry your boyfriend?... On a serious note Cherry knowles is ace they let you play guitar in there according to a local singer I have that track somewhere or was it on You tube? Found it on You Tube...[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q0T_DybbpY[/ame]
While we on about You Tube there is a bit about Cherry Knowles have a look.

 

[Ninja Kitten]

love the curtain shot! great place

 

[TeeJF]

love the curtain shot! great place

I'm told it is literally ALL gone now by someone I know who lives up there...

 

[Krypton]

Yep there is nothing left at all.

 

[Potter]

Such a shame.

I'd have been tempted by that personal stereo. So 80s.

That alarm button is actually an electromagnet that held open a door, and released it when the fire alarm went off. The red button was to test or release the door so it could be closed.

 

[TeeJF]

I'd have been tempted by that personal stereo.

But then you'd have committed an act of burglary! I would have been tempted by the organ if it wasn't trashed and if I could have got it in my rucksack.

 

[smiler]

Another great post, Thanks, I enjoyed it and can empathise with the temptation to take something other than photos from a site just to protect it

 

[TeeJF]

can empathise with the temptation to take something other than photos from a site just to protect it

Yes it can be tempting. I suppose you have to set your own level of honesty/morality and do your best to stick by it.

 

[Krypton]

When i was last there - all the buildings had totally gone.

However, something caught my eye sticking out the rubble.

I dont feel as if i have committed any great act of burgalry or broke the law - although i probablys have.

What is more of a crime in my opinion is how these places are left to rot.

 

[TeeJF]

In the case of something like that which has just been abandoned amongst the rubble it's very hard to regard it is a crime isn't it because clearly it has no intrinsic value to the owners. But technically it still belongs to someone and you were presumably trespassing on private property at the time you found them unless you were exploring by invite. That makes it theft QED! But UK law is, let's face it, a friggin' ass at times.

A parallel might be drawn in divers bringing artifacts off shipwrecks but the law there is rather more sensible - if you bring something up then you must declare it to Receiver Of Wreck and it is yours only if the wreck owner doesn't want it BUT if he does you are entitled to a hefty proportion of it's market value as a salvage payment. That would seem to me to be an emminently more sensible set of rules!

 

[Krypton]

I'll probablys just donate them to Sunderland Museum. I've salvaged lots of stuff that now resides happily in museums.

 

[TeeJF]

I'll probablys just donate them to Sunderland Museum. I've salvaged lots of stuff that now resides happily in museums.

Offer them first but iif they do what Bolton Museum did when we offered a genuine 17th Dyn Egyptian artifact on a semi permanent loan (refused un;less we paid for insurance!!!) then tell them to wander up that dark alley known as barse!

 

[smiler]

Yes it can be tempting. I suppose you have to set your own level of honesty/morality and do your best to stick by it.

Yeah that’s true, but the urge to preserve rather than just record is, and probably will always be an issue with a lot of decent and honest folk, my own feeling is, if you take something away from a site, (such as the art that you photographed) what the hell could you do with it, it has little if any monetary value, which wasn’t the reason why I have considered taking items found while exploring anyway, and once they are removed from their home they are out of context and could never be displayed as they were when first encountered, that these items sometimes get scavenged or destroyed by others is frustrating, but as you said you set your own standards.

 

[Ninja Kitten]

A parallel might be drawn in divers bringing artifacts off shipwrecks but the law there is rather more sensible - if you bring something up then you must declare it to Receiver Of Wreck and it is yours only if the wreck owner doesn't want it BUT if he does you are entitled to a hefty proportion of it's market value as a salvage payment. That would seem to me to be an emminently more sensible set of rules![/QUOTE]

sooo...if you dive a wreck and bring something up with you as a keep sake..(not the hull or anything to weigh in!) can you keep it?

 

[TeeJF]

No. Every wreck, irrespective of where it is in the world, still belongs to someone. If you bring anything up off the wreck at all you are obliged to declare it to the Receiver Of Wreck who notifies the owner. If the owner wants the item he is obliged to pay a salvage fee based upon the market value of the item plus your salvage operational cost for the recovery. In practise that means that most items brought up apart from the likes of bullion are not worth the owner claiming. Where it gets a bit odd is if what is brought up is part of the wreck such as lumps of the hull or the like. All steel from the time before the first atomic bomb, especially armour steel such as that on war ships is not irradiated and therefore has an enormous scrap value for scientific purposes. Part of one of the voyager space probes is steel from a Scapa Flow German warship. Then I am not sure how it works. Another oddity is the way that people used to "buy" a wreck for next to nothing in real terms, a pound in one instance! The Titanic's sister ship Britannic is owned by a guy who charges a huge fee even to consider allowing a dive party on to the wreck!

 

[Ninja Kitten]

Part of one of the voyager space probes is steel from a Scapa Flow German warship.

i dived the Köln and the Burmmer, have you dived any of them?

so i better take my canon balls back to plymouth then hay