This explore wasn't even on the list for our road trip. In fact I didn't even know this place existed! We got chatting to my sister's wedding photographer and found out about this creepy place she and her boyfriend spotted on a boat trip once. They went back and had a look around and after seeing the pics she sent me the next day we knew we had to go there. It was a 330 mile drive there and back and we did think about maybe doing this on the next trip, but after reading up about it I found a news article saying it was going to be demolished soon and a distillery built on the land. There was absolutely no way we were missing out. Demolition has been on the cards a few times, being halted once because of colonies of bats residing in the buildings. I saw no bats, even in the pitch black parts! But it seems it is a definite this time. This was one of my favourite explores so far. The location was so remote, a corner of my home country I have never set foot in, and a view you could sit and stare at for hours.
The was our second last explore, but the last successful one. We stopped by St. Peter's Seminary in Cardross on the drive back to Surrey. That was the best fail ever! Usually we feel annoyed when it's a fail but this one left us with a smile on our faces. It is completely inaccessible now and is to be restored. I was gutted not to see inside one last time. We parked up and as soon as we got out of the car another car pulled up and out got two older guys. They headed in first so we decided after faffing about to go the same way they did. We got to the bridge to find it fenced off and a big security gate in place. After having a chat with them one of them decided to risk his life to get across the bridge, and after succeeding H and I followed with his mate. We walked up together and as we got closer we could hear the hum of a generator. I knew then what was round the corner:
FAIL!
The security guard, who looked pretty scary, seemed almost impressed that we made it that far. We were straight up with him and he was very nice in the end. He agreed not to phone the police! One of the other guys chanced his luck and asked if we could go in and take some pics. Obviously that was a no, but he said we could wander about the outside if we didn't stay too long. Oh well, 7 successful explores in a week and 1 fail is pretty good going I would say.
Anyway, back to Polphail -
History from Wikipedia:
"Polphail village was never occupied. It was a ruin from the outset. In July 2009, Agents of Change, an artistic collective came to Polphail, knowing that the site was due for demolition later that year. They created a graffiti art gallery with paintings of figures, faces, abstract designs and haunting images.
The origins of the 1970s village lie during the expansion of the oil industry in the 1970s. Specific locations around the coast of Scotland were developed for the construction sites to build oil rig platforms. Portavadie and Polphail on the west coast of the Cowal peninsula, on Loch Fyne, was chosen as one such location. It provided a sheltered port, a geological feature in which to build a dry dock and a construction yard for the building of deep water oil gravity platforms. Land was purchased for the whole development by the Government for the construction yard and adjacent village that was built between 1975 and 1977, to house up to 500 workers. The impetus to build the yard was based on future forecasting and was to be operated by the people living in Polphail village, but structural design issues of the oil gravity platforms, cost implications and inflexibility in the sector at the time led to no orders being placed at the yard.
The farms of Portavaidue and Polphail are depicted amongst areas of cultivated ground on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition map. Portavadie continued into the 1970s as a small rural settlement comprising half a dozen houses, however, Polphail farm appears to have been abandoned and is not depicted on the Ordnance Survey ‘Popular’ edition map in 1926 (Sheet 71). The position of the new village was placed just north of Polphail farm. Today, Portavadie comprises eight individual houses; a row of detached holiday houses, built as part of the marina development, the ferry terminal across Loch Fyne to Tarbert and the empty village of Polphail."
I could've happily spent another couple more hours here. But there are only so many midge bites a human being can stand. I'm not a fan of graffiti at all but some of the work here is amazing, and a lot of absolute crap as well!
Anyway, on with the pics...
Some of the graffiti was incredible:
And some was a load of...
And some just completely random:
Whoever did it was clearly a...
So there we have it, the ghost village that is soon to be demolished to make way for a new spirit - the Portavadie Distillery. That pun was pinched from a news article, I cant take credit for it!
After we left we gatecrashed our friends Honeymoon, they were staying near Loch Lomond. After a night of heavy drinking we climbed Ben Nevis with them the following day, followed by more heavy drinking. And then it was time to head back down south the day after. It was an epic trip that left us both feeling like we needed another holiday. The next trip is being planned already.
Thanks for looking!
The was our second last explore, but the last successful one. We stopped by St. Peter's Seminary in Cardross on the drive back to Surrey. That was the best fail ever! Usually we feel annoyed when it's a fail but this one left us with a smile on our faces. It is completely inaccessible now and is to be restored. I was gutted not to see inside one last time. We parked up and as soon as we got out of the car another car pulled up and out got two older guys. They headed in first so we decided after faffing about to go the same way they did. We got to the bridge to find it fenced off and a big security gate in place. After having a chat with them one of them decided to risk his life to get across the bridge, and after succeeding H and I followed with his mate. We walked up together and as we got closer we could hear the hum of a generator. I knew then what was round the corner:
FAIL!
The security guard, who looked pretty scary, seemed almost impressed that we made it that far. We were straight up with him and he was very nice in the end. He agreed not to phone the police! One of the other guys chanced his luck and asked if we could go in and take some pics. Obviously that was a no, but he said we could wander about the outside if we didn't stay too long. Oh well, 7 successful explores in a week and 1 fail is pretty good going I would say.
Anyway, back to Polphail -
History from Wikipedia:
"Polphail village was never occupied. It was a ruin from the outset. In July 2009, Agents of Change, an artistic collective came to Polphail, knowing that the site was due for demolition later that year. They created a graffiti art gallery with paintings of figures, faces, abstract designs and haunting images.
The origins of the 1970s village lie during the expansion of the oil industry in the 1970s. Specific locations around the coast of Scotland were developed for the construction sites to build oil rig platforms. Portavadie and Polphail on the west coast of the Cowal peninsula, on Loch Fyne, was chosen as one such location. It provided a sheltered port, a geological feature in which to build a dry dock and a construction yard for the building of deep water oil gravity platforms. Land was purchased for the whole development by the Government for the construction yard and adjacent village that was built between 1975 and 1977, to house up to 500 workers. The impetus to build the yard was based on future forecasting and was to be operated by the people living in Polphail village, but structural design issues of the oil gravity platforms, cost implications and inflexibility in the sector at the time led to no orders being placed at the yard.
The farms of Portavaidue and Polphail are depicted amongst areas of cultivated ground on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition map. Portavadie continued into the 1970s as a small rural settlement comprising half a dozen houses, however, Polphail farm appears to have been abandoned and is not depicted on the Ordnance Survey ‘Popular’ edition map in 1926 (Sheet 71). The position of the new village was placed just north of Polphail farm. Today, Portavadie comprises eight individual houses; a row of detached holiday houses, built as part of the marina development, the ferry terminal across Loch Fyne to Tarbert and the empty village of Polphail."
I could've happily spent another couple more hours here. But there are only so many midge bites a human being can stand. I'm not a fan of graffiti at all but some of the work here is amazing, and a lot of absolute crap as well!
Anyway, on with the pics...
Some of the graffiti was incredible:
And some was a load of...
And some just completely random:
Whoever did it was clearly a...
So there we have it, the ghost village that is soon to be demolished to make way for a new spirit - the Portavadie Distillery. That pun was pinched from a news article, I cant take credit for it!
After we left we gatecrashed our friends Honeymoon, they were staying near Loch Lomond. After a night of heavy drinking we climbed Ben Nevis with them the following day, followed by more heavy drinking. And then it was time to head back down south the day after. It was an epic trip that left us both feeling like we needed another holiday. The next trip is being planned already.
Thanks for looking!
