Wednesday 26 February 2014

Random chunks of Shrewsbury

There are, in urban exploring and rooftopping, those bits and bobs that do not warrant a blog page all to their own. When one is strolling along observing his or her hometown, having already had their imagination blown wide open simply by learning to see ladders and stairs in any vertical surface that isn't 100% smooth, every drainpipe, railing, TV aerial, and wall represents an opportunity. In cases like this, often we have returned at night, and found maybe a small amount of explorability or a good view, photographed it and then left. There isn't much there to fill a blog entry on one single area, but there are enough of these to do it together, so here are a few of the more intriguing and photogenic nooks and crannies of Shrewsbury.

  Note- The group I explore with have a strict policy of leaving everything as it was, not vandalizing or stealing, and not exploring or violating any residential properties, nor do we force entry, merely utilize existing openings. Any entry on the blog that does detail a means of access does so under the assumption that the means of access can no longer be reached. Never would we reveal an existing opening over the internet, for fear of negative consequences against the property.

THE DRAYTON OFFICES

The entire building above the Drayton restaurant was empty, and an open window on the first floor was wide open at all hours just begging for a group of explorers to wander on inside. This was early in our adventures, and we had yet to realize that one can never have too many photos.
But we still got a few, and I had watched the Drayton intently ever since. However, the window was locked and they have now been converted into flats. Ideally this would have had its own page to itself if we had more pictures, and of better quality. It remains a wasted opportunity, and a mistake we'll never make again.




An awful picture of the alleyway.


View of the Market Hall from the upstairs

Upstairs was the grim discovery of a dead pigeon. The attic was spacious, and accessible via a foldable trapdoor staircase. The window had been smashed and boarded up. While the lower part of the building had a huge pigeon infestation due to all the open windows, the pigeon in the attic had no means of escape and so starved to death. Along with all the pigeon poop from the rest of the building, this was one of the messier explorations.

But next to this building was an ancient storehouse of some kind, full of dumpsters on the ground floor but should one push past them to the stairs, or (and this was easier) pull themselves up the opening in the floor that went all the way up to the top of the building, one had a vast empty space that had been long since forgotten.


CLAREMONT CHURCH

The church was seen under reconstruction in the KFC rooftop photos and today is a very ugly building. During the reconstruction period we were able to explore it, during the Argos/Abandoned Gym escapades.
This was via an open window but as always I need to emphasize, exploring construction sites is silly. Cables are exposed, wires may not be properly covered, nobody knows you're in there and the stability of walls and floors cannot be guaranteed. There is a reason construction workers wear protective gear. Anyone who goes exploring a construction site at night should be prepared to take responsibility for anything that happens to them.



CINEWORLD

There were a lot of security measures to keep people off the roof of Cineworld, but luckily none of them had taken me into consideration when they were put there. It was an awesome spot to chill out.



A VIEW OF THE LIBRARY


This spot took some serious struggling, given my dyspraxia. For people who aren't from Shrewsbury this huge building is a library, although it was once a school. It has a statue of Charles Darwin out front because he was born in Shrewsbury, and even though he hated it here and left in adulthood never to return, the town likes to milk the tourist-attracting teat of Charlie Dee.

There's another view of Castle Street from this spot.


SHREWSBURY GIRLS SCHOOL

Ugh... Someone who knew of our adventures told us of an entire rooftop complex accessible from the roof of the girls school. As such we got all the way up there one night and found out this story was false. But we still got a picture.


SHREWSBURY SWIMMING POOL

Allegedly once, explorers got into the swimming pool at night via an open window but they got arrested. Now, the window is shut and the rooftop is accessible easily. There are plans to rip this building down and building a hotel so this view is quite unique.


But while these finds were small, bigger treasures still lay around the corner... Shrewsbury was not done giving me its secrets.

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