Abandoned village to be demolished

[Parris]

Whilst looking for a location for filming I stumbled across this: http://forargyll.com/music-arts/photography/polphail/

It's a village in Scotland called Polphail. It was constructed 35 years ago to house upwards of 500 oil workers working on a nearby platform. During the oil crisis the construction of the platform was suspended, never taken up again and Polphail was abandoned 6 years into it's completion.

Not a single person has ever lived in the village complex. A whole host of businesses were fully equipped and ready for inhabitants. Most buildings had fixtures, fittings and in many instances were furnished. Yet, at no point did anyone ever consider either selling the properties off or using them.

Coincidentally, I noticed this morning that the owner of the site has finally agreed to redevelop the land and the buildings will be pulled down.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/8113213.stm

If you want to see the village (I mean why wouldn't you lol) then type Portavadie, United Kingdom into Google maps. You'll see a marina. just South of which is a small beach. The large looking complex up from that beach is Polphail.

[oldengineer]

Interesting, well....it is to me :-)

...Also ties in nicely with this 3 part documentary currently running on the Beeb...http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...Oil_Episode_1/

[3do]

Very very interesting and to think the buildings had fixtures/fittings with some fully furnished and a host of fully equpied buisnesses which all of it never got used.

I wonder why they never decided to sell them or to have people living in them??

[karsten]

an interesting place to take pics and make video! worth taking a trip there if you are close enough

[oldengineer]

Very very interesting and to think the buildings had fixtures/fittings with some fully furnished and a host of fully equpied buisnesses which all of it never got used.

I wonder why they never decided to sell them or to have people living in them??

If you had ever been there you would understand why no one lives there!

[Parris]

If you had ever been there you would understand why no one lives there!

LOL - A word there from Kent Tourism board, keeping people South this summer! ;-)

http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com/

It's not so bad...

[Stuart.C]

Wow, cool place. will have to visit before it disapears forever.

[retro]

LOL - A word there from Kent Tourism board, keeping people South this summer! ;-)

http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com/

It's not so bad...

Well, I'd visit to take some snaps, if Scotland wasn't so bloody far away! :lol:

It's a shame these places get left like that, sure, but far better it get used for something finally. I'm surprised it wasn't used for something - filming location, paintball, army training.... whatever.

[Taucias]

Very very interesting and to think the buildings had fixtures/fittings with some fully furnished and a host of fully equpied buisnesses which all of it never got used.

I wonder why they never decided to sell them or to have people living in them??

To live somewhere you need jobs. If nothing exists there and the only source of jobs was to be the oil rig construction and supporting businesses, then who would want to move out there?

[GaijinPunch]

Whilst looking for a location for filming

Scenes for a bad, western developed FPS?

[oldengineer]

LOL - A word there from Kent Tourism board, keeping people South this summer! ;-)

http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com/

It's not so bad...

Ooooppp's, soz, I wasn't slagging of Scotland as a place, its one of the most beautiful places in the world (I don't say that lightly) ...Was merely the 'abondoned town' that let the side down imo, lol

[Stuart.C]

Was thinking about visiting this place but after looking into it i'd have to get 4 busses and 2 ferry's just to get there and the nearest hotel is 3 miles away. Maybe i'll just visit the abandoned military base in edingburgh instead :lol:

[Parris]

Was thinking about visiting this place but after looking into it i'd have to get 4 busses and 2 ferry's just to get there and the nearest hotel is 3 miles away. Maybe i'll just visit the abandoned military base in edingburgh instead :lol:

Where's that then as I might want to have a look?

There is also a disused military base in Dumfries & Galloway and I used to pass it on my way to work everyday. It was an old munitions testing facility or similar (as it was so close to the firing ranges on the coastline).

However, I recently discovered it was the setting for "Outpost" (2008) which is chilling enough to warrant a visit to the place.

[retro]

Talking of which, wasn't some of Doomsday filmed in Scotland? Could it have been there, perhaps?

[Stuart.C]

Where's that then as I might want to have a look?

There is also a disused military base in Dumfries & Galloway and I used to pass it on my way to work everyday. It was an old munitions testing facility or similar (as it was so close to the firing ranges on the coastline).

However, I recently discovered it was the setting for "Outpost" (2008) which is chilling enough to warrant a visit to the place.

Right next to the zoo in Barnton Quarry. Sadly the place is badly fire damaged and there is still asbestos particles in the air so if you do visit wear a good mask. Some nice pics of the place http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/...ight=EDINBURGH

[davenixdorf]

very eerie ... i would imagine a trip there at night would be off the cards!

[Parris]

Given the risks involved with that one, I think I'll give it a bit of a miss right now. Shame as one of my best friends lives about 1/4 from there in Corstorphine village.

On a totally different note, I saw that the Crossrail link in London is being hampered by a series of 2000 pilot / test holes that need to be drilled throughout the city along the destined route of the underground tunnel.

The problem being that at several locations they will be drilling into historical burial sites. One in particular was used to dispose of bodies in mass graves during an outbreak of the plague. The real problem however is a similar graveyard which lies directly in the path of the proposed tunnel route. It was used to dispose of anthrax infected corpses.

All sorts of precautionary measures are being taken, and although the risk is very low the teams working on the pilot holes, plus the local council are monitoring very closely as anthrax spores can survive burial for hundreds of years apparently.

Nice! :banghead:

[3do]

Right next to the zoo in Barnton Quarry. Sadly the place is badly fire damaged and there is still asbestos particles in the air so if you do visit wear a good mask. Some nice pics of the place http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/...ight=EDINBURGH

Wow, never heard of that place not even in the 18/19 years when i lived in edinburgh. Not really something i'd go and see bit still interesting.

[Twimfy]

Reminds me of one of the islands of Manhattan (I forget the name) completely uninhabited for about 50 years but it's fully equipped with schools and houses all set up and ready to go, only the military have access but they don't use it.

And there's the turkish owned section of Cyprus which was abandoned during that small war, apparently it is just locked in time with cars still in the showrooms and food left on tables.