Devon Dive Centre, Axmouth Harbour, Seaton, Devon

Following on from the previous post, the Devon Dive Centre sits on a spit of land on the western bank of the River Axe, along with the boat builders yard and a garage. Although on the Seaton town side of the river, this particular piece of land belongs to the village of Axmouth which is situated on the other side. 
 

A shop for all kinds of diving accessories - including the filling of oxygen tanks - I haven't been able to find any other information about it; when it was built or closed down for instance, but it's an interesting abandoned site to have a brief wander around. Rather photogenic too, with its faded seaside charm of peeling paint and depictions of dolphins and waves.

When I had my website I added a huge rant about the so-called regeneration site encompassing the demolished, Racal Electronics, Blue Waters & Lyme Bay Holiday Camp sites. I won't do it all again, but well...maybe a bit of one! 

If you're going to regenerate a seaside town to entice tourists and give the town a boost, would you demolish a thriving holiday village which had been showcased on TV holiday programmes, and replace it with a Tesco supermarket and a few houses? What on earth were they thinking!

Seaside towns offer that wonderful windswept, peely paint feel about them; old boats, crab pots and crumbling stone walls covered in wild flowers, boatyards, ramshackle tea shanties, a slower pace of life and appreciation of the seasons and the elements. And as one of the Gateway Towns to this World Heritage Site, a boring, generic area which can be seen in any other town is surely not what holidaymakers come for.

This, for me, is what living on the coast is about. It's a shame that this concern stopped trading. Seaton used to be quite a bustling little town with plenty of visitors making the streets full and crowded during the summer season. The odd thing is, that there is now a new Premier Inn in this area, which looks like three boxes stuck together instead of the lovely Art Deco building shown on the original artist's impression. Such a shame that the fab hotels along the seafront were demolished many years ago, replaced by blocks of flats.

Anyway, sorry about that rant. It went on far longer than I meant it to. Somebody stop me! ;)

Not accessible inside, the photos below were taken through windows (later boarded up on a further visit).

 

 And lastly, a couple of photos of the rear, which I managed to take through the fencing.

Ramshackle and gloriously coastal, I hope you enjoyed the seaside dereliction. :)

H J Mears Boatbuilders, Axmouth Harbour, Seaton, Devon

Just a short article this one, with only a few photos, but it's somewhere that I've often enjoyed for a wander....albeit sometimes sneakily! Although, I've never met anyone less than pleasant there, and have always been welcomed whenever I've asked if I can take photos.
 

 

It's a lovely and interesting spot. Situated on a spit of land which juts out into the estuary of the River Axe on the Seaton side of Axmouth Harbour, Mears Boatbuilders have been an established traditional wooden boat builders since 1945. In recent years, boats produced at the yard include Beer Luggers and other fishing vessels as well as pleasure launches.

The photos don't reflect the newly-built boats, by the way. They're mainly of an old one with a shoal of kayaks like ramora fish feeding off a shark, and other odd bits which were a real photographic delight.

At the time of one of my visits there was a huge alsation dog with a vicious bark at the yard, thankfully penned up behind some wire fencing. On another day I was having a cuppa at the harbour cafe when I overheard a funny conversation about the scary doggie between some boatbuilders and fishermen sat at the next table.
 
One was saying that it had a lovely nature apart from the fact it can't stand humans. And the conversation went something like this -
 
'Yeah it's got a real attitude problem.'
'I don't like the way it sits there looking at you with a flick knife in its paw.'
'That's right, it's already got three asbos.'
'Wearing a hoodie with holes cut out for it's ears.'
'With LOVE tattooed on one paw, HATE on the other.'
'And MUM tattoed on it's neck.'
  

And finally, a great sign for traditional boatbuilders on the door...

"If God had meant us to build fibre-glass boats He would have grown fibre-glass trees." :)

Beaumaris Castle, Anglesey, Wales

Like the last post of the slate quarry, these b&w photos are very old - even older in fact, as they were taken during a visit circa 1970/71 when I was a student at Art College. We had a field study trip to Snowdonia in Wales, which included a visit to the Island of Anglesey and Beaumaris Castle. I'm not sure where some of it fits, as it was a long time ago, and I only had the negatives until 2010 when I bought myself a negative scanner. It was fun to see the photos at last though, which enabled me to include an article on my former website. And now one for the blog.

The entrance is reached by a wooden bridge across the moat, which I imagine would have been a drawbridge originally.

A World Heritage site, Beaumaris Castle is considered to be the most technically perfect castle in Wales. Built by King Edward I in 1295, it was also the last, and was never finished due to the lack of finances and resources. 

Although it never reached its full height, it still included four successive lines of fortifications, fourteen major obstacles, hundreds of arrow slits and the use of murder holes as part of its defences.

The photo above is my favourite. A window seen through another window and through a breach in the wall.

Below, some lovely Gothic windows and vaulting. Having a look at images on Google, I've just discovered that these are both in the chapel.

As I recall, I spent some of my time recording echoes to combine architecture with sound as part of an art project I was working on, which meant a bit of clambering around and sitting in windows.That wouldn't be allowed today of course, but bearing in mind that at the time there were hardly any other visitors, apart from us students, and no touristy things or the kind of upkeep there is now.

A great opportunity to get some moody photos with the b&w film too. Interestingly, these were taken on a Kodak Instamatic camera.

And as I've got them, I've also included some other bits and pieces from the same film - the causeway, and also a climb to the top of Snowdon on a foggy day - complete with an Australian Mountie hat courtesy of my sister who lived down under. I wish I still had it!

 

Slate Quarry, Elan Valley, Wales

Shut down during the early to mid seventies, the quarries in Wales were mostly left undisturbed. I visited this one in 1976. Because I used slide film, and it was such a long time ago, the images have deteriorated and the quality isn't that great. However, I bought myself a new toy several Christmases ago - a slide and negative scanner - so I couldn't resist adding this to the explores on my former website, and now on my blog.

The slate quarry is near to the Craig Goch reservoir in the Elan Valley (on the other side of the lake, if memory serves me correctly), and not far from Rhayador in Radnor. The photos above show the dam, one of several made in a series of reservoirs which were constructed during the latter part of the 19th century and opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on 21 July 1904.
 

There were several derelict buildings, but it's hard to tell in hindsight which were works buildings, housing for the manager - or even for the quarry workers themselves, which some of the Welsh mines and quarries had due to the remote location.

I'm only guessing here, but the scaffolding below looks like the housing for some sort of pulley system. It wouldn't be an engine or winding house itself as they were proper brick buildings needed to take the weight. Maybe just some remains of a temporary building. Dunno!

Contrary to what I'd written previously on other quarry articles, this was my first quarry explore. I'll get it right in a minute! I sometimes forget this one as it was just a few random photos on a day out with a friend. It was such a fabulous place though, and I really wish I'd taken some film shots and had prints to scan instead of the slide film. Although the blueness adds to the otherworldliness of the landscape it would have been nice to have clearer views of the buildings and workings.

And below, another view of the dam with a fabulous domed building complete with a weather vane. This is a Valve Tower, which regulates water flow.