Tales of the Urban Explorer: St Margaret of Antioch

in #hive-1043872 years ago

’St Margaret of Antioch' was an intimidating, sinister looking building. That disapproving frown was telling me, '...you are not going to get inside me, not a chance...'.

It spoke and looked down upon us like something from a Dickensian society; something from a different time period.

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Dickens died in 1870, his works are mostly from a time before Victorian dominance began in the mid-1800s, and the school was built in 1887, so I am a little wayward with my assessment.

However the Victorian times were bleak, and kids, if even allowed to go to school were subject to harsh treatment and frequent beatings. There had to be some ghosts inside somewhere.

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’St Margaret of Antioch’ closed its doors in 2010 and has been empty since then.

“Did you try the gate?”, I motioned to @anidiotexplores who like me, had walked around the entire school looking for weak spots.

Amazingly, the gate swung open and we quickly entered closing it. Sometimes it can be as simple as looking at the obvious. 1-0 to us...

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Things got even better as one of the fire doors was open and we were in. I am quite sure this is no longer the case, as conditions change very frequently.

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While it was quite bare, there was a distinct lack of vandalism at least so far.

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If you were to ignore the broken glass and add some little brats this corridor could look quite normal. With it being Liverpool, the broken glass may have been a permanent fixture during its days of being open. I have to have a little dig.

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What the red 'thing' is I am not sure. I would guess at a fridge/freezer combination, except it seems to dispense coffee... and that colour?

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There were some very useable pieces of furniture left behind at ’St Margaret of Antioch’. I noticed some scrawling on the far wall and wondered what was to come.

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I can only guess the staff must have been very mixed race, you don't want them dumping on the floor due to the fact they can't read English now, do you?

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They left in a hurry leaving David Beckham's Autobiography as well as a bunch of other items. It’s not a bad read actually.

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The tatty-looking 'Education Committee' books were sadly void of any writing.

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…as were these pupil books in a lot better condition.

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That pile of magazines was devoid of porn; unless it’s a secret headmaster stash you can’t expect it.

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As can be seen from the exterior of ’St Margaret of Antioch’, there were only two floors to the main section of the building.

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This little guy had not fared too well and probably starved to death. Old magazines don't offer much in the way of avian nutrition.

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I do like my broken glass shots, and occasionally manage a decent one.

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This one is probably the better of the two, Ooooo... the drama!

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Like many larger explores, ’St Margaret of Antioch’ was made up of many corridors and us peeking in each to see if there was anything of interest. I would say that most of the time that’s a negative.

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Talk about leaving everything behind, this room was the most populated when it came to 'ancient relics of the twenty-tens'.

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It was a combination of unused or partially used stationary and a pile of kid’s games.

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Do it yourself signs, maybe the school was not getting a lot of funding?

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Growing tired of the endless corridors we exited and homed in on the other out-buildings.

Access doesn’t look difficult but look closer and you will notice that most windows are edged with a decent amount of glass. @anidiotexplores has tungsten fingers but I don’t and had to choose my entrance more carefully.

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The window in the door was the easiest route and miraculously I didn’t end up bleeding from several body parts.

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If the dickheads had mostly spared the larger building, they had made up for it in there. The pianos were in a sorry state, and I couldn't even get a single note out of either.

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As for this one, well…. Forget it.

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It’s a poor area to walk barefoot, shoes are highly recommended.

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Judging by the number of pianos, organs, and keyboards knocking around, I would suggest that 'St Margaret of Antioch’ focused on the art of music.

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The distant chair provides a quick getaway through a window that is not smashed enough to vacate from. Given the amount of internal glass we spotted, the previous visitors didn't do enough 'smashing' to make things easy.

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Empty ring binders are a common sight in explores that are not pure derps.

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I want to imagine that is fresh golden honey ripe from a local beehive splattered above the sink and not ‘something else’ a little less desirable and markedly more pungent. I kept my distance.

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Having an affinity for any instrument that is keyboard related, this was a sad state of affairs to my eyes.

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I seem to remember exiting via this lower window. You do need to crawl and gloves are mandatory. Just look at what you are expected to crawl on.

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We walked around the rear external areas taking a few snaps. Not those kinds of 'rear externals', yeah…, I know what you are thinking.

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’St Margaret of Antioch’ was typically overgrown with weeds growing in abundance out of every small nook and cranny.

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It was past 5 pm and time to head back, although we did try another school leaving sharpish after setting an alarm off. It's all one big adventure, cut into small slices.

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Blummin heck, I am surprised that people haven't been in lifting that parquet flooring. Its worth a fortune!

It's Liverpool too, can you believe it?

Haha, exactly. It should have been gone long ago 🤣🤣

Forget the broken window, I'm thinking that is still a very usable copy machine in the back there. Those floors still look like they are in really good condition too! At least most of the places. This looks like it was a good find for you. Too bad it probably won't stay that way for very long...

As as of my explores, this was the better part of a year ago now. Many have done it since us, and that's the YouTube gang. Once it's out there, every idiot will be visiting and smashing it up even more.

I hate going back to places as I always remember the first time, and they tend to be more broken second visit.

Oh wow, I didn't realize it was that long ago. At least you got there while it was still decent!

I can mostly mention access points as I know fully well that what was then, will not be now!



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Nice find! I really like image 4860.
Looks like Lots of space for fun in this one!
shame you couldn’t get a note out of the pianos etc

shame you couldn’t get a note out of the pianos etc

Yes, I tend to sit down and play them if possible. I have come across several but playable ones are much rarer.

Why did it close anyway?/ Like you said, almost looks like they were in a hurry to get out of there..

I am not sure, the facts are there but with no reasons.

That's in pretty good condition really, especially as it was so easy to get in. Looks like they all just walked out and left it one day. Shame all the pianos got trashed. My friend up the road restores them, but those may be beyond saving and he says not many people want them anyway these days.

and he says not many people want them anyway these days.

I would love one, but they take up so much space and sadly we have none. I can't even setup my ageing Roland, it's shoved in a box and slightly faulty now.

I assume you didn't find the Holy Hand Grenade

I had to watch this to 'get it'. Was never a fan of MP.

They had their moments and influenced a lot of later stuff. Your title triggered a memory.

I wonder whether the bird came into for food and then couldn't find a way to out.

Those birds seem to think these places are great homes for some reason. I see this a lot.

Ever find yourself in South Wales, ill show you a few decent places to explore. I really should get around to postjng some locations myself.

I really should get around to postjng some locations myself.

Thanks for the offer., and you should. Wales is great for UX, though I have not done anything in the southern areas.

Building looks in good condition from outside but from inside it needs restoration even we kept such site as museum instead of leaving the building as abandoned

It's good compared to many of the wrecks I visit. Little chance of injury in this one, besides the glass.

Wow that seems to be lacking the destruction and vandalism you often discover for such an accessible place.

My mother was a teacher so I often was able to see the school when it was empty and even play in the gym. Brings back memories and also spurs my imagination on what I would do with a place like that. Schools here get torn down quickly and replaced with apartment buildings and don’t stay empty too long.

Glad you didn’t get to close to that wall honey because I am not sure that is what it was….

Wow that seems to be lacking the destruction and vandalism you often discover for such an accessible place.

If they knew about it, they would flood in like insects and wreck the place very quickly. It could be wrecked by now, this explore was July 2022.

Glad you didn’t get to close to that wall honey because I am not sure that is what it was….

It was delicious honey of course!

That's really cool. I can't believe they left so much behind. I could put to good use those binders and notebooks :D The architectural design with the Victorian style is neat.

The architectural design with the Victorian style is neat.

Many of these are getting demolished. A section of the school was leaking water, and that's never good.

Ah! That's too bad they're demolishing these wonderful pieces of history. I imagine it's too expensive to restore them or even fuse them with modern architecture. That looks like a great place to film a period piece. :)

I was going to say that the main building looked in pretty good nic from the outside and I was quite surprised to see that the inside wasnt too bad - pity about the other building though. But if you could walk right in, I guess it wont take long for others to realise and start trashing the crap out of it. Shame, it looks like a lovely brick building.

It does make a change for the inside area NOT to be a death trap!

I love these old buildings, not really much to see in this one but it was still nice looking at your photos and reading your words. I have a friend with an old player piano, with several reels, he tried to give it away. No one wanted it, and it is in good working order and looks nice.
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I have a friend with an old player piano, with several reels, he tried to give it away. No one wanted it, and it is in good working order and looks nice.

They don't appear to be popular items, a little like rusty golf clubs at car boot sales.

Ha ha ha..."The door was open"... Geez, how I laugh with those things! 😂😂😂😂... Another excellent article as always my dear friend @slobberchops... A pleasure to read this and see those photos!... What an imposing facade that of that place!...

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The door being open is quite a rarity. Usually we struggle to get in places, but that's part of the challenge!


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I'm surprised it wasn't sold right away, the place must have been in great shape. Not much left except for the pianos and such. A shame those weren't moved too :(

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Scrambling around an old, yet looking good for it's age building there is much that could be used perhaps the long term plan.

Assembly of keyboard instruments sad state they are in what a waste!

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You explained every bit of it with so much perfection like I was feeling that I am visiting 'St Margaret of Antioch '. Hats off.


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