Tales of the Urban Explorer: Excelsior Works

I looked upon Excelsior Works and those dreadful memories came flowing back in an instant.

Long, long ago on a distant remote block-chain, I wrote about my brief experience at working in such a factory, where one was constantly heckled by bullies, forced to smoke at knife-point and live out your tea-breaks in the smoking room where bellows of it belched out whenever anyone opened the nicotine encrusted door.

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Shuddering I wiped the experience out of my head, knowing that most of these shitty cotton factories now look just like this one standing in front of me, relics from a bygone era.

If I was to find to discover a brown-coloured room tarred with what looks like vintage shit within its depths, I could be certain of its origins.

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How to get in such an imperious old building was my present conundrum. Walking in the front door rarely works and this one was locked firmly.

We casually walked into what looked like a builder’s yard, hoping the owner had no Rottweiler’s off-lead that would eat us alive.

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Being Saturday has its advantages, there was not a soul about and what's more the yard appeared to give us entry into the old works.

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Having checked out a few quite boring and empty rooms, I came across this one. There was some building work going on here.

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Not a place we want to be in; we moved on quickly experiencing one room that obviously had rats living underneath the sacks as I heard squeaks while treading over them in my conquest to find something remotely interesting.

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The town of Huddersfield appears to have more than its fair share of these troublesome rodents, and I had seen a few on that same day at various locations.

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This area did look like part of Excelsior Works but not the main factory area. It was a little like a rabbit warren with passages going everywhere.

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I vainly tried to capture this web created by a giant spider that was lurking in the shadows. It didn't come out quite as anticipated.

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One larger area containing very little of interest led up to the huge chimney.

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Peering up there gained me little beside the expected light close to the top.

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Through this archway where @anidiotexplores lurks, we found a bagful of old tapes, not in the English tongue.

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I didn’t pick up the books as I can’t understand Punjabi or Urdu or Hindi, it is one of those.

After some scouring around and getting quite bored we noticed 'the hole'. Someone had tried to seal 'the hole' which had been broken open, only to cause a partial roof collapse.

"Are you going through, there could be gold bullion inside", I jested to @anidiotexplores.

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I didn’t take much and I watched as he crawled through this ridiculously lethal hole just to see what was on the other side.

“Come through”, was the expected yell.

Fucking hell, here we go again

I crawled through the hole trying in earnest not to touch anything. The other side hosted a support pole and I knew this was fragile territory I was in.

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’...@anidiotexplores requires soothing medicinal smoked herbs to navigate the hole and impart the inner calmness for such a feat'…

I wish I could say it was worth the effort. The other side opened up a wide-open space which required another climb in the far corner.

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We had made the roof and all that was needed was yet another climb that was around 15 feet down into the old factory.

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The rusty metal girders seemed sturdy enough but shimmying that wide wooden beam and trusting the wooden old office structure NOT to collapse was going too far.

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If that all collapsed there was no way out and for what? It looked quite bare down there with little of interest, not even a 'brown room'.

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Scoping out the back areas sought us precious nothing in terms of alternative routes for once. It was that climb or this was it.

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I wouldn’t call Excelsior Works a failure, more a lesson in how far should you go. While ‘the hole’ was dangerous, it shows you that you are responsible for your own actions.

I loved Excelsior Works as once again the challenge and risk gave me that buzz I get from places that are not walk-ins. Live dangerously.

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All my 'Tales' content is easy to find on my personal website:
'Tales of the Urban Explorer'

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If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, rehive, engage me or all of these things.



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Manually curated by ackhoo from the @qurator Team. Keep up the good work!

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Thanks @ackhoo.

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Most welcome... :)

Hmmm, very challenging one, this.... The text on the books and tapes looks like Pakistani(?) - definitely some Muslim text. My guess would be some religious books... 🤨

And (shudder) I would have backed out of entering that 'ridiculously lethal hole'! 😛

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@goblinknackers could tell me but he's such a lazy arse these days, and never comments. I had to go backwards back down the hole. Head first was not an option!

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Lol, can can't imagine you going down head first (and crashing down with everything else) oopsss....

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If I heard rats squeaking under the floorboards I think I would be squeaking and running in terror :0D

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I didn't stick around long, they are not my favourite carbon beings!

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I like them as pets but not the scabby muddy wild ones. Yeek!! Filthy disease carriers!

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The 'Idiot' seems to push you on at times. I wonder what it is being renovated for. I see they are putting in new stairs that might be more sturdy than some you've been up and down. Looks like a major job to make the place fit for non-rat beings.

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I would have gone through on my own accord. The hole made it memorable and more challenging. Otherwise it was quite a dull explore. More and more of these are being demolished, several I visited last year are now gone.

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@anidiotexplores requires soothing medicinal smoked herbs to navigate the hole
That's what she said

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I took some effort to get through. The support poles had been placed there for a reason... and not to allow the likes of me in!

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where one was constantly heckled by bullies, forced to smoke at knife-point and live out your tea-breaks in the smoking room where bellows of it belched out whenever anyone opened the nicotine encrusted door.

I thought that was just Kwik Save ?😀

@slobberchops explores with a hobbit

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I wrote an article about my 1.5 week employment in a factory just like this one, just after I left Kwiksave in 1985. It was worse than that shitty supermarket, so much that I could not tolerate it and walked. The article got lost on the STEEM blockchain somewhere.

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You loved really, always thinking about that chick with the missing teeth..

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Can't help but wonder, have you ever almost died on any of these urban explorations of yours?

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I get injured a lot, scrapes and cuts mostly. That day I came home with a few scrapes. The worst that has happened is a nasty hand cut while in an abandoned strip bar. That one is to come... soon.

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Sounds like a winner!

Fun fact—for about a year I lived right across the street from an abandoned strip club in Denver. I no longer live in Denver, and the club has since been torn down.

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Un lugar espectacuular para ser remodelado!!!

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La ruinas del lugar, fantástico, se ve interesante para explorar, pero de solo pensar en ratas bajo mis pies me da asco, terror, definitivamente no entraría en ese lugar, saludos.

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Smoking a blunt while doing urbex, now its going places!

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LOL, not me.. I don't smoke. For him, quite normal!

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I really liked this one, but perhaps it was the architectural design itself, typical of a factory, but, some of them make the coolest renovations!

Rats? I'm out. I do not do rats. Ewww. No more rat talk. Stepping on them could get you bitten. Just the thoughts make my knees weak.

Oh, popping through the hole could have, but, didn't get you in trouble. I show up, just to see where you two decide to break in explore next! This was fun! Let's find another place soon!!!!

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The hole made it memorable. Every one is so different, there is no predictability at all. I often think, 'we can get in here easy' to find it's sealed. No breaking in ever, if you don't do it.. they can hardly give you any shit.

On occasion someone notices us, but I never run.. it's best to talk. I can always talk them around.

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Cannot believe how many urbex places are out there... You can really capture them in this cool way, I guess it took some practise :) Good to see this special photography series of yours is still going strong. Very original content on the chain. Keep it up.

@tipu curate 2

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Thanks @phortun, I recall the story (before I forget) as well as the factual content. I think it makes for a better read!

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Do you like to explore old abandoned destroyed houses?

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Do you like to explore old abandoned destroyed houses?

If I can find them. Ones like your find are generally referred to as time-capsules and are quite rare. @grindle will love your post as he likes anything Soviet Union.

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The cotton factory looks abandoned for many years but the construction work as mention in your picture will help to renovate this beautiful architecture. The outer pic of the building looks amazing and eye catching.

"I didn’t pick up the books as I can’t understand Punjabi or Urdu or Hindi, it is one of those."

Those music cassetes seems quite old from 90s ,i think some migrant worker played those music during their break time .
Rodent will be there absolutely as i expected in that big sack if you turn that off.
😊 enjoyed reading your urbon explorer.

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Glad you got out of this very huge place @slobberchops, of many different adventures, around every corner there was another hole, or door way etc. I really like the photo going up the chimney. I bet the smell of the rats were not pleasant. I think that if I was exploring these very old broken down buildings I would be having one long shower or major bath soak.

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I am exhausted after a day of this. All the climbing, scrambling through holes is not easy anymore!

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Rats alive apartment building, enough to get one scrubbing from head to foot after trailing through a place like that.

Photography is exceptional, always enjoy seeing how you tweak them to bring a little light into a drab situation!

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