As before, I have selected a top ten list based on the number of Flickr photos I found for each site in a single search, doubtlessly I will have missed important sites and got the ranking wrong but please feel free to point them out by leaving a comment. All of the photos used below were taken by other photographers and are used under a Creative Commons license (click through to Flickr for attribution), if you think you’ve got a better photo and it’s not CC – get your licensing sorted!

Annesley, Clipstone, Pleasley

Despite the fact that the whole area of Annesley has been designated a Conservation Area many of the buildings on the site have been demolished and there is a great fear among the locals (proud of their heritage) that the rest will go too, along with the iconic headstocks that still stand. Besides the headstocks only two other buildings have been spared the bulldozers, one I believe housed the canteen and the other seems to have some exterior winch-like equipment but I have not managed to determine it’s original usage.  An article in local newspaper The Chad says that demolition was given the green light in January 2009.

Surrounded by a mound of dirt and piles of extremely large tyres, the only building left easily accessible is the headstocks still white with the giant red “A” on the side (although it shares it’s space with some graffiti now). Once you’ve made your way past the completely ineffective (bent out of shape) fence you’re into the main chamber, there’s a few bits of hanging metal and cables around but it seems safe enough. The area inside is relatively small and you can’t see a great deal looking up to the roof but there is a ladder, for safety reasons I didn’t do the climb myself but others have in the past and have lived to tell the tale – take care whatever you decide. There’s a lot of metalwork inside, along with a giant rusted doorway and several rusted pieces of switchgear left over from the mine’s operational days.

The other buildings weren’t easily accessible and I was in a hurry so I didn’t try too hard to get in either of them, the winch building does have a window entrance that might be OK and the larger building with the clock seems to be fenced off but there may be a way in round the side or front (it is accessible from the main road).

I’m not quite sure if this causes a TimeCop-esque Urbex paradox but I did come across a few bricks on the site made by the London Brick Company, previously based at one of my recent explores at Stewartby Brickworks – I guess the world is full of coincidences!

This was a sad day for me and whilst some of Sheffield’s residents protested it still sickens me to see that not enough people cared about the history and heritage of Sheffield to save these magnificent structures.   The same goes for the removal of the Avesta Bull – I’m watching Sheffield’s history being drained away year after year and it really does make me sick.

Photo by Paul Denton Cocker, click through to his Flickr page.