Urban exploring Medway
In which we take a guided tour around some of the lost, abandoned and sealed off places in Medway.
Urban exploring is the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the man-made environment. We spoke to Kim Hargreaves, a Medway-based urban explorer, about where she has visited locally, how she got into urban exploring and what advice she would have for somebody considering doing it.
In 2013, Kim was studying Media at MidKent College. Her assessments included writing and shooting a short film, so she decided to make a horror film. Looking for abandoned places to film in, she came across the concept of urban exploring. However, she says, “It turned out to be difficult to film a horror movie in abandoned locations because I couldn't get permission.”
Her first ever exploration site was the abandoned railway tracks in Gillingham, though she doesn’t count that as a a proper exploration. After that, she visited a few other sites, such as Brompton Reservoir, Cat Eyes (a fort in Brompton), and a bunker near the train station. “Even though they are considered urban exploring,” she says, “these sites have been visited many times by both explorers and non-explorers.” She considers her first real taste of urban exploring was the Shorts Tunnels in Rochester. “I found out about the entrance on the 28 Days Later forum at the time.” The entrance most commonly used by explorers has since been bricked up as the tunnels are now privately owned.
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