Urban Exploration is something that I'm very interested in too. I'm based in the South East of England in a town called Chatham nested just below London. Chatham was once a great naval town and the birth place and home of the Royal Navy (which later relocated to Portsmouth), as a result it was a prime target for invasion and attack.
Chatham and the surrounding towns are known as Medway and during the Napoleonic wars a great number of Forts were built along to coast to defend the Chatham dockyard and the approach to London. A ring of Forts was built around the town to defend from both a land and sea attack. During the World Wars and Cold War a great number of underground sites were built including Military command centres and plotting rooms, deep shelters to protect the public from bombing raids, and in Rochester where the Shorts Brothers were based, even an underground air plane factory.
Today not that many people remember much of the history and any above ground evidence of these historic sites has been destroyed or is now covered by housing. But if you are willing to put in the research and don't mind a bit of digging it's possible to gain entrance to these forgotten places.
A few pictures I have taken.
This is one of the factory tunnels deep under Rochester where the Shorts brothers would produce their sea planes. (Photos taken on a Canon IXUS 750 / SD550, lighting provided by SLPP 4AA Luxeon).
Left over ammo crates and the tunnel that leads off towards the public air raid shelters
A random chair left down there to rot
In places where housing has been built on top the tunnels were reinforced
One of the many holding cells within the public air raid shelters
Here are a couple of pictures from the underground remains of Fort Grain. As far as I know no one has explored this side of the Fort since it was "demolished". There is a report on Subbrit for other parts of the Fort. (photos lit with Princeton Tec Surge)
This is the original sign dating back from 1886 when the Fort was built. It would have read E Caponier. The Fort had five inner Caponiers flanking the inner defensive ditch and four outer Caponiers flanking the outer ditch.
Some old pans that were left inside the Fort, probably dating from WWII. The Fort was armed during both World Wars and finally abandoned in 50's being demolished in the early 60's.
Obviously lighting is very important so my kit includes,
Princeton Tec Apex head light
Streamlight Propoly 4AA Luxeon
Fenix L2T for backup or used on low for exploring abandoned asylums and high risk outdoor sites.
Princeton Tec Surge for lighting the photos (unfortunately recently melted when left on in a bag)
Lots of glow sticks
I have recently built a ROP from my 2D Maglite which I can't wait to try out once the new reflector arrives (the plastic one didn't stand up so well to the ROP bulb), and also recently received a G&P R500 Scorpion to replace my Princeton Tec Surge for lighting long exposure photos of tunnels.
