Birchwood Primary School, Summer 2008

I originally scouted this out in the summer of 2007 - when it was *just* clossed down. The first opportunity arose in 2008 though. With 2 friends I managed to find a rather ingenius way inside.

Once inside it was extremely disappointing - just very bare. However, there was obvious signs that there was still electricity running - including PIRs and other security systems. The building itself was in pretty good condition with the exception of one corridor full of glass.

The scariest bit was probably hearing the faint hum of a TV, with flickering light in a room. (This building was pitch black inside, the only light being flickering LEDs on PIRs) Once we entered the room we found that the security system which we had assumed was now useless - was actually recording, and displaying on the TV! Still not detered, we proceeded to each take a photo by the display before moving on down the corridor.. where we found another CCTV camera. This time, its red LED was flashing and there was no debate whether it was facing us. With this in mind we decided to leave!

Overall - an exciting explore, albeit it with no real findings of interest. Just a stripped bear building, with a few little security related surprises!


1. The CCTV display


2. The school hall.

3. The, presumed, defunct CCTV cameras..

July 2009 - There has been Prison Dog Training signs up around the perimeter for a few weeks. I decided to venture around to see if there was any evidence that this was correct. Apart from a collection of rubbish which had been burnt outside (it contained cans of gun oil) the perimeter looked the same. I did however, find a dog tag with a call sign on and the phone number of HMP Belmarsh. Ironic - considering it was these guys that stopped me at Woolwich Arsenal 2 years or so ago!