Abandoned Ireland

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In the seemingly ruined and mundane she finds diamonds in the rough; her images of the ordinary ephemera of past lives – dusty love letters, rusting spectacles, photographs yellowed and curled with age – paint the pictures of real people and full lives. These properties make it easier to piece together the lives that were lived there, through the lens.

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Hospitals also had morgues for those who died there, such as the one in Muckamore, Co Antrim, shown here, where there was a viewing gallery for loved ones to identify the deceased, who would have been placed in a coffin there. There was no one else in the corridor or building but us, and I get to the end door, open it and we both heard a voice that sounds like it’s beside us. This is a moving and funny debut novel set in a quirky coastal community you will be desperate to visit after reading.

In Abandoned Ireland, discover Athassel Abbey on the banks of the River Suir and the largest medieval priory in Ireland; marvel at the imposing Carrigogunnel Castle, destroyed during the second siege of Limerick in 1691; explore Carrigglas Manor, a turreted fairytale exterior with a bloody history; see Hilden Mill, a former factory with ghostly sightings; explore the creepy, overgrown ruin of Ennis District Lunatic Asylum in County Clare; and wander the ruins of Rinn Dúin (“fortified headland”) overlooking the River Shannon, a key military and trading town fought over by Norman barons and Irish chieftains. Abandoned Ireland travels the length and breadth of the island of Ireland visiting and documenting our forgotten buildings, highlighting their social importance, and bringing their stories back to life through the medium of photography. Her passion for abandoned buildings and love of photography have led her to appear on several local television shows featuring some of Ireland’s lost buildings. Finally, in their later years the Dixons gifted the house to the hospital trust, and it then became a convalescence home. It started off as a summer residence and the Dixons were well known for throwing lavish parties in the house.Not long after I started to focus on documenting the buildings and left the paranormal group behind. I had been through most of the building and had just come out of the canteen, which had a glass door, intending to head up to the last remaining floor. In the seemingly ruined and mundane she finds diamonds in the rough; her images of the ordinary ephemera of past lives dusty love letters, rusting spectacles, photographs yellowed and curled with age paint the pictures of real people and full lives.

These could be homes, hospitals, mills, workhouses, churches, schools, courthouses and even castles. When I first laid eyes on it, I couldn't believe something like this lay abandoned in Northern Ireland: this Gothic looking mansion overlooking the sea was like a set out of an American Horror story with its peaked roofs, wrapped verandas and balconettes. She has documented rich archive imagery through her photography book, through how emotionally the photographs feel, the editing, and the sequencing.

Priests came to the house and are recorded to have witnessed the strange occurrences for themselves. It’s the fragility and uncertain future for forgotten buildings like these that lies at the heart of Brownlie’s desire to capture their images and tell their stories; something she has been doing for years on her popular Facebook page, with its 45,000-strong following, and now in a new photography book, Abandoned Ireland.

He has also written for the Telegraph, Evening Standard, Metro and Saga Magazine, and is the author of three books.Journey through Melbourne and Victoria for a holiday you'll never forget (and the award-winning airline that'll get you there in style! They were well known for being great entertainers and it was said that they held the most lavish parties – Princess Margaret is recorded to have had lunch here during one of her tours.