An urban explorer has shared a series of incredible images taken from within one of Scotland's most famous abandoned buildings. Kyle Urbex took the photos as he explored St Peter's Seminary in Cardross, a former college for Catholic priests which has been lying in ruins for decades.
The building, which is found in the former Kilmahew Estate near Dumbarton, was first opened as a Roman Catholic seminary in 1966 and was once hailed as an architectural marvel.
However, it was closed in the 1980s and since then has fallen to ruin and has been turned into a graffiti artist's playground.
Leeds-based Kyle, 26, is a keen Urban Explorer and regularly shares his adventures across the UK on Instagram ( kyle_urbex ), Facebook and Youtube. He has explored hundreds of abandoned properties since 2020.
Pictures taken by Kyle, in which he can be seen in his trademark pose and branded T-shirt, show the crumbling architecture and numerous graffiti tags and images painted on the Seminary walls.
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The images show vibrant artwork including images from 90s Kids TV programme The Trap Door, 80s anime detective Lupin and several other bright cartoon-like graffiti.
He has also taken shots of the spectacular architecture, including images taken on the roof of the building with many showing the water damage to the exposed interior.
The A-listed building, the highest level of protection for a building of "special architectural or historic interest", is considered to be one of the most important examples of modernist architecture in Scotland.
Designed to home up to 100 priests in training at any given time, the large building features several floors of terraced rooms.
There have been many conservation attempts to restore the building to its former glory over the years, with most having failed to get off the ground due to the high costs of trying to make it safe for public use. The building has since been gifted to the Kilmahew Education Trust by the Catholic Church.
Kyle's photos show just how far it has fallen with the building little more than a shell and every wall and space covered in graffiti artwork.
Speaking about his adventure at the Seminary in July, Kyle said: "I spent about roughly two hours inside just checking out the building layout and all the amazing artwork on show.
"Inside it was quite eerie in a way given the history behind it that years ago it would've been fully functional and housing hundreds of priests, It's become more of an artist paradise now I don't think I saw an empty wall in my whole visit,
"Navigating round proved quite easy due to majority of the structure being concrete, on the upper levels in the middle however some of the concrete had gone soft for some reason making me take extra cautions whilst walking on the middle parts however it was certainly worth it to see the amazing artwork.
"One particular artwork that stood out for me is where I got a picture of myself next to it just above it quotes the words 'Never Stop Exploring' which I found pretty unique."
He explained that he chose the Seminary due to the fact the images he had seen of the building were so enticing.
Kyle added: "I just wanted to experience it myself really. It's in one of the locations where it's at risk of being forgotten about and when I started to hobby my mission was to bring these forgotten locations back to life through my photographs.
"I've never actually explored an abandoned seminary before St Peters so it was nice to tick off another unique location on my ever-growing list of explorations around the UK."
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