Documenting Britain's Overlooked Heritage
Beyond the Point is a non-profit award-winning organisation by Joe Mander and Liam Heatherson. Our mission is to record overlooked built heritage and disappearing structures in the changing landscape through professional-standard photography and film-making, developed over years of experience. We were established in 2011 as an Essex-based local history blog, and have since evolved into an ever-growing online resource of over 400 historic sites, with over a thousand more in our archives. These sites include churches, farms, fortifications, bunkers, hospitals, asylums, military bases, factories, power stations, pumping stations, houses, schools and civic buildings across Britain. Not only do we examine individual places, we also explore wider themes and the historical context surrounding them to tell stories about how communities and environments have developed. We have supported numerous community organisations and projects over the years, and have worked with respected national names in media and heritage. Find out more here…
The Canvey Archive has a large collection of memoirs, photographs, and by CloudScout” href=”https://beyondthepoint.co.uk/historic-locations/canvey-island/the-second-world-war/b17-crash-site/#48142577″> shared is here: http://canveyisland.org/documents/DHB_v2_Med_Res.pdf On the 19th of June 1944 a formation …
Situated on the opposite side of the River Thames to Tilbury Fort, New Tavern Fort was one of several built to protect to London and …
Driving through Rawreth Industrial Estate you wouldn’t have a clue that you were driving past some old Prisoner of War buildings; but they were once …
Defending Billericay’s railway line and bridge lies an abandoned spigot mortar emplacement – a crude form of defence designed for use by the Home Guard …
Two busts that stood in ‘Poets Corner’ of the Winter Gardens, today in the Canvey Heritage Centre. Photographs of Frederick Hester, and his monrail before …
In 1891, the Salvation Army established a Home Farm Colony in Hadleigh where the Hadleigh Downs Country Park lies today. The Salvation Army Jetty was …
When the County Asylum Act was passed by Parliament in 1845, counties across the country began building institutions for the mentally ill. Today, very few are still in medical use with the majority converted, demolished or left ruined. We have visited dozens of these hospitals across the UK, producing one of the most comprehensive archives of asylum buildings.
In 2023 we set off on a road trip through Wales, with the aim of documenting the country’s former lunatic asylums. These institutions were commonly …
Ordnance Survey 1945-1965 mapping showing the five Epsom Cluster asylums In Epsom, Surrey, the former London County Council decided to create five London County Asylums …
Hellingly Hospital began construction in 1898 and first opened in 1903 as East Sussex County Lunatic Asylum. Originally, East and West Sussex shared a joint …
The Murray Royal Hospital in Perth is Scotland’s oldest surviving asylum and was one of the grandest built. The now derelict asylum was named after …
High Royds in Menston is one of the most well-documented and now infamous of the county asylums to be built, instantly recognizable by its looming …
Roundway Hospital dates back to the 1840’s when a committee of Justices approved plans for an asylum in Wiltshire. Forty-eight acres of land was purchased …
From secret nuclear bunkers built for Government officials to subterranean tunnels below Victorian forts.
As bombings intensified during the Second World War the Government embarked on a programme of constructing deep level air raid shelters beneath the streets of …
Grain Fort was constructed in the 1860s to defend the mouth of the River Medway and Thames against the threat of French naval attack. It …
This Royal Observer Corps observation bunker was constructed in 1959 and closed with the first wave of posts in 1968 (unlike those remaining in operation …
Across the country hundreds of air raid shelters were built at the outbreak of World War Two, both above and beneath the surface with the …
Above the surface it looks like a normal country cottage, but beneath the building lies something completely different – a nuclear bunker. The only clue …
This Royal Observer Corps observation post bunker was constructed in 1959 and closed at the end of the Cold War in 1991. Its relatively good …
There’s an estimated 37,000 churches across England alone, with around 12,500 Grade II listed. We have documented a variety of these religious sites from abandoned stone-made medieval churches to a 1950s’ modernist church which is still in use today.
In August 2025, we were lucky enough to be shown inside the stunning Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church in Harlow and allowed to …
St. Mary’s Church in the tiny village of Mundon in Essex is a strikingly unusual and old-looking building. It’s timber-framed construction sets it apart as …
Overlooking the A127 with views spanning from Essex to London, the Grade II-listed All Saints Church has stood semi-abandoned for decades until 2021 when an …
Surrounded by fields and just meters away from the C2C railway line, St Margaret’s Church has been standing for some 670 years, having been founded …
Overlooking the surrounding marshes, St Michael’s Church has been stood on Pitsea Mount for centuries having been build around the 16th century, with extensive rebuilding …
For Halloween this year, we thought we would investigate the vast and endless folklore of one of the most isolated and eerie places in Essex. …
From pillboxes to prisoner of war camps, we have visited a huge variety of buildings constructed during the Second World War, including some which are open as museums.
At the junction of the Sadlers Farm roundabout and Tarpots on the A13 road lies a suspected wartime remnant passed by hundreds of people everyday …
Along Salt Lane in Cliffe lies an overgrown pair of air raid shelter tunnels installed to protect industrial workers of the Alpha cement works in …
As bombings intensified during the Second World War the Government embarked on a programme of constructing deep level air raid shelters beneath the streets of …
According to Historic England, this Bofors light anti-aircraft gun tower was constructed circa 1940 at the start of World War Two as an outlying defence …
Once the Second World started in 1939, Britain was keeping a close eye on the east-coast of the country to prevent any German invasion. Burnham-on-Crouch …
Built close to Dagenham East Station, these anti-tank cylinders were built in World War Two to slow down any German tanks, should they have made …
