A look inside Polphail - A 40 year old Scottish ghost village

***UPDATE DECEMBER 2016***  After several failed attempts to redevelop the land, Polphail has now been demolished to make way for housing and a distillery.  I'm glad I got to visit when I did before this piece of Scotland's history vanished forever. 

Scotland has it's fair share of abandoned buildings in various states of neglect and spanning every era.  It isn't short of crumbling townships either, many of which fell victim to the Highland Clearances.  Yet even in a country full of deserted stone shells, Polphail Village is unique.  
A relatively modern development at a mere 40 years young, it was built to accommodate 500 workers for a nearby oil platform construction yard but the village was never occupied.  Despite the oil boom of the 1970s, logistical problems with the location meant no orders were ever placed and the yard never went into production.
Instead it has spent the last four decades at the mercy of nature, providing a home to a colony of bats and a blank canvas for street artists. 
​Despite it's scenic position on the shores of Loch Fyne, various plans to redevelop the land have all fallen through and it is hard to disagree with those that feel the village is a blight on an otherwise picturesque landscape.  The ever expanding modern Portavadie Marina with it's elegant finishes sits on the doorstep of Polphail providing a stark architectural contrast.  Yet there is something eerily fascinating about the dilapidated grey buildings with their artistically applied graffiti make-up, which provide an alluring appeal to the creative and curious.
A walk around the site provides a time capsule glimpse of a world that never was, with washing machines never used, beds never slept in and doors never opened.  A waste of money, a sad place, hauntingly creepy, a health and safety hazard; Polphail is all of these things and yet it is also a uniquely intriguing place that continues to radiate a mysterious draw. 

PIN IT FOR LATER!