8 astonishing photos from inside West Cork’s forgotten buildings

‘Taking only photos, leaving only footprints.’
That’s the mantra of the talented photographer behind the @AbandonedWestCork Instagram feed.
We can’t get enough of the eerie, oddly beautiful photographs in the collection, every one shot inside the abandoned halls of West Cork’s empty convents, schools, stately homes, cottages, factories and businesses and posted with a thoughtful caption explaining the back story to each location.
Amongst the broken crockery, ravaged books and rotting furniture, old photographs, ancient cereal boxes, rusty tins of shaving cream and forlorn combs and hairbrushes remind us that these places were once inhabited by real people.
You can browse the feed for yourself here. These are eight of our favourite posts from 2018:
1. THE LAST CHRISTMAS
2. FORGOTTEN FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS
3. LORETO CONVENT YOUGHAL
4. AN ABANDONED MANSION
5. TIME CAPSULE
6. A MORTUARY HOSPITAL
7. BELLEVUE HOUSE
8. DE LA SALLE BOARDING SCHOOL
MORE HIDDEN HISTORY: This famous Cork City bridge has a very creepy secret