This incredible drone footage offers a rare look around an island hidden in the Mersey that's been reclaimed by nature.
Stanlow Island is located just off Ellesmere Port and is cut off from the mainland by the Manchester Ship Canal.
It was once home to a community of monks for hundreds of years, and then right up to the 1980s a small community lived there, including workers from Stanlow refinery and officers from the Manchester Ship Canal police.
The island has no permanent residents today but still welcomes hundreds of ships every year serving the refinery.
Urban explorers Adam Mark, 30, and Dale Dirkin, 34, spent seven hours looking around the island last week and were amazed by what they found.
Adam told the ECHO: "It's definitely the most overgrown and the most untouched place I've seen, as in it's just been left for the wilderness to grow over it.
"The amazing bit was where a street light was where the road would have been - it was completely overgrown.
"We had to fight through all the brambles, you have to crawl under some and trample over the others. They were up to second story windows on every building.
"It took us seven hours to go around it."
The footage, which was shared in full on Adam's Youtube Channel Adam Mark Explores, shows their journey around the island as they explored the abandoned buildings including the old police station.
Inside the station Adam and Dale found old discarded police documents and newspapers.
After climbing through endless overgrowth they later took a look around the watch tower with incredible views across the island and abandoned security equipment inside.
Other buildings on the island included abandoned out buildings, a warehouse and the water tower.
Adam said: "It felt like nobody had been there. It was definitely and apocalyptic.
"It just feels like an achievement when you've done an explore like that.
"It's nice to get to show people because I've had quite a lot of messages from people saying 'I didn't know this place was even here."
History of Stanlow Island
The area surrounding Stanlow Island was originally called Stanlaw, but the name is believed to have later been changed to Stanlow because of a 19th century mapping error.
Cistercian monks founded Stanlaw Abbey on the remote Stanlaw point in 1178. In August 1277, King Edward I stayed there for three nights.
The abbey finally moved to Whalley, Lancashire, in 1296. But a small number of monks remained at the surviving grange, which was used right up until Henry VIII dissolved England’s monasteries from 1536.
It later became home to a small number of families including workers from Stanlow refinery and officers from the Manchester Ship Canal police.
A small number of people remained living on the island until the late 1980s when they were forced to move due to fears about the dangers of living so close to the refinery
Those cottages where families once lived have now been demolished.
Trespassing on private property is dangerous and can be illegal in certain circumstances.
You can find Dale's other exploring adventures on his Instagram @xplo_wd.
