ABSTRACT
'Rough ground' and 'abandoned places' were distinctly different entities, although they lay along a similar dimension of experience and were often found in association with each other. 'Rough' denotes a more physical quality, indicative of an unkempt, unordered, unmanicured appearance. Most of the rough ground areas were redevelopment sites, temporarily on the market for childhood use. The Grogs was one of the most interesting of Thnstall's diverse range of rough-ground places. Abandoned places were haunted by a residual human presence that stimulated the imagination and made it easy for children to anthropomorphise their surroundings; to muse, to create a kind of local mythology from found fragments of the past. Abandonment gave a visually readable 'archeological' dimension to a place, indicating previous human activity and former ownership. Building sites could take on the character of an abandoned place, during nonworking hours; especially if security was low.
