A while ago my brother told me about this abandoned house that he'd spotted on his way to work, and I just had to take a quick mooch. But as far as history goes, I have to hang my head in shame and admit defeat. And I'm the guy who laughs at the urbex posts that say "No history on this place" before vomiting forth a century-spanning saga from a rudimentary google search. I think it's easier to find a nun wearing a strap-on than it is to find an urban explorer who knows how to use Google. But alas, this one has me stumped.
It shows up on Victorian maps with a plethora of outbuildings, but on Google Streetview it's curiously in the midst of renovation, in images dated 2009.
(Photo credit: Streetview)
And it's quite adorable! It's clearly derelict, but the window boards are fresh, the roof is being done up, the garden has daffodils, and the porch is a nice surprise given that it's now lost under a sea of brambles.
Someone clearly cared fifteen years ago, so what happened?
Around the back, there is a jacket hanging up, which is rather ominous and indicative that whoever was fixing this place up hasn't finished yet. But they have, clearly. This place is a wreck. Is this person just pottering about their own home, wondering where the hell they left their jacket?
Slipping through the back door brings us to a rather bleak kitchen, with a few features left.
From the kitchen, one door leads to the rest of the house, and the other leads to the bathroom.
Check out these shelves.
This is quite cute, and definitely adds some character to the house. I can totally imagine this once holding the spices and whatnot.
The grab rails in the doorways are interesting, and definitely indicative of an elderly occupant with slight mobility issues. The grab rails are especially prevalent in the best part of every abandoned building, the bathroom.
Still in better condition than the toilets in some pubs and clubs.
Onto the rest of the house.
The house itself is just a shell. I know this makes it unpopular with the wider urbex scene, who prefer their houses to be fully furnished and the previous owners funeral just about wrapping up. I quite like wrecks though, and I know other people do too. Just not the "Youtube" breed of urban explorer that relies on sensationalism, clickbait, and paranormal investigations. They won't touch a place like this. Remember, it's only haunted if there are things to pinch.
But this would have been the dining room, and it's rather lovely. All of the decay here is natural. There's no vandalism or ransacking, just the ravages of time.
Beyond the dining room we can see some coat hooks in the hallway and some lovely vintage light switches.
The hallway has a door leading up to the stairs, but that door hanging open obstructs a small lounge.
I actually really like this house. The peeling ceiling, the empty curtain rail, and the remnants of wallpaper are all adding to the vibe here.
Time to head upstairs.
In all honesty, I'd trust the McCanns to babysit more than I trust these stairs to hold my weight, but much to my amazement, I survived the climb.
There are two bedrooms at the top of the stairs, and one of them has a big old trunk in it.
But there's no way I'm getting to that. If I so much as sneeze, this place is falling down, and only an idiot would trust these floorboards.
Well I am an idiot, but I'm an idiot with a survival instinct.
The bedrooms also have fireplaces. I don't know why, but I love fireplaces in bedrooms.
There's a telephone here. I wonder if it's still functional.
And one last bedroom.
But that's all I've got. It's a shame I can't provide more history, but with houses this it's all fairly straightforward anyway. We know that this was someones beloved home until one day it wasn't, and now it's a sad mess. The saving grace is that the former occupant has long passed away and doesn't have to see their home fall into ruin.
From an urbex perspective, this ticks a few boxes. It's all natural decay with no vandalism, it's got enough left behind to give it character, and despite being a relatively small adventure, it's still possible for it to go so badly that I might die.
I don't expect much more from abandoned houses. I'm satisfied.
Having said that, I do have a couple more local houses that I want to focus on before I start giving attention to my neglected travel blog.
In the meantime, the best way to stay updated with my blog is to follow my social media platforms, which I rarely actually use anymore because the algorithms have killed it. But try your luck anyway. Obviously there's Facebook which we all begrudgingly admit is the best one. Which is a little bit like choosing your favourite STD. I'm trying to focus on the likes of Vero and Blue Sky, which seem to be trying to emulate the likes of Instagram and Twitter before they were shit, but with a lower userbase and more bugs. I'm also on Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and sometimes Reddit.
Thanks for reading.
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