Almost TWO years later I found myself back at Thornseat Lodge, one of the first explores I ever did.
That time I got spooked by some camera’s and loudspeakers and ran away screaming like a big girl with my hands waving in the air.
Knowing the same security system was still in place (and to blatantly ignore it this time), we parked in the same spot as last time which categorically says ‘someone’s in there’.
I don’t generally do this but I also don’t want to walk the best part of a mile, as Thornseat Lodge is situated in the back of beyond on a very narrow road.
The gate looked a little easier than last time, though it was hardly a challenge then. Just be careful the barbed wire does not remove your manhood.
Like last time I knew the cameras were stuck up near the trees so we made our way through all the brush and ferns, which were much deeper than last time. It was hard walking.
The Lodge loomed and like last time I figured the brickwork looked far too modern for a 19th-century building. Surely they are not sandblasting a building that is falling to bits?
Built around 1852 and closed since the 1980’s it was previously used as a children’s home for the more 'difficult types'.
I can only guess what went on in here, seeing all the reports of these types of buildings in the last few years and all the scandals.
As soon as we got reached close proximity the stupid loudspeakers predictably parped up, 'you are trespassing, you are being recorded, evidence is now being collected and we will pursue you….’
Oh fuck off! I knew it was all bullshit and maybe the security dudes would turn up but unless they live next door then we would be long gone. Sheffield is a good 20-minute drive away.
There is in fact, a house nearby and it is occupied but they didn't seem to give a shit and nobody stirred. Good with us, I thought.
Still, it got my pulse racing, and I felt we needed to get it done and get out quick.
Some other explorers have not dared walk inside due to collapsing floors, and a cellar hidden under all that crap underfoot. I just walked in and bollocks to the consequences.
Just like Birkdale, you don't walk under crumbling masonry as a badly timed cough may result in a serious squashing.
Those resting beams were not there before, are they going to renovate it?
The scaffolding was there last time, encrusted in rust. One day in the past someone had an idea to fix things up.
When they built it, it must have looked like something from the future, compared to the grim blackened, or red-bricked style of early Victorian architecture.
I did have to watch my footing inside, although with little roofing left, inside was more like outside.
Look at the size of that room, with an open fire and those bay windows. It must have been grand once.
Balancing along here was a little tricky; there was a sizable drop into the old cellar.
It must have been a bathroom once, a shame there are no toilets for the LooLoo community to fawn over.
Don’t you love dangling radiators?
Besides many radiators, it was hard to find anything resembling evidence of past habitation.
I did see some drawers and cupboards up there, however, they were a little hard for me to reach. There could even have been some ancient HP Sauce bottles lingering around.
The second floor was out of the question and we couldn't even find any collapsing stairs.
Heading out, the loudspeakers continued to threaten us with court, fines, jail, surgical castration, and all things terrible if we didn't leave NOW.
The back of Thornseat Lodge was much like the front, a wreck that probably cannot be rescued.
We did find the swimming pool which is outdoors, quite small, and very overgrown.
Another section lay further up which looked like some other outhouses, but I felt we were pushing our luck. They had installed all the security crap up there as well.
It was time to leave, but first, we needed to wave into the cameras. If we were going to be arrested, it would have happened by now, seeing as this visit was early October 2020.
We left feeling good. This was the first of many in the Sheffield area that would be visited on that day.
Thornseat Lodge was conquered, and bollocks to the security system. We were here for the photography and not to vandalise it more.
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