From my very first glimpse of 'Westfield House', I was thinking 'builders'. Through the anti-climbing fencing I could see little other another fucked up old Victorian mansion, but had this nagging feeling.
Builders tend to renovate, clearing away the old and implementing the new. They also remove any atmosphere, sweep away the ghosts hiding in the dusty corners and stick wooden frameworks inside that are far from the 1870s look I am searching for.
Perhaps it was those concrete slabs in full visibility of us; they had not simply grown from the earth like magic stones.
Was 'Westfield House' a renovation job? I was hoping not as we skirted around the edges looking for an easier approach to the grounds without having to scale that flimsy metal fencing that has a tendency to collapse under the weight of the climber.
Built in 1876, I found this article from 2019 detailing that planning permission has been granted to convert it into a residential home. As usual, nothing has happened, and 4 years into the future, it looks worse than the image shown within the link.
Edging over a medium-sized wall with a little struggle, more evidence of work came into my field of vision. Concrete, ugh.. it looks so ugly on these ancient behemoths of the past. Had someone done a really shitty job of trying to concrete up that door?
There was little doubt we could get in, but it looked like a shell from here. This ledge was a little on the high side, and why struggle when you can find a potential open door at ground level?
All the doorways were sealed, but I did take note of the etchings made from the stonework. Lovely and intricate as always, though blackened.
Spray paint, maybe, and although it looks like grease paint, there's little point in applying it here.
After looking at this window with the handy palette to aid access, I discounted both of those ideas. 'Westfield House' had been burnt at some point, the local arsonist taking pleasure and probably having a personal wank over his actions while watching it go up in flames.
The original beams, some thicker than others. The drop was not too far, but I had no aspirations of falling in there only to see more bricks, shit and dirt under the main floorboards.
My fears were uncovered, and one of those wooden frameworks I mentioned above. Had they run out of cash (again)? Time and time again, I see the renovation work vandalised as well as the original fittings.
It's not a giant millipede; no, I figure it's the remains of an illegal Cannabis farm. In my antiquated country with its Victorian attitude about drugs, this Class-C substance is still illegal, and these farms are often broken up.
I wonder where they were stealing the electricity from, being a detached mansion? The whole point is to keep it going at zero cost (apart from the original investment), and that means letting some other bastard pay the utility bills.
While pigeons seem to think abandoned properties are great, I see many dead ones, and it's usually not an isolated case.
Utterly useless, unless they were thinking of using it as a vertical torture rack. I looked around for evidence of pre-owned burning pokers but found none.
The holes in the floor were about as interesting as it comes within 'Westfield House'.
Whoever owns it must have given up some years ago. The middle window would have been boarded up like its flanking brothers once.
Upstairs, not a chance; we didn’t see any, and this one was far too gone to have any redeeming sights.
Very poor graffiti for South Yorkshire; the real artists have yet to arrive.
On leaving, I looked once again at 'Westfield House' and noticed the big blocks of concrete on the upper floor area. Considering you can't get up there any more, it told me this work had been done many years ago.
A complete shell, and it's going to need a sizable investment to make it liveable again. It can’t be burnt easily as there’s nothing flammable left, and I saw no ‘For Sale’ sign.
‘Very wasteful’… I was thinking as we left to go and find the next one.
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