I have not been doing many writings about Urban Exploration lately and I really should as there are still THREE left in the bag from my trip to the Bradford, West Yorkshire area well over a month ago.
Before we reached the city, I had planned a trip to St Pauls Church in Denholme and Gazeby Hall in Wilsdon. Both are on the western outskirts of the city limits and it's a case of making the most of your trip while in the area.
St Pauls had looked more like a devil worship sanctuary than a church from the reports I was reading, but on arrival, it was full of builders obviously doing some renovation. That was a failure, and so Gazeby Hall only 4 miles away was the next target.
We were in luck; it was in the middle of nowhere, the only life being a farm that seemed to be doubling as a dog kennels. Dogs bark all the time in these places regardless of intruders and so we parked reasonably close to the venue and entered safe that nobody had noticed our presence.
Access was laughably easy, and this is a great place for anyone wanting a go at Urbex. Besides the hall, there appeared to be a much more modern building in a terrible state of disrepair.
What struck me was the double glazing which looked relatively new and modern.
Even if the hall was ruined, why had someone left this relatively modern structure to be eaten away by the elements?
The grounds were in a quite normal state that is, filled with litter and miscellaneous junk of all kinds. It’s easy to just clamber over this stuff and ignore it, but if you look there are personal items such as DVD’s and CD’s scattered about.
We had a good look at the ‘house’ before moving on the main course ‘the hall’ and found the second floor had completely collapsed.
The front area you could walk into and there was something resembling a roof, but the back had completely caved in.
I was determined to get some better shots so climbed up this large mound of dirt effectively raising myself to the second floor.
Look at those window sills just hanging there. The building has gone but they remain. You do see some sights at these places.
Next was the hall itself of which there is little left. The markings on the entrance say 1828, and then 1958. It seems that stone was placed on the later date making it not as old as it seems.
The conservatory or greenhouse looked like it was used to grow vegetables once. It was quite hard to get close to due to the thick scrub around it.
Some of the windows had metal bars. Maybe this was an attempt to board the place up once.
The hall had been burned out and little was left. This place would take a serious amount of money to resurrect to what was its former glory.
The windows were completely gone, and you could easily jump through the holes without fear of glass cuts. Not that you needed too, as the front door was just a huge gaping gap.
A rope was hanging down precariously. It made me think that someone had killed themselves here once. What other reason would it be there, yet I can find no evidence of any suicides within the grounds.
Gazeby Hall wasn’t the most exciting of explores but does contain some history. It was subject to an arson attack in 2017 and has an estimated value of £400,000 according to Zoopla.
A little digging reveals the hall does in fact date from 1828 and was restored in 1958. It must have been grand once. It is a listed building and that’s likely the only reason it still stands today.
All photographs were taken by myself.
Other articles in the ‘Urban Exploration’ series:
British Mohair Holdings Ltd
// Holdings Country Pottery (Revisited)
The Ones that Got Away // The Doll's House
Camelot Theme Park // Albion Street Day Nursery
Allsprings House // The Latvian Consolute
Rose Bank Mill // Horncliffe Mansion Part One: The Car Graveyard
Horncliffe Mansion Part Two: The Mansion // Stand Athletic Football Club
A Trilogy of Failures II // Brodock Ltd, The Old Paper Mill (Failed)
Workhouse Farm // Hellifield Abandoned Train
Extwistle Hall // Huncoat Power Station (Demolished)
A Trilogy of Failures // Holdings Country Pottery
References:
https://www.theurbanexplorer.co.uk/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/
https://www.whateversleft.co.uk/
https://www.britainsdecays.com/
http://www.urbanxphotography.co.uk/urbex-faqs
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