# House of Shelves - Herts - September 2012



## UE-OMJ (Sep 9, 2012)

A bit of a strange house this one, initially when I went inside I thought it was going to be an empty shell as the first two rooms had nothing in, but the remaining rooms were packed with 'stuff'. So much stuff, and often very unrelated which made it very difficult to get a picture of who lived here. I suspect someone started to renovate the house but quickly got out of their depth.

I have read about an old lady (someones Grandmother) living here, and there were hair rollers, hair dryer, slippers, along with kitchen utensils, etc, to back this up. Also a few toys dotted around. Dog and cat food tins were also dotted around the place so it suggested a nice family life, as well as a huge jar of Ketchup.

But there was evidence of carpentry; magazines and a saw, a big vice, a strange 'press', loads and loads of jars, two different film reels, pottery stuff, paint, glue. Also a fair amount of car bits and pieces. There was even a brief case which seemed really out of place there.

These were all in rooms in the house. There were also a number of out-buildings with lots more 'stuff' in, and it was strange that the tools (vice, etc) were in the house and not in the out-buildings. (I'll do a report on these outbuildings separate to this one)

So I really don’t know. Should I call this a potters house, a mechanics house, a carpenters house, a hoarders house, craft house? Very difficult to know, but there are loads and loads of shelves, so I've headed this one up as the 'House of Shelves' for now 

It was very dark inside as all downstairs was boarded. The upstairs didn't look at all safe but I did it anyway. There was no wind at all so all noises outside were freaking me out, and there were lots! But most seemed to be animals.

Also many references to 'Get Out', 'She didn’t leave', 'Go to hell' spread throughout written on the walls. Assuming reference to the old lady that might still be haunting the place. Also kinda freaky especially as I was on my own again for this explore.

Oh, and my decent expensive torch kept turning off the whole time I was there!!! Seriously, it's pitch black in places in there (especially the cellar), and to have your torch just turn off isn’t good. A few times I was thinking about films where this happens and then the actor turns it back on and something nasty has appeared!!! I can tell you a few times I was almost afraid to turn it back on again  I'm such a wuss 

The house is listed, but in very bad condition.































I never found the 2nd roller skate...








Lots of warnings to make people leave























Difficult to see, but there is a huge vice at the far side


















Hair rollers, and perfume?













Erm, shouldnt ketchup be red. Eeew








Anyone any idea what this press is for?






































More warning messages








A second film reel, a different size to the previous one though


















A wide variety of reading material













A trip down to the cellar...




























Strange to have the clock in the middle of the speedo. What's this from?























Time to head upstairs... Hmmmm, do they look safe?




























More hair rollers, and a few toys























Bedtime reading?








Thanks for looking
-


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## MoreliaMadness (Sep 9, 2012)

Great report, looks like an awesome explore!


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## Miss.Anthrope (Sep 9, 2012)

That looks like a good splore, pretty scary though...makes it even scarier you havent/couldnt find any info on it...you were piecing it together as you went on...the mind plays tricks...haha...

your alot braver than me, no way would i have gone in on my own.
i like the way that in most of the old houses,that have been owned by older people they all seem to be read farming magazines...


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## muppet (Sep 9, 2012)

looks like a good nose thanks for the post . as for the speedo with a clock it is a tachograph fitted to trucks and busses ect it records drivers hours


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## sonyes (Sep 9, 2012)

Excellent report, and some lovely pics there! Looks like a great place.


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## abel101 (Sep 9, 2012)

I do like this matey! very nice indeed!

I think im gonna have to head ur way sooner rather than later!


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## UE-OMJ (Sep 9, 2012)

muppet said:


> looks like a good nose thanks for the post . as for the speedo with a clock it is a tachograph fitted to trucks and busses ect it records drivers hours



Ah ha, thanks, that makes sense. But also adds more to the mystery of what this house was used for. Why would that be in there?


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## steve2109 (Sep 9, 2012)

Nice report and pictures mate, enjoyed looking and reading that one, more questions than answers !!


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## the_man_1984 (Sep 9, 2012)

That's a fantastic building. Thanks for sharing the photos


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## steadyguy (Sep 9, 2012)

Hi,
(the press?) it's a potato chipper. You the the spud in and pull down on the handle. The chips fall out below.


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## UE-OMJ (Sep 9, 2012)

steadyguy said:


> Hi,
> (the press?) it's a potato chipper. You the the spud in and pull down on the handle. The chips fall out below.



Brilliant, of all the things I never thought of that. Cheers


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## UrbanX (Sep 9, 2012)

Great stuff as usual! In pic 8 there is the same jar of pickled thingees as crooked house!


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## UE-OMJ (Sep 9, 2012)

UrbanX said:


> Great stuff as usual! In pic 8 there is the same jar of pickled thingees as crooked house!



Thanks 

Yep. This place felt a bit like a cross between the crooked house and Potters Manor. I really enjoyed it there.


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## krela (Sep 9, 2012)

UrbanX said:


> Great stuff as usual! In pic 8 there is the same jar of pickled thingees as crooked house!



Gooseberries? I thought the same! I didn't even know people pickled them.


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## perjury saint (Sep 9, 2012)

*What a crackin find! You could be moochin in there for hours!!
Ta for sharin this one...*


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## freespirits (Sep 10, 2012)

cracking find and wicked pics ,,,,,great report


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## John_D (Sep 10, 2012)

krela said:


> Gooseberries? I thought the same! I didn't even know people pickled them.


Gooseberries are one of those things that get grown then the question gets asked 'what am I supposed to do with them?' so they get stuck in a Kilner jar till an answer (that never comes) is found.


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## krela (Sep 10, 2012)

John_D said:


> Gooseberries are one of those things that get grown then the question gets asked 'what am I supposed to do with them?' so they get stuck in a Kilner jar till an answer (that never comes) is found.



I think you may be right!


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## Bambii (Sep 11, 2012)

Shame I missed out on this one due to you insisting on going while I was out 
A return visit may be due at some point....


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## scribble (Sep 11, 2012)

Could you see what's on the film?


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## UE-OMJ (Sep 11, 2012)

scribble said:


> Could you see what's on the film?



I didnt think to look


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## Ninja Kitten (Sep 12, 2012)

good one steve love the rollerskate shot! thanks for sharing this one..


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## Silent Hill (Sep 12, 2012)

Cracking report mate. These type of explores seem to be the flavour of the day lately. Well done.


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## SNAKEBITE (Sep 15, 2012)

John_D said:


> Gooseberries are one of those things that get grown then the question gets asked 'what am I supposed to do with them?' so they get stuck in a Kilner jar till an answer (that never comes) is found.



You are all wrong, they are quite clearly pickled eyes.


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## explorer101 (Sep 16, 2012)

oooooooooooo looks good, great explore! 

L x


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## constantined (Sep 16, 2012)

Wow what an interesting place (yes i am a newbie but love reading these reports).

However with my job I do get to see places like this as part of my role very often (would love to start doing it during the evening/night/weekend) . However sadly by the time I turn up, its getting close to a developer about to start making plans to destroy the past.

Loved the tachograph (reminds me of my old man - yep can't think why it would be there). My missus studied all your photographs first time she noticed a couple of orbs in a few of your pics (she's a sceptic I promise but is very interested in that kind of thing and in people's past lives!)

Not sure whether I should post anything what I discover during my work time when we do internals. Think I'll ask the mods.

I'm going to a East End Hospital soon loads of internals due!

C


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## GeorgieKirrin (Sep 16, 2012)

I have that Marks and Spencer cookbook.... #embarrassing...


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## UE-OMJ (Sep 16, 2012)

constantined said:


> My missus studied all your photographs first time she noticed a couple of orbs in a few of your pics (she's a sceptic I promise but is very interested in that kind of thing and in people's past lives!)



I usually see a lot of those orbs in my photos when I use the flash, they are generally just dust particles in the air closer to the camera than the subject matter, and show up as out of focus orbs.

However, many of these shots were taken on long exposure without the flash. I'll have to go back and take a closer look, but I'm betting any orbs are on photos where I used the flash. If not, I aint going back there  

If you want orbs, check this post I did of an old cinema, it was full of orbs 
[ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=22325[/ame]


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## constantined (Sep 16, 2012)

Hi UE-OMJ,

Thanks so much for sending me that link of the cinema, that was awesome, shame about the vandalism and the fire. 

I used to work for a mulit-national civil engineering company in Camberely and got sent there quite often for training and support roles. Never saw or knew that building was there. I must have been walking around with my eyes closed!

My wife was commentating though like me that the cinema had a lot of orbs in one place and irregular shapes ones too, some would say quite consistent with the amount of dust and ash from a fire damaged building???

(Respect for walking round one and exploring as I hate having to go into fire damaged ones I'm paranoid the floors are going to collapse underfoot!)

PM me if you get a chance to check those shots out whether they were long exposure or flash ones. (As I know its going off topic - it's not a paranormal forum but a better exploration forum instead)

As my missus is supicious that they are not just dust as they are perfectly round and on their own in certain situations e.g. the chair photo, door below the tacho photo and definitely the arch photo with the acroprop in! We'd be really interested and would love to find a building like that now, even though it has scared my missus a lot now and the fact you went there on your own!!!!:shocked:

Me i'm more sceptical and love the building as a whole like you. I have to go into a lot of buildings on my own and usually in basements too, but they ain't spoken to me or got me yet........perhaps they don't like the look or smell of me.......:skeptical:

P.s. Laurabops my mum has that cook book still NOT #embarrassing its #retro-cool! 

C


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## UE-OMJ (Sep 17, 2012)

I'll go through the photos this evening, and let you know via PM


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## rambling rose (Sep 23, 2012)

Sterling effort all 3 episodes. This place looks like a Crafts school. By the way don't diss gooseberries, they make the finest sparkling wine just like the real French champagne. I made a strawberry/gooseberry mix this year, nectar on the tongue


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## Dirus_Strictus (Sep 23, 2012)

UE-OMJ said:


> So much stuff, and often very unrelated which made it very difficult to get a picture of who lived here. I suspect someone started to renovate the house but quickly got out of their depth.
> 
> I have read about an old lady (someones Grandmother) living here, and there were hair rollers, hair dryer, slippers, along with kitchen utensils, etc, to back this up.



Your excellent images - informative and not mucked about with to produce 'arty' images - will allow people of my generation to 'read' this house. If you research the parish burial/birth records and county council records etc, I think you will confirm my very quick record delve that this was indeed a family residence - lived in by a number of generations.

As to the photographic chemicals, films and equipment, craft materials, plaster castings /molds and pottery etc, just the remains of the very productive hobbies this household occupied themselves with. This was in the days before TV and eventually the computer game, started the slow decline in our ability to use our brains constructively. The jars of craft paints were used to paint designs on undecorated pottery - you 'fired' the painted pots in the domestic oven. The mercury salt and solution there of, was used to tone black and white photographic enlargements. All these things were common subjects in the craft and photographic books and magazines of the 50's and 60's.

The plaster cast of the teeth is somewhat different - Long before the NHS; it was common, when one was fitted with dentures, for your private dentist to return the cast of your remaining teeth after the dentures had been made. I suspect that this was because dentures in those days were somewhat fragile and may have needed repairing quite often.

Properties like this are relatively rare these days, but in the late 50's and early 60's they were much more common. Usually landlocked because the surrounding land/woodlands had been sold off for death duties, they were just locked up when the aged occupant died because there was no money for any surviving relatives to repair the decaying structures. In the property market of the day these properties were almost valueless when stuck out in the wilds. You are far more likely to find a locked and abandoned inner city terraced house these days - I know of four in my local area that have been locked up since the early 80's.

Congratulations on producing one of the most informative series of images I have seen. It is the detritus of daily life that really tells us the story of who or how a place was habited and your images tells it in full measure.


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## UE-OMJ (Sep 23, 2012)

Dirus_Strictus, thank you for your reply. It's very informative and has probably answered many of my questions. I guess yes, before the 'computer age' people would have needed hobbies to keep them occupied. And thanks for the positive comments about my report. It's greatly appreciated. 

Also a good explanation of the teeth mold.

Nice one


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## krela (Sep 23, 2012)

Because no-one here has any hobbies, we're all too busy playing on our Xboxes... those of us who aren't too busy bitching on the internet that is.

*rolls eyes*

Thanks for the bits in between that were informative though.


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## Stussy (Sep 23, 2012)

Excellent report, the place looks like a creepy mooch around!


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## Boatbird (Oct 2, 2012)

rambling rose said:


> Sterling effort all 3 episodes. This place looks like a Crafts school. By the way don't diss gooseberries, they make the finest sparkling wine just like the real French champagne. I made a strawberry/gooseberry mix this year, nectar on the tongue



I'd say it was more of an artists commune... and that weird press thing looks almost like a pill press. Parsnips better


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## Landie_Man (Oct 2, 2012)

I explored it in March and have a lot of info which I sent to Dirus myself. Will whack a report up


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## Boatbird (Oct 2, 2012)

Its not a potato chipper, they work sideways...

Big rolls of 35mm film and 8mm film by the looks of it... the 8mm could be a nuddy film LOL


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## jaymac (Oct 19, 2012)

I also think that Speedo is a tachometer out of a scania truck... Quite an unusual thing to find laying around


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## totalgamesroom (Oct 19, 2012)

hey guys, 
yes it is a tachograph from a very old scania truck, one of the first tachos introduced i believe, and that press is also a potato chipper that has previously been said before on this post, 

that is one heck of an explore.....


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## wirelessmast (Nov 4, 2012)

I'd agree the press is not a chipper, there would need to be a hole under the table! That and the machine next to it look like tools for cartridge reloading to me. The press looks like a bulk loading press, perhaps a priming press, i'd need to see a closer photo or a makers mark. The machine next to it could be a roll over machine for crimping the ends of shotgun cartridges after loading.

Fantastic place, really ecclectic. I think you need to go back and do lots of close up shots of the interesting stuff!


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## UE-OMJ (Dec 2, 2012)

It would appear the demolition team has moved in, so the house hasn’t got much time left  so if anyone wants to see this for themselves they had better be quick.

If you want the location drop me a PM (still don’t feel happy naming a place publicly)… I’d like for more people to see this one before it’s gone for good though.

Cheers


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## ZerO81 (Dec 2, 2012)

Interesting looking place, you did well going into the Cellar alone too, thats always something i am not keen on when Im out alone.


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## Philippa (Dec 2, 2012)

Absolutely amazing. What a great find!


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## Pixie_Suicide (Dec 21, 2012)

Yup, I can confirm the demolition has begun! The outbuildings are currently being torn down, there's a slight dispute over the house itself as planning permission has been granted for flats and houses, however the house itself is grade ii listed so that will be the last thing to be pulled down if the developers do get their way.
I visited just over a month ago, will whack a report up soon. Didn't get many pics though, only did a few rooms downstairs and some of the outbuildings. Explored on my own and can honestly say that I don't believe in the supernatural but I did not feel welcome in that place at all and felt that I had to get out. (Which is a pain cuz it was an absolute bastard to get in to haha!) Shame really as I wanted to see the room upstairs that's supposedly filled with bird cages but I didn't fancy falling through the ceiling with no one to hear me holler, the stairs don't look too strong!
If anyone wants to visit PM me. I can also provide a bit of history about the place and its previous owners as I grew up in the same town just down the road


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## MrDan (Dec 23, 2012)

Hoping this is still accessible, should be a visit for me before the end of the month.
I really do wonder who wrote those messages!


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## UE-OMJ (Dec 23, 2012)

You better be quick, I hear there's not much left there now except the house itself


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## MrDan (Dec 23, 2012)

Thanks for the heads up, I shall let you know how it goes


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## sweet pea (Jan 1, 2013)

i can confirm after a visit here it no longer stands


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## mrtoby (Jan 1, 2013)

Im glad I got to see this before it went....RIP


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## Judderman62 (Jan 1, 2013)

bugger I was just thinking I fancied a visit


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## Judderman62 (Jan 1, 2013)

UE-OMJ said:


> -



I used to have one of these when I was a kid - it was a thing called plasticraft and basically you embedded stuff in resin (sea shells and simialr - what ever you wanted really) and then you'd pop it in a mould and generally colour the bottom layer and then leave to set.
















My bro bought it me for christmas or birthday one year - I loved it

Brought back real memories did that


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