# Churchgate Hotel – Harlow – July 2015



## mockney reject (Nov 2, 2015)

_The history_

Churchgate Hotel was originally a Jacobean chantry house to the local church of St. Mary and St. Hugh. The chantry was founded in 1324 by John de Stainton the rector of Harlow but was suspended during the reign of Edward VI.

The chantry house eventually passed into the ownership of Elizabeth I and remained a royal property until it was disposed of by James I in 1607

It was bought by Alexander Stafford in 1615 and the present house was built sometime between 1615-1652, after his death in 1652 it was sold to Samuel Harrison, whose descendants sold it to J. W. Perry-Watlington in 1855. The building is timber-framed and plastered and has fine doorways and original features, but has been much altered in the 20th century

It is now an 85 bedroom country house hotel, set in landscaped gardens close to the m11, with large indoor pool, sauna, spa, solarium and fitness room. An award winning restaurant offers a fine selection of English and Continental dishes, and the bar, with its own terrace, overlooks the landscaped gardens.

Sadly the Hotel Closed in September 2014 due to mismanagement and spiralling debts.

_The Explore_

This place came to our attention whilst chatting to an old school friend. Immediately we got on the case and did a reccy and knew it was going to be a fun one.
A few days later the 5 of us kitted up and trotted off to the hotel.

After doing a bit of homework on various internet search engines we knew what we where after, It had to be the pool……..

After pretty much walking in we found ourselves in the “ballroom” which was full of furniture taken from various parts of the hotel. While getting our cameras out ready to snap some pictures we heard “ Stop your presence has been detected, please use your pass key to prevent a security visit” With a slight look of panic on our faces we looked at each other and decided we had ten minutes at least. So running around like a scene from Challenge Anneka we had a hunt on for the pool.

Eureka! We found and snapped away waiting to get a capture, after 10 minutes and no sign of secca we carried on, wow what a place!!!

Very immaculate in most places and a brilliant place to explore. We ended up on the roof, you knew that was coming didn’t you lol Got to love a roof access. 

We where in there for a good few hours with our new friend Robbie the robot telling us secca where coming every 20 minutes or so lol

They never did turn up and we had a brilliant explore, it was nice to do something nice, untouched and unexplored again 

I'll let the pics do the talking


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## TheNarrator (Nov 2, 2015)

What a place! "eRection" - brilliant hahah! So cool you found the plans - now you can build your own  great photos too


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## UrbanX (Nov 3, 2015)

Fantastic work guys! Thanks for sharing


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## flyboys90 (Nov 4, 2015)

Great write up and photos.


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## HughieD (Nov 4, 2015)

Wow...what a waste of a good place! Interesting report and lol to the modified Reception sign!


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## J_a_t_33 (Nov 5, 2015)

Haha eRection!! Great report, thanks!


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## URBANMYTH (Dec 10, 2015)

Great find seems like a cool place for a snoop about


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