# Minley Manor Farm - July 2017



## RedX_unleashed (Jul 22, 2017)

Hello everyone 

Today's exploration report is brought to you from the abandoned Minley Manor Farm, a site that I've been meaning to visit for some time. A couple of months ago, I was searching around on Google maps for a completely different site when suddenly the farm came into view. Unfortunately I get distracted all too easily but finally I have gotten round to visiting the place. I wasn't disappointed 

*History*

The farm was built as part of a large manor, located further to the north, and was built by Henry Clutton in the 1860's. Very little information about the history of the farm exists online, but I think I can safely assume that it is currently being sold along with the manor itself. During the 1980's it was leased out to a riding school, but the buildings have been falling into serious disrepair ever since.

*The Explore*

If you ignore the reports of a gunman living at Sutton Hospital, then this is probably the most dangerous explore I have done to date, mainly because of the current state of the buildings. The place is quite literally falling down, and this is being accelerated by vandalism. Several parts have clearly been smashed up deliberately and there is evidence of fires being started in some of the rooms.
The closest railway station is nearly 3 miles away from the site - a distance I significantly reduced by cutting across country, but be warned. This route is not for the feint of heart, especially at 1 am in the morning. The explore began properly at around 2:45 am. I started out by recording video and then took the following photo's as the sun was coming up. You will notice more externals here than I usually post but this is only because of the nature of the place. Throughout the explore there was consistent (and fairly disturbing) banging coming from within the farm grounds. If you like this kind of scary thing, there's more in the video below. I still do not know what the source of the noise was.

*Video*




*Externals*

1. North gate



2. South side



3.



4.



5. One of the two out-houses



6.



7.



8. Entrance to the residential part of the farm.




*Internals*

9. One of the many fire places



10. Rear end of the entrance hallway.



11.



12.



13.



14.



15.



15b.



16. Into the stables



17. My kind of photograph 



18.



19.



20.



21. I'm still not entirely sure what this is for. Anyone familiar with the horsey life?



22.



23. Entrance hallway in out-house #1



24.



25. In this shot, I'm standing on the threshold of the second out-house. No floorboards! :O




As I left the grounds, I found out that I was being watched the whole time...





Stay safe people


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## Sam Haltin (Jul 22, 2017)

Nice photographs and interesting video. Pity the building is just about collapsing. Looks dangerous in places.


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## RedX_unleashed (Jul 23, 2017)

Hugh Jorgan said:


> Nice photographs and interesting video. Pity the building is just about collapsing. Looks dangerous in places.



Thanks buddy, glad you enjoyed. Parts of the building will likely stand for a very long time, particularly the corner towers that I believe were used for storage (seen in pictures 6 and 7).


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## prettyvacant71 (Jul 23, 2017)

Some lovely old red brick buildings such a shame they aren't being converted, looked rather a risky visit lol


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jul 23, 2017)

Very nice. As for the 'banging', a stable or farm building door mounted on the typical, single pin on door frame and bent strap on door, hinges does not need much wind to make the door swing back and forth. These hinges are usually so old and worn that the doors move very easily at the slightest 'push'. The family farm has half a dozen of the pictured cast iron feed troughs and they are used for feeding oats and drinking water.


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## smiler (Jul 23, 2017)

Must have bin a large farm/estate in its day, nice to see it still has it's bell tower, it was used to tell the farm hands when it was dinner time, home time etc, I enjoyed it, Thanks


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## RedX_unleashed (Jul 24, 2017)

Dirus_Strictus said:


> Very nice. As for the 'banging', a stable or farm building door mounted on the typical, single pin on door frame and bent strap on door, hinges does not need much wind to make the door swing back and forth. These hinges are usually so old and worn that the doors move very easily at the slightest 'push'. The family farm has half a dozen of the pictured cast iron feed troughs and they are used for feeding oats and drinking water.



I'm still trying to work it out, it's the not knowing that's totally killing me right now haha. I explored pretty much every area except the upper floors of the smaller houses, and I've gone back through all my footage in an attempt to triangulate the sound - no joy there.. The only way I can really be sure is with a return visit (and a windy day). If someone goes there soon and confirms it's not the wind, then it clearly means I've dodged a gunman and a ghost in 2 explores XD

Thanks for the info on the feeding troughs btw, at least that's one mystery solved


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## HughieD (Jul 24, 2017)

That's some adventure there. Just wondered why you started so early? I guess low light in these type of places makes them even more risky...


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## RedX_unleashed (Jul 24, 2017)

HughieD said:


> That's some adventure there. Just wondered why you started so early? I guess low light in these type of places makes them even more risky...



For a few reasons really. It started out this way mainly for the stealth, but yes for sure it's also more exciting if you at least begin the explore at night (in my opinion). As with many explorers, I wish to remain anonymous and never get caught. Not because I'm concerned of any consequences, I actually find these quite trivial, I just like the challenge of keeping a "clean sheet". Along with this, I don't really want to meet anyone at all while exploring and this includes other explorers - for two reasons. I have extreme social anxiety that comes and goes unpredictably and along with this, I'm a total introvert. I enjoy doing things alone more than with others. This doesn't mean to say that I never do anything with other people, it's just my preference not to. ( a very strong preference  )

I'm just scratching at the surface here but hopefully that makes sense. I'm pretty odd I know.


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## Mikeymutt (Jul 24, 2017)

Looks like that was a lovely place but looks a death trap now..but looks like you had a real adventure though


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## smiler (Jul 24, 2017)

RedX_unleashed said:


> For a few reasons really. It started out this way mainly for the stealth, but yes for sure it's also more exciting if you at least begin the explore at night (in my opinion). As with many explorers, I wish to remain anonymous and never get caught. Not because I'm concerned of any consequences, I actually find these quite trivial, I just like the challenge of keeping a "clean sheet". Along with this, I don't really want to meet anyone at all while exploring and this includes other explorers - for two reasons. I have extreme social anxiety that comes and goes unpredictably and along with this, I'm a total introvert. I enjoy doing things alone more than with others. This doesn't mean to say that I never do anything with other people, it's just my preference not to. ( a very strong preference  )
> 
> I'm just scratching at the surface here but hopefully that makes sense. I'm pretty odd I know.



If enjoying nosing around Derelict, abandoned places is odd then there is a hell of a lot of odd folk out there, I lost my clean sheet when I was twelve years old, sixty odd years ago, no big deal, I still don't have any criminal record and have bin nabbed uncountable times, you carry on doing things the way your comfortable with,. Stay Safe


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## Brewtal (Jul 24, 2017)

You got some nice pics there mate. Nice to see it at a different time of day. Gotta ask about what you said about Sutton Hospital though - where did you hear that? Just curious because myself and Gromr123 went recently. 

I totally get the whole solo exploring thing, for different reason though. I love going out with people I trust but there is nothing quite like the peace and quiet you get by yourself sometimes. I love deafening silence.


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## RedX_unleashed (Jul 25, 2017)

smiler said:


> If enjoying nosing around Derelict, abandoned places is odd then there is a hell of a lot of odd folk out there, I lost my clean sheet when I was twelve years old, sixty odd years ago, no big deal, I still don't have any criminal record and have bin nabbed uncountable times, you carry on doing things the way your comfortable with,. Stay Safe



Thanks Smiler. You truly are a legend amongst oddballs  And thanks for the words, they are comforting, even if my record is not. (don't worry, it's nothing too serious haha).


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## RedX_unleashed (Jul 25, 2017)

Brewtal said:


> You got some nice pics there mate. Nice to see it at a different time of day. Gotta ask about what you said about Sutton Hospital though - where did you hear that? Just curious because myself and Gromr123 went recently.
> 
> I totally get the whole solo exploring thing, for different reason though. I love going out with people I trust but there is nothing quite like the peace and quiet you get by yourself sometimes. I love deafening silence.



Hey man "there is nothing quite like the peace and quiet you get by yourself sometimes." It's hard to overstate how much I agree with this sentence apart from the word sometimes  I guess that's what makes this forum pretty cool... all the different angles 

Anyway, moving on to your question about Sutton Hospital. I helped another explorer gain access who went in a group. After they had gained access in the cafeteria area, they found a sign posted by someone who was clearly living inside the building. It read "Stay out, as I have a gun and no friends". Most likely it was an empty threat from a man who was extremely lonely and/or depressed who had nowhere to stay. I should add that these are psychological topics on which I know very little, but I had to take them seriously as various people were coming to me for access information on the site.


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## krela (Jul 25, 2017)

RedX_unleashed said:


> Most likely it was an empty threat from a man who was extremely lonely and/or depressed who had nowhere to stay.



More likely it was a homeless person who is fed up with having his space invaded by kids and "explorers".


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## Brewtal (Jul 25, 2017)

Or it's just the same teenage crap we see written everywhere that is trashed!


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## smiler (Jul 25, 2017)

RedX_unleashed said:


> Thanks Smiler. You truly are a legend amongst oddballs  And thanks for the words, they are comforting, even if my record is not. (don't worry, it's nothing too serious haha).


Michael
Legend amongst oddballs??? Not sure if I should complain to Admin or steal it as a tagline, As admin is definitely odd, I'll nick the line, Thanks


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## RedX_unleashed (Jul 25, 2017)

Hahah, Smiler you crack me up buddy 

About the guy living at the hospital who is claiming to be armed. Someone posted this on my video today

"XO glitter5 hours ago
The man who is claiming to be armed has left! I saw a post on 28 days later explaining that he had just recently !"

So I guess we're all fine to start going back there. Let the good times roll.


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## Rubex (Jul 25, 2017)

It certainly looks a creepy place at night in your video! That stable block is lovely


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## urban-dorset (Jul 26, 2017)

Nice work.

The place was being used to store Portaloos when I went there with TheVampiricSquid in 2014. Presume the bogs have gone now?


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## RedX_unleashed (Jul 26, 2017)

urban-dorset said:


> Nice work.
> 
> The place was being used to store Portaloos when I went there with TheVampiricSquid in 2014. Presume the bogs have gone now?



Thanks 

I can confirm the loo's are deffinetly no more. Were they there for use by the army? Probably wise they were removed anyway, only another target for vandalism.


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## urban-dorset (Jul 26, 2017)

RedX_unleashed said:


> Thanks
> 
> I can confirm the loo's are deffinetly no more. Were they there for use by the army? Probably wise they were removed anyway, only another target for vandalism.



No idea, they looked like the ones at festivals (Andy Loos)...


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## KatieW (Apr 7, 2021)

Update - demolition avoided - for now! 
*16th March 2021*

An application submitted by SAVE Britain’s Heritage to list a threatened Edwardian model farmstead in rural Hampshire has garnered support from national bodies and leading architectural historians including the (CPRE) the Gardens Trust and historian Mark Girouard 

*Marcus Binney, executive president of SAVE Britain’s Heritage says:* “Great country estates with their matching cottages, farm buildings and gate lodges built in a conspicuous style form memorable sights in the English countryside. The model home farm at Minley is a serious omission from the national register of listed buildings and deserves immediate spot listing in view of the threat of demolition."


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## urban-dorset (Apr 7, 2021)

KatieW said:


> Update - demolition avoided - for now!
> *16th March 2021*
> 
> An application submitted by SAVE Britain’s Heritage to list a threatened Edwardian model farmstead in rural Hampshire has garnered support from national bodies and leading architectural historians including the (CPRE) the Gardens Trust and historian Mark Girouard
> ...


Thanks for the update.


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