# Bramham House, Yorkshire, June '09



## boxfrenzy (Jun 19, 2009)

BBRRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG! BBRRRRIIIINNNNGGGGG!
The phone didn't ring on Friday night.
"Hi, is that Rich? It's Charlotte from Perfect Urbex Match.com. I think we've got a perfect date for you."
"You're joking?" I sat up in the chair. "No way..."
"She seems to meet all of the criteria you put on your profile. Interesting staircase, natural decay, urbex phone, wooden panelling, roof access, scary basement. You name it, she's got it."
I thought for a moment.
"Sounds good, in fact, very good." I replied. I paused, and tentatively, in a quiet voice asked the next question. There was a delay, and then voice on the phone replied.
"Yes of course Sir, I believe she is a virgin."

We were off, to Bramham House, outside Leeds. It had been the very first place I had been to eight months ago. Then it was shuttered and sealed. Today, we struck gold. This beauty had been built in 1806.






By the mid nineteen sixties 5 residential house parents lived there, 3 non residential house parents, a daily domestic staff consisting of cook, seamstress, gardener and 4 cleaning ladies, together with a lady to iron. Many of the domestic staff were from the small, picturesque village of Bramham. Here they all are, outside the now overgrown front door.





Inside the front door, half a telephone sits on a beautiful radiator. There was no dial tone. The door to the left leads to the old ballroom. It was later used for the dining room. The food was eaten in silence, and delivered from the kitchen using the dumb waiter.





We decided to go upstairs first. The house was wet, and the carpets waterlogged. The parquet floors, once polished and shiny were water damaged and lifting.





Underneath the peeling plaster archway, a small flight of steps led up to the oak pannelled Rose room, later a five bed dormitory. The room was damp, the windows on beautiful glass dome above broken.





We took some pictures and moved on.





Heading upstairs, I hoped the landings were fairly secure. The carpet oozed rainwater and the smell of decay pervaded the house. Below, the staircase snaked down to the hallway.





Upstairs were more dormitories. Wall paper from the late 1970's and 1980's peeled and hung from the damp walls.





The home closed in 1984. Some of the dormitories had some furniture inside. Warderobes, chairs and a settee remained.





It was nice to see urbex cliches at every turn.





Emergency Ward 10 anyone?





Another dormitory. The warderobe had fallen over. More lovely wallpaper.





Some of the corridors were dark.





A tiny staircase led upwards, past the lift machinery.





Wonderful yellow sandstone tiles. Stolen by nasty people. Because of them, the house has probably had it.





Time was ticking on, and we headed back down inside the children's home. I was disappointed to have missed a tiny room under the stairs with a large trapdoor in the middle. Apparently it leads to a deep well below the house. That's another great photograph I haven't taken. In the dark, the torches picked up a flight of steps leading in to the basement. Down here was much cooler. The rooms were very dark. Storerooms, a large kitchen and a scullery led off the corridor. Old tables were in the corridor. 





Back up and an old sewing machine in the Superintendant's lounge.





Leaving, I took a last picture, headed out through the empty playroom, once the old library, and disappeared.



​


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## lost (Jun 19, 2009)

Real shame about the tiles going missing, looks like a cracking place.


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## Lightbuoy (Jun 19, 2009)

Good stuff BF -love that glass dome. You got some very nice pics -cheers for sharing!


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## swedish (Jun 19, 2009)

excellent find boxfrenzy, real nice find...wished id of known bout this last week when i wa in leeds...some really nice shots an a decent report.. good work


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## Krypton (Jun 19, 2009)

Great pics and great write up. It really makes a difference having a good write up.


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## Alir147 (Jun 19, 2009)

that is stunning. very nice work.


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## Landie_Man (Jun 19, 2009)

What a shame, looked like a lovely house


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## Foxylady (Jun 20, 2009)

What a gorgeous house...loving the glass dome amd that funky wallpaper. 
Lovely pics as always. Excellent find, Box.


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## Trinpaul (Jun 20, 2009)

Fascinating  and I love the roof shot


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## pet_rubber_duck (Jun 20, 2009)

*wow*

wow wow wow wow!! Just my cup of tea, and fantastic photos!  thank you for sharing!


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## borntobemild (Jun 20, 2009)

fantastic pics. Beats me how someone can let a place as beautiful as this just rot away.


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## Monkey Boy (Jun 20, 2009)

borntobemild said:


> fantastic pics. Beats me how someone can let a place as beautiful as this just rot away.



It's criminal isn't it? What a beautiful house.


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## Castledown (Jun 21, 2009)

Wow ! What an amazing looking place, brilliant pictures too, would love to make it here sometime... thanks for a great report!


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## mexico75 (Jun 22, 2009)

Excellent find Rich, that place is great, can't believe how untouched it is


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## freebird (Jun 23, 2009)

Excellent report and nice to see the place. What a shame it has fallen in to such a state!


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## boxerheaven (Jun 23, 2009)

very nice pics


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## escortmad79 (Jun 23, 2009)

Cool looking place


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## Amiee (Jun 25, 2009)

I really like the look of the house, looks lovely from the outside, and from what It proberly was to what it is today is such a shame!

Great pics though


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## Digitographer (Jun 28, 2009)

Terrific pictures, and your words brought the place to life.


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## james.s (Jun 28, 2009)

Digitographer said:


> Terrific pictures, and your words brought the place to life.



I couldn't agree more


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## Elmete Rob (Jul 3, 2009)

So many grand victorian houses around Leeds are left to end up this way. I dont know if Leeds is particulary bad for it or if other cities are the same, but so much of the once proud history of the city is left to fall away to nothing.

Very similar recent history to this place as to Elmete Hall (search the forum), a grand gentlemans residence taken over by the local authority, used as a childrens home and then left to the thieves and the elements. So very sad.

Great story and nice pictures, you seem to have a lot of background on the place.


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## Marley85 (Jul 3, 2009)

I love the wood cladding on the top pics.


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## inveigh (Jul 3, 2009)

Very very nice! What a beautiful house.


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## paulfowler (Sep 12, 2009)

such a nice building, it will b a shame to see what will happen to it as everything around it is being made into flats / houses
Will have to make a trip back before it goes!.


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## smileysal (Sep 13, 2009)

What a wonderful building, it's such a shame to see it in the condition it's in with the roof tiles missing. 

Love the wallpaper, and fireplaces, and the dome. In fact, love the whole place, it looks gorgeous, even in it's present state. Excellent write up, and good work on finding the old pictures of the building with the children there too.

Excellent work BF, I do like this, I like this a lot. 

 Sal


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## bayzer (Sep 30, 2009)

I bet that was a once beautiful house now ruining by theft of roofing and left to rot.
Thank you for sharing these wonderful pictures and the info you put up is an added bonus


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## Lusker (Oct 3, 2009)

Very cool pictures love the orange tones in tha rooms


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## Black Shuck (Oct 3, 2009)

Excellent just excellent Box.


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## Daydreamer (Oct 7, 2009)

Fabulous pics.


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## rwalton159 (Oct 10, 2009)

Are these really pics of Bramham House nr Leeds?

I found this site which says the place is open: http://www.bramhampark.co.uk/VISITING/HOUSE/

?


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## smileysal (Oct 10, 2009)

Just found some history on this website. 

http://www.bramham.org.uk/bhouse.htm

Here's more info on the children's home. 

Bramham House Children `s Home.

After acquiring the house in 1947 , and as a result of the Children's Act of c. 1948 , the West Riding C.C. opened a home for children in unsafe or unhappy family circumstances . All the brothers and sisters of a family were kept together at Bramham House , which was not used at this stage as an institution for maladjusted or delinquent children.

Thus it became, for as long as necessary, their family home, under a succession of administrators: Mr. & Mrs. Holmes, Mr. & Mrs. Bradbury, and finally, under this WRCC regime, Mr. & Mrs. Hale , who has added a note on the Home in their time.

On local government re‑organisation in 1974 Leeds took over the running of the Home , as a result of which the admission policy changed. The Hales left, and thereafter children on remand and delinquents were admitted to join the family groups still present. This caused many problems. A description of the life of the children's home was written for the Archive by Mrs. Hale, as above.

_Some history from a child who lived there. 
_

http://www.bramham.org.uk/bhouse2.htm

Hope that helps?

 Sal


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## boxfrenzy (Oct 10, 2009)

Cheers Sal, that is indeed the correct one.
Bramham Estate, where the Leeds Festival and the Bramham Horse Trials are held are fairly nearby. There were a couple of abandoned houses on their estate.
Hope Hall, which is now being renovated.
















And this wonderful house, which sadly was inaccessible, mainly due to a lot of cameras etc.










Thanks for the nice comments folks.


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## smileysal (Oct 11, 2009)

I love those last two pics of the other house. Hope all of the buildings get renovated soon, and put back into use. They're too good to be just left to rot. 

 Sal


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## rwalton159 (Oct 11, 2009)

smileysal said:


> I love those last two pics of the other house. Hope all of the buildings get renovated soon, and put back into use. They're too good to be just left to rot.
> 
> Sal



I agree.

I'm confused over what the house is really called that I know as Bramham House?


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## Gangeox (Oct 11, 2009)

rwalton159 said:


> I agree.
> 
> I'm confused over what the house is really called that I know as Bramham House?



I think the house you know as bramham house is actually bramham park, i dont think the house in the park is actually called bramham house. (i could be wrong though) 

Heres a link to the park: http://www.bramhampark.co.uk/HISTORY/


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## Dirus_Strictus (Oct 11, 2009)

The main house on the Estate is called Bramham Park, this was reduced to a burnt out shell in 1828 and finally restored just prior to WW1. Not complicated so long as one remembers that the Lane Fox family live in a house called Bramham Park which is situated within the Bramham Estate. Bramham House, the derelict former children's home and subject of this report, was built as a private house in 1806 and was only owned by the Lane Fox Estate between 1814 to 1856. Originally purchased as a small estate for the son of the Estate's 'incumbent' at that time, it was used as the family seat after the 1828 fire.


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## andreapalmer (Jan 20, 2010)

*bramham house childrens home*

as an ex resident, leaving the home in 1977, i was heartbroken to see my old childrens home in its present state, i left as a mixed up 15 year old to move on to foster care


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## andreapalmer (Jan 20, 2010)

*bramham house/bramham park*

as a 14/15 year girl, i was in bramham house, during which time i worked at bramham park for the lane foxs, i would help in the cafe or where ever i was needed on weekends and school holidays, they were very kind to me


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## andreapalmer (Jan 20, 2010)

*bramham house childrens home*

i was in bramhouse as a young teenager, it was called bramham house, not bramham park, that was the big place on bramham park over the other side of the a1


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## boxfrenzy (Jan 20, 2010)

Cheers Andrea, it is always nice when people who lived and worked in these place provide more information about the place.


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## andreapalmer (Jan 20, 2010)

[i was one of the children who lived there, it was beautiful,....breaks my heart to see whats happened to it


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## miss_cakes (Jan 20, 2010)

love your report  hope i can find something like this one day soon


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## misspinky (Mar 10, 2010)

is it still there and available to get inside? i hope to visit in a few weeks


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