# Lillesden/Bedgebury School for Girls



## DaveyGTI (Oct 18, 2009)

I've driven past this place loads of times and never noticed it was derelict, till last monday so yesterday morning, trusty maglite and DSLR in hand, off i went to explore! Originally this was a mansion built by the banker Edward Lloyd in 1855 where he lived up until the first world war, it was subsequently sold on and became Bedgebury school for girls lower school (the main school being between Flimwell and Goudhurst about 5 miles away) it then closed around 1999 and shortly afterwards the roofing lead was pikeyed causing a fair amount of damage inside, including a massive damp problem where a lot of the plaster is peeling off the lathes in great sheets, a temporary roof has now been put over the big hole by the developer, though whether they're actually going to turn the building into flats or just let it rot unti its unrestorable and knock it down for 'afforable houseing' whaich would be a terrible shame as there are some amazing examples of decrotive plaster work. The site consists of the main victorian manor, some newer wooden school buildings and a couple of mobile classrooms.







The inside of one of the mobile classrooms, where oddly enough in the middle of one of the classrooms I find a white plastic ice cream tub with sand inside obviously belonging to one of the former pupils, the name written on the side, out of all the possible names of students who could have been there, was the name of a friend who went there! how strange is that?






The Victorian manor






The canteen in one of the newer buildings






the first room I went into.






Decorative plasterwork, bearing what I assume is the schools motto or at least some helpful advice!






Peeling paint? no, peeling ceiling!











Does anyone find this a-peeling?  sorry...






The main stairway






The dome at the top of the stairs






There were lots of big mirrors all over the place, and most not smashed






The wall had a disease.....






The view from the top of the dodgy rusty fire escape that moved rather a lot, didn't realise till I was halfway up and by that point it was too late, so I went to the top anyway!


























braving pigeon poo I scaled the clock tower, not much left except this bit of the mechanism and some ringing hammers further up.











And eventually I found my way into the basement, by way of a small hole in a window, later discovering that I could just have walked down the stairs inside.






The interior of one of the newer buildings






The pool






The front of the building, such a waste, its a beautiful old building and would make fantastic luxury apartments, if I win the lottery I'm gonna buy it and live there.....


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## tom83 (Oct 18, 2009)

I love places like this, its a shame when they let them decay. Like you say they will probably wait until its totally destroyed, and then demolish it for housing.

Great report, love your pics


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## bricoleur (Oct 21, 2009)

Great stuff Davey. Thanks for sharing.

Damn my ankle!


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## J_a_t_33 (Oct 24, 2009)

Nice find, it's mad how buildings like this get left like that


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## mr_bones (Oct 24, 2009)

Really good to see another report of this place, it looks incredible. Any chance you could PM me the location? I went out to try and find it earlier in the year to no avail.


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## skittles (Oct 26, 2009)

It has planning for apartments according to one of the other sites


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## DaveyGTI (Oct 26, 2009)

yeah from what i can tell its had planning for apartments since about 2001 but nothings been done.


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## Indy500 (Oct 29, 2009)

> The front of the building, such a waste, its a beautiful old building and would make fantastic luxury apartments, if I win the lottery I'm gonna buy it and live there.....



Phwoargh! Get in the queue dude! 

If I win at the weekend, I'll let you have a room somewhere!


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