# Noel's House, Oxfordshire July 2019



## mookster (Jul 13, 2019)

This is somewhere I really should have got around to seeing sooner, as it's a building I've found myself headed past innumerable times in the past and, for as long as I can remember, it's always been derelict. However it's one of those places that always gave off an iffy, indescribable 'vibe' to me as a kid, and I guess that reticence carried over to my exploring days. I finally saw some photos from inside a couple of weeks back and realised that it was actually a lot better than I was expecting it to be given the length of abandonment.

Some items inside suggest an abandonment date of around 1989, and this certainly ties in with my memories of always remembering it as a derelict house even back as a small child heading past the building. The decor certainly matches up with that too, as it's all wonderfully dated inside - the highlight of which being a glazed green tiled fire surround which is actually very nice indeed. Now we come to the strange aspects of the building. The ground floor layout is extremely unusual, there is a boarded over door which would have provided easy access from the dining room to one of the reception rooms, but as you can't get through that any more you have to go on a long-winded convoluted route through other rooms. There are two rooms with very low ceilings accessed up some stone steps, both of which are full of toys and other baby related items. There are Christmas decorations everywhere - numerous plastic trees, and dozens of decorations in piles about the place. There is also a trap set up behind the front door - a bookcase has been leant over onto a spirit level stood vertically with the top of the bookcase protruding across the door, so if anyone were to open that door the bookcase would come crashing to the ground. There were squatters in the building a few years back as evidenced by food packages left behind, so I guess this was their early warning alarm.

It turns out too, that after talking with my dad he has a connection to this house. He did some work for the last legal occupant of the house back in the early 1980s as he and a friend had a garage in a nearby town in the early 1980s. He'd always been fascinated by the house so was thrilled to see my photos from inside it.






































































































Thanks for looking ​


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## HughieD (Jul 14, 2019)

That's a pretty fascinating place Mook. And you are right. That fireplace surround is lovely.


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## Tammie (Jun 10, 2021)

Drove past here the other day. It is being restored and has an alarm system and cameras. Glad someone is redoing it


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