I’ve struggled to find much history on this place. It seems the government have no interest in publishing any history of the site, and locals are extremely cagey to even talk about it at all.
The site is massive, I’ve heard quotes of around 100 acres all in, which seems about right. A recent planning application proposes to re-develop on 10 of those Hectares into housing.
On Google maps I’ve counted around 75 buildings, mainly labs, but also houses, canteens, workshops, boiler houses etc.
Most of the labs were for poultry, and are arranged in rows, forming streets like this:
Internally, most were set around an open courtyard:
The cells were bare and practical: Waterproofed floors falling to a gully, with a single incoming pipe for water, a hatch for food, and metal fixings for cages.
Some on the labs were completely covered, they all however share rows upon rows of numbered sinister blue doors:
Just one of the many large open courtyards:
Admin building (one of many):
Despite all of the floors being in mint condition, and the windows still boarded, the roof was completely missing. Well, I say missing, most of it was on the first floor:
“Safe Innit” It had a key in the lock, unfortunately not the key to this safe.
Another ‘street’ of labs. Although much like a real street the buildings are all of varying ages and constructions.
The site can be navigated using the helpful signage:
Laboratory X
Exploring an abandoned “Government Animal Testing Facility” one expects to find some pretty unpleasant things. By now we’d wandered through maybe fifty labs, and so far nothing too appalling or shocking…until we came across this building.
We entered through a small crack in a door. The building had been completely boarded up, and was in darkness, this had created a pinhole camera effect. This was amplified further by the fact that our image was being projected onto a convex acrylic screen, creating a massive Camera Obscura, showing a live image of three men entering the building. Really Bizarre.
It was a lot more secure than the rest, not in an urbex sense, but in the ‘in-use’ sense.
Each of the cells had these convex viewing panels. Next to the viewing panel you can see the thick steel cell doors. These were triple locked (big, big locks). These led through a double airlock system, to a shower area which you have to pass through to get to the locked cell.
Looking out:
Retro-sterilising / vacuum machine. It’s easy to forget that you’re standing in a building which has lain derelict for 20 years.
Note also although the grille has fallen open, there is another behind it…and another behind that.
Whatever went on here, they really didn’t want anyone, or anything getting in - or out.
We began to notice that this lab was worryingly more ‘self-contained’ that the others. It was the only one with it’s own incinerators, and ‘post-mortems’ room.
All of the key switches sit in the same position they were left in in 1989. The Lambada had just broken into the UK top 10.
Soap still on the sink, 20 year old soap in the dispenser:
There are a couple of reports which were written at Houghton Grange available through either Harvard or Cambridge University (at £13 each). The abstracts are free, and most of them seem to be poo related. My favourite being “Incidence of Salmonellae in Faeces of dogs suffering from distemper” - H. Williams Smith 1950.
I think it’s time to leave. I need to clear my thoughts, maybe go find a pleasant country manor…
The Grange
Ah, here’s one! The Grange itself from afar. Despite it’s original beauty it has been flanked by yet more labs.
Back door:
Library:
Yet more labs attached to the grange:
Fancy a swim?
Grange from the front:
And from the beautiful rear garden:
Hope you enjoyed. It really is a massive, fascinating, yet haunting site I cant begin to do justice with 30 photos!
The site is massive, I’ve heard quotes of around 100 acres all in, which seems about right. A recent planning application proposes to re-develop on 10 of those Hectares into housing.
On Google maps I’ve counted around 75 buildings, mainly labs, but also houses, canteens, workshops, boiler houses etc.
Most of the labs were for poultry, and are arranged in rows, forming streets like this:
Internally, most were set around an open courtyard:
The cells were bare and practical: Waterproofed floors falling to a gully, with a single incoming pipe for water, a hatch for food, and metal fixings for cages.
Some on the labs were completely covered, they all however share rows upon rows of numbered sinister blue doors:
Just one of the many large open courtyards:
Admin building (one of many):
Despite all of the floors being in mint condition, and the windows still boarded, the roof was completely missing. Well, I say missing, most of it was on the first floor:
“Safe Innit” It had a key in the lock, unfortunately not the key to this safe.
Another ‘street’ of labs. Although much like a real street the buildings are all of varying ages and constructions.
The site can be navigated using the helpful signage:
Laboratory X
Exploring an abandoned “Government Animal Testing Facility” one expects to find some pretty unpleasant things. By now we’d wandered through maybe fifty labs, and so far nothing too appalling or shocking…until we came across this building.
We entered through a small crack in a door. The building had been completely boarded up, and was in darkness, this had created a pinhole camera effect. This was amplified further by the fact that our image was being projected onto a convex acrylic screen, creating a massive Camera Obscura, showing a live image of three men entering the building. Really Bizarre.
It was a lot more secure than the rest, not in an urbex sense, but in the ‘in-use’ sense.
Each of the cells had these convex viewing panels. Next to the viewing panel you can see the thick steel cell doors. These were triple locked (big, big locks). These led through a double airlock system, to a shower area which you have to pass through to get to the locked cell.
Looking out:
Retro-sterilising / vacuum machine. It’s easy to forget that you’re standing in a building which has lain derelict for 20 years.
Note also although the grille has fallen open, there is another behind it…and another behind that.
Whatever went on here, they really didn’t want anyone, or anything getting in - or out.
We began to notice that this lab was worryingly more ‘self-contained’ that the others. It was the only one with it’s own incinerators, and ‘post-mortems’ room.
All of the key switches sit in the same position they were left in in 1989. The Lambada had just broken into the UK top 10.
Soap still on the sink, 20 year old soap in the dispenser:
There are a couple of reports which were written at Houghton Grange available through either Harvard or Cambridge University (at £13 each). The abstracts are free, and most of them seem to be poo related. My favourite being “Incidence of Salmonellae in Faeces of dogs suffering from distemper” - H. Williams Smith 1950.
I think it’s time to leave. I need to clear my thoughts, maybe go find a pleasant country manor…
The Grange
Ah, here’s one! The Grange itself from afar. Despite it’s original beauty it has been flanked by yet more labs.
Back door:
Library:
Yet more labs attached to the grange:
Fancy a swim?
Grange from the front:
And from the beautiful rear garden:
Hope you enjoyed. It really is a massive, fascinating, yet haunting site I cant begin to do justice with 30 photos!
