abandoned and burnt out bungalow featherstone

i was determined to go out and do something over this weekend and today was to be the day....until i woke up with a hangover from hell and saw the rain....but then there was a brief respite around 11 which cheered me up so i took the opportunity to take urbanjess (yep, renamed my faithful four legged german canine companion - pic to follow!!) for her constitutional prior to the days adventures...but then my heart sank as it started to rain on the way back to the car

....after an afternoon of audrey hepburn on sky classics i was getting stir crazy by late afternoon....but what was this?? the rain had stopped!! so i waited a while to see if it would hold out...so by around 5.30 i was ready to go, eos 400 round neck, tripod in one hand and instruction book for said camera in the other!

1st stop was to be featherstone ROC for a recce prior to a mooch with dr z (i'm sure we'll get there eventually!) i searched and searched couldn't find a way in (if anyone has any hints, tips or info please feel free to pm me) so prior to my next stop before i threw in the towel, bailed out etc decided to extend my search and have a drive around what i thought would be the approximate perimeter....on driving past the prison, something caught my eye through the fence...my curiosity was aroused!! this is what i saw....

was this part of the old rof or an abandoned settlement or farm or something, i pondered....

.....so curiosity getting the better of me i decided to park up and investigate further....imagine my surprise when upon parking up i realised i was in front of what appeared to be an old,disused driveway with part of a building visible through the trees.....

had i struck gold?? my 1st urban explore, plucked from nowhere and come upon by chance??
i carried on and here's what i found.....

this was in the driveway...

onwards and forwards....




i liked the contrast between the rest of the place and the left side of the building (if viewed from the front) this is taken from the rear looking to the front if that makes sense...







the left side and garage from the front this time...

Seems a interesting bungalow, clearly a modern build - looks 1980s to me. I wonder why it is how it is?

i did venture inside but nothing of any real interest and to be honest i bid a hasty retreat when my foot went through the floor and stuff started falling down in the resulting kerfuffle!! its very unsafe (in my opinion) and i'm surprised its not secure...i'm guessing that its been abandoned for a while judging from the garden, weeds etc but i'd say the fire is recent....

maybe not the most exciting of places but i enjoyed it and the unexpectedness (is that a word??) of it made it more appealing....besides which i enjoyed messing with the camera and getting a feel for it so apologies also for the shite pics!!

yay my 1st proper post!!

thompski said:

Seems a interesting bungalow, clearly a modern build - looks 1980s to me. I wonder why it is how it is?

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i really don't know but i'd be interested in finding out! i'm gonna stick my neck out and say that i think it was probably occupied by elderly people, the grounds went to rack and ruin, maybe one or both died, and person or persons unknown set fire to it for some reason?? chavs perhaps??

Personally I find it quite interesting, you don't normally get such modern buildings so ruined like this one.

What's the surrounding area like? Is it in an estate or on its own?

thompski said:

Personally I find it quite interesting, you don't normally get such modern buildings so ruined like this one.

What's the surrounding area like? Is it in an estate or on its own?

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strange one this... its not on an estate and i dont think its on its own if that makes sense?its almost in a country lane...maybe a bit of an enigma...its just down the road from the prison, quiet area, there is industrial units close by and opposite in fact, there is evidence of possibly more and older bungalows (see the pics that attracted me to it behind the fence) or at least buildings of some kind of possible residential use at some time or another....i do however think that there is more to this place than meets the eye because to the right of pics (that caught my eye) there is a clear track/ driveway of some kind behind some gates to the right of the buildings, meanwhile to the left of the driveway pics (where my car is visible) there is an even clearer path/ driveway/ access of some kind with metal gate posts either side that the more i think about it the more it asks for further exploration and investigation...

wonder what caused that massive structural damage to the garage

Mr Sam said:

wonder what caused that massive structural damage to the garage

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i dunno....but i'm curious about that too!!

Mr Sam said:

wonder what caused that massive structural damage to the garage

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Amazing that, eh! The way it just seems to have sheered off like that. Really interesting site, yamahapaul. Love the pics of the blackened beams.

Mr Sam said:

wonder what caused that massive structural damage to the garage

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Possibly a hit by a car?

is it built in an old mining area? Could be the ground sinking, disrupting the previous crappy modern building work forcing it to break like that. Maybe.. Just seen it in buildings before that have sunk and cracked that way.

GOD I hate new buildings!

did this building have a gas supply ? i noticed it couple of years back very well maintained but then one day gates left open and boards on windows downhill from then. spoted on google earth tha wall at the side of garage is leaning out a lot this may be what pushed the garage wall out when the building roof came in.

Very creepy, the house looks very suburban, almost like terry and june might have lived there, but tucked away from passing eyes. Very very creepy.

just a quick update on this post, driving past today noticing a fire at the site turns out that the building had been bulldozed and they built a fire out of the wood. not sure whats gonna happen now with the land but only time will tell

piles of new bricks there now

great textural shot this!

new house there now