Overstone House, Northamptonshire - Jan 2012

[a_little_feisty]

Visited in the company of Priority 7, Ladyhayles, Breesey and Urbanekul. This was the last visit of the day after starting at sunrise at St Edmunds, followed by L&H Polymers, Nunn Mills, RCEW and finally Overstone House. A great chilled out day of exploring in good company and this place turned up a few surprises, some of which are shown in the last few pics of this thread.

Brief History:

The pile was designed in 1860 for Lord and Lady Overstone by William Milford Teulon but it took so long to build that Lady Overstone died before it was completed.

For its time, Overstone Hall was highly advanced, built with double walls, giving it the earliest known cavity wall insulation. It also had a central heating system called Mr Price’s Apparatus, gas lighting and a butler’s lift.

In the early 20th century it was rented by a shipping magnate who entertained lavishly, then it became a college, a girls’ public school until 1979 when it passed through speculators to the New Testament Church of God for £100,000 in 1980. Daventry District Council began to get anxious about the extent of decay last year and the conservation officer described it as being in a “perilous condition”.

The photos:

We are already planning a return visit ...

Thanks for looking

 

[Priority 7]

Very nice shots they were worth the wait. Good to meet you all and an enjoyable day too

 

[MD]

it is nice there
i like it do you climb the metal fire escape on the other side ? lol

fire escape by M D Allen, on Flickr

it comes away at the top

 

[urban phantom]

Great report the cellar looks good thanks for sharing

 

[TeeJF]

Nice one Fiests old bean!

 

[a_little_feisty]

Very nice shots they were worth the wait. Good to meet you all and an enjoyable day too

Thanks . . . and yes, yes I know it's taken me ages to get the report up . . . 1 down, 2 still to go!! :laugh:

 

[a_little_feisty]

it is nice there
i like it do you climb the metal fire escape on the other side ? lol
it comes away at the top

I saw it on the way in and then forgot all about it . . . I think Breesey climbed it though, he'll climb anything it seems

 

[Ninja Kitten]

looks a great place..lovely pics too

 

[Chris34]

Great stuff feisty, I couldn't find a way into the cellar the last time I was there

Did you risk trying the director’s office? I wanted to have a look in the filing cabinets but chickened out through fear of those timbers collapsing on me

 

[a_little_feisty]

Great stuff feisty, I couldn't find a way into the cellar the last time I was there

Did you risk trying the director’s office? I wanted to have a look in the filing cabinets but chickened out through fear of those timbers collapsing on me

We only stumbled across it as we were heading out

We can't have gone in the directors office as would have remembered seeing the filing cabinet . . . is it in one of the rooms off the area where the staircase is still standing, or is it over where the pianos are? Most of the doors off the staircase area were sealed off and the one at the top of the staircase was locked but had no floor beyond the door anyway. We had to clamber over a hell of a lot of stuff to get to that 2nd piano and ended up crawling out!

 

[Priority 7]

Great stuff feisty, I couldn't find a way into the cellar the last time I was there

Did you risk trying the director’s office? I wanted to have a look in the filing cabinets but chickened out through fear of those timbers collapsing on me

The high winds have brought down more of the remenants of the floor the directors office is slowly filling up with debris bud...

 

[UrbanX]

Wow that place is beautiful! Not see it before!
Stunning shots!

 

[Priority 7]

Not far from the other site you haven't done there yet bud couple more sites and the trip maybe worth your while

 

[maximus]

Lovely pics and a lovely location!

 

[losttom]

Good pics, i keep meaning to get over here as its not far from me

 

[a_little_feisty]

Thanks for the great feedback everyone . . . much appreciated :notworthy:

 

[Chris34]

We only stumbled across it as we were heading out

We can't have gone in the directors office as would have remembered seeing the filing cabinet . . . is it in one of the rooms off the area where the staircase is still standing, or is it over where the pianos are? Most of the doors off the staircase area were sealed off and the one at the top of the staircase was locked but had no floor beyond the door anyway. We had to clamber over a hell of a lot of stuff to get to that 2nd piano and ended up crawling out!

It was treacherous when I visited a year ago, but you've captured more than I did

The director’s office is on the ground Floor but as Mr7 says it sounds like it's really buried now

 

[Chris34]

The high winds have brought down more of the remenants of the floor the directors office is slowly filling up with debris bud...

That is a shame, I've always ment to re-visit

 

[Breesey]

I think I had a look in the directors office...the roof was considerably collapsed in there, and there were loads of Church donation books, didn't get over to the filing cabinets though.
I've got a few pics to add when I'm home, mainly the slightly surreal floating fireplaces and chimneys. And a shot from up the fire escape

Also, gutted I lost you guys just before you went into the tunnel! Still can't believe I missed that.

 

[Priority 7]

We are going back bud with lighting so no worries there