Tales of the Urban Explorer: Daresbury Hall

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(Edited)

“Look at all those Karens, not a chance of getting in that way"

We drove past the entrance of “Daresbury Hall”, an 18th-century Georgian properly in the middle of nowhere, that is beside an annoying row of houses, each holding its very own Karen with a straining neck and bulging eyes.

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Daresbury Hall is a former Georgian country house in the village of Daresbury, Cheshire, England. It was built in 1759 for George Heron.

The house is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. The mansion was badly damaged by fire in 2016.

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The elegant ‘Daresbury Hall’, before the damaging fire of 2016.
Source

Before the fire, ‘Zombie Manor House’ events were hosted within the grounds of Daresbury Hall. These have now ceased.

We ambled down a country lane weighing up how to access the grounds. It looked simple but finding somewhere to park was less so.

"These people are so fucking suspicious", I remarked to @anidiotexplores. A local 'Farmer Giles' had stopped his tractor and craned his neck backward as we parked up in a wide side road entrance.

"Fuck him, bloody country bumkins", I thought ignoring the whirring diesel smoke-belching monster that is the bane of regular motorists.

Now walking, we back-tracked for a quarter of a mile, vaulted a gate, a crumbing wall, and found ourselves in one corner of the "Daresbury Hall" estate.

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Talk about tension, it was one of those explores that had me going and started the adrenaline. We meandered semi-silently through dense gorse, bushes trying not to get tripped up, and eventually came upon a sorry-looking building.

@anidiotexplores had gone on ahead like a feverish jackal and left me behind.

where the fuck is he?

I didn't want to start yelling, the local security situation had not yet been assessed and there could have been on-site blokes walking around ready to frog-march us out of the front gates.

I could imagine those Karens, all sat smugly outside in their terraced cottages, arms folded spitting at us like scum.

'They came to burn it, they came to vandalise it, search them, chase them...', - the preconceptions we poor innocent explorers have to deal with.

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However, it was quiet and mildly disconcerting. I snuck around to the front and spotted an open window.

Being tall can occasionally be a benefit, and I remember my balls being squashed while straddling this window. Owww...., hopefully not another pair of ripped jeans.

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Inside was boring. It looked like a long row of basic houses, perhaps for the lowly peasants to live in while the lord of the manor lived in luxury.

Someone had concreted the insides making passage impossible; one room and a mysterious note.

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The Grey Squad? Was it one of the zombie groups?.., perhaps or a bunch of English-literate aliens was leaving notes about.

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I exited and backtracked to the safety of the back. It felt very open and exposed on the window side. I spotted @anidiotexplores who was ushering me through a damaged door.

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Someone had been having a good time getting pissed in here, a nice collection of beer cans.

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What’s with all the numbers?

This was the same block of houses, what I call 'peasant row', and was similarly filled with concrete.

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The middle section was inaccessible and could have housed a stack of burnt corpses for all we know.

We moved on, straddling anti-climbing fencing that was laughably ineffective, and headed deeper into the "Daresbury Hall" estate.

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"Dog Patrols" – We had heard not a bark, a yap, or a snarl. The threat was hardly working.

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They looked like decaying garages with nothing inside.

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My first impression of the grand “Daresbury Hall” was far from impressive. I could barely see it due to the mass of scaffolding encompassing its breadth.

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Surrounding the main course was a plethora of 'other buildings'. This rectangular chunk of concrete looked quite sealed.

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We peeked around the back, only to be met with a forest of spiky brambles. It seemed not worth the bother as another set of building contained a ‘way in’.

Not noticing the armadillo security system, we jumped suddenly startled when it began talking to us…

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"...You are trespassing, leave now; the police have been altered and are on their way, leave now this is your last warning..."

What did we do? We didn’t leave.., bollocks to that, but it did speed up our movement.

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Climbing in through the window, things were looking more familiar. That is in the sense that some graffiti was to be seen.

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If there is any ‘Residential Development’ going on, then it’s a tough call to see where.

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In the Zombie zone, we would need to take care, one bite, and it's over.

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The further in we got, the more ways to exit we found. Very useful if those ‘police on the way’ were going to start using their megaphones to coax us out.

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It looked like the main zombie hideout, we had to go investigate.

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One could be safe, rest, and lie down on... a large penis, lovely.

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The local décor was improving by the minute.

A comfy sofa and state-of-the-art desks manned with computers to control the hoards of zombies patrolling the woods.

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… but the computers were long gone and apart from a single smashed monitor we saw nothing.

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ZED looked like it could be fun. Being a zombie would likely be preferable to being a human.

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Why Mr. Metcalfe's personal literature is hanging around was a puzzle.

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Avoiding zombies takes solid equipment, that is empty cans of beer, fetid clothing, decaying boots and maybe there is a smidge of IT gear still hanging around.

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Hiding in the old swimming pool won’t save your arse, the water is long gone.

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Can you imagine the Lord and Lady Daresbury taking a dip? It would be great in summer with the free heat radiating via those roof panels.

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We viewed the route to the main hall from the rear. Full of brambles again, and what would there be to see inside?

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Time was getting short, a convoy of cops would soon arrive, complete with tanks, and choppers. We were trespassing, a truly hideous crime.

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Passing by the old security hut we saw nobody. It was cheaper to install those talking deterrents than 'rent' people to keep explorers away.

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What a fucking mess. Those arsonists had done a full job in wrecking yet another one of the UK’s historic stately homes.

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We didn’t have any inclination to jump the fence, manoeuvre around all that scaffolding to see… NOTHING?

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Taking a parting shot of ‘peasants’ row’ from the front, we backtracked our way out to the very corner we started from. No sirens, no choppers, no jets; what an anti-climax.

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44 comments
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It looked stonking good before that fire. The graffiti was entertaining at least if not very arty;

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Like a posh London Town house with those anti-ram bars. One of the worst transformations I have encountered.

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It won't be long before they are selling such transformations to the silly rich 🤣

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Are there real zombies because I only get to watch them in movies. The police cop weren't able to meet you guys there and your jeans did tear up while passing through the window 😄

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Jeans survived on this occasion, I have ripped more than one set in the past.

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Well at least it had some variety in the buildings. The numbers are strange. Could it be some form of bingo game? Just watch out for those zombies!

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The numbers could be zombie related. The surrounding buildings I think were already quite derpy when they did these 'fests'.

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Anti-climax supreme... no one chased you, not a zombie in sight let along a plod man fighting their way through the brambles. Perhaps similar reaction when arsonists set fire to it, just another "rich" mans house not in use.

Talk about inheritance, big fail, burn it, deface it why not? Families lived in those small rows of homes behind, close proximity to beck and call of the rich, not much changed over the years.... has it!

!BEER

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Families lived in those small rows of homes behind, close proximity to beck and call of the rich, not much changed over the years

Just a guess. England was feudal system once, the landowners and peasants, and the date of original is firmly within that period.

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Yup, bet our ancestors lived in those small rows of homes, no silver spoon for peasants...., just work to feed family.

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The 'peasants quarters' are in better condition than the hall, it was knackered!

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Bigger area more to clean, keeping ship shape small dwelling stands the test of time by the sounds of it.

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(Edited)

Looking at those numbers on the wall, they all relate to (Supposed) Satanic references. I'd seen 616 before. It is loosely explained here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/616_(number)
To be honest, you have some higher educated yobs than you normally get in the vandal community. 🤣

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I'll be visiting another 'Satan House' soon, with numbers everywhere. They always amuse me, fucking dickheads! hehe...

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That one room almost looked like it was an old school room or something like that. Either that or they just wanted to hang the alphabet so they could remember their letters! Looks like this wasn't horrible even though it was a bit hectic. I wonder if the Karen's really don't care as much as you think they do! Maybe you just aren't that important :)

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It was more a rush than a photographic exercise. The swimming pool was cool, I don't see them often.

I wonder if the Karen's really don't care as much as you think they do! Maybe you just aren't that important :)

Oh they do, they are born interfering twats.., @grindle will tell you.

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That swimming pool was pretty cool. Reminds me of something you would see in a movie.

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i gave up on this about 5 yrs ago, due to the fucking neigbours, and its a bastard to park

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I can show you where to park, it's not a drag getting to it, and the grounds are quite easy to access. Message me if you are interested via 'the other way'. This one is more a rush than anything else.

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Those homes looks very spooky, infact i recommend they use it for horror movies it's going to make a lot of sense. How do you find all these spooky homes @slobberchops they always look deserted.

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How do you find all these spooky homes @slobberchops they always look deserted.

That's kind of inside information, you can find them if you look hard enough.

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LoL, it was almost sounding like you being sarcastic but not intentional in my country especially in my vicinity ain't going to see such just an abandoned building with block's made out of cement, There is no use looking for what i will definitely not find and for the record your content is top notch.

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I know it was quite terrifying for you when @anidiotexplores left you behind. If it was me my hearth gona be beating hard.

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You write this so well, love to read it.

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The Grey Squad? Was it one of the zombie groups?.., perhaps or a bunch of English-literate aliens was leaving notes about.

This part made me laugh.

You got me quite riled up with the armadillo talking to you, has that happened in many of these places or is it only becoming more prevalent now? It almost sounds like you were disappointed that there weren't any zombies but even more so when you decided to leave and their weren't any tanks waiting for you outside 🤣

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It's the second time we have had a talking armadillo, not the animal but the 'armadillo security system'. We ignored the other one as well, nobody turned up!

The zombies, none since around 2012, sadly all gone 😞

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You guys are going to keep looking for the zombies. I suspect you'll find those armadillo security systems more regularly instead of security guards as everything is becoming more electronic. I'm glad you gave them the finger and carried on with your exploration.

The zombies, well I've found a few in my days, but they were just dumb fucks who didn't bite people...I still count them though 🤣

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(Edited)

Some of them are silent ones, but then when secca arrives you know they are working. This happened at a Mental Hospital in Stockport.

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Whoa that was a close call but I think you guys have a lot of luck on your side, I mean the fact that you got out of the climb, met a friendly security guard, didn't strip search you and you guys didn't fall through the floor? Are you playing the lottery? You might not get zombies or ghosts but you might get a couple pounds 🙂

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Seeing those cans of beers seems someone has been hanging out there before with a broken heart perhaps?😂.

someone up there needs to pick me up and number 666 give me cringe feeling😬.

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Seeing those cans of beers seems someone has been hanging out

A bunch of teens getting pissed likely, though the location is very rural. Gangs of teens don't tend to exist in places like this.

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(Edited)

"Someone had been having a good time getting pissed in here, a nice collection of beer cans." ha ha haaaa.... :))

"One could be safe, rest, and lie down on... a large penis, lovely." haaaaaa haaaaa haaaa :))

Gosh, thank you very much indeed for sharing.... You make my day with these always funny and interesting articles....

!PIZZA

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This is crazy!!
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I can't even imagine how this happened, and over what period of time. 😂

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Another nice explore. It looks like a great site for the zombie experience.

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