Tales of the Urban Explorer: Oaklands Mansion

in Urban Exploration4 years ago (edited)

Some of the sights I see are truly sickening, and more so when I see mindless violence unleashed on a lovely property for no reason at all.

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I didn’t know what this was called and tracked it down using a few give-away clues as it was doing the rounds on Facebook maybe 6 weeks ago.

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The plaque on the right-most pillar tells me it was named 'Oaklands' and must have been someplace once.

Located at the very end of a cul-de-sac its failing grace is that it sits back to a school. To name it ‘Mansion’ I think is appropriate as it sits in decent sized grounds and is gated.

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Otherwise, I know nothing about the history of why it has been abandoned and for how long. We got to it too late after the vandals had been in and what a mess they have made.

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Once inside we could see it was one of those properties that had truly been gutted. Even the plasterboard was gone in some rooms.

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Part of the house has roofing issues, that is holes up there. For something so modern this needs fixing quick or the upper floor will soon be subject to collapse.

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Having done so many of these I now know they don’t last too long if not maintained.

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The level of graffiti was ridiculous and not the good stuff either. How many lots of spray paint boys had this property been subjected too?

Gaining access to the upper floors was even more fun than usual, the bottom part of the stairs was completely gone!

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How or where they had disappeared to remains a mystery, but some kind of pallet hybrid had been placed in a handy position to help Urban Explorers up to the next level.

After a little struggling, we managed to get up and saw even more graffiti.

…'the graffiti dickheads had really gone to work on turning Oaklands into a mess'…

The house looked in worse condition inside than what you would imagine from the outside.

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Sections of it looked like some building work had taken place and then abandoned.

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The views from these bedrooms would have been amazing once, I wonder if the house could be salvaged?

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There was nothing at all inside regarding personal possessions, these were all outside as we discovered when entering.

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Exiting the upper level was a little more challenging; do you go backward or balance on the brickwork that is a little loose?

Jumping on to the landing area might seem a bright idea, but there is nothing supporting it. We got down safely without breaking anything on this occasion.

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The cellar may have held some treasures but it was so infested with ‘stuff’ that neither of us fancied heading down there.

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Structurally parts of the upper floor were getting a little ropey but I didn’t feel as though I was going to die on this one.

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It seems to be a recurring thing that all the possessions are thrown out of the house and stashed outside the property.

I recently visited another mansion and saw exactly the same thing; what is that all about?

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Some furniture, chairs, bedding and a TV that may still work were amongst the things I saw.

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Once the British rain comes (that's every other day), you can bet it won't work anymore.

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After a few externals of Oaklands, we left feeling a little sad. What was the story of this once lovely mansion and why had it been left in such a sorry state? We will never know.

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Visited May 2020 with @dizzydiscovery.

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I actually like this building! I share your feelings on this one....the view from that room... Gosh.... Breathtaking. I even like the entry, the way it looks on the outside. This would have been a great place in the hands of the right restauration team

Funny how stuff which is piled up and thrown away now might have meant the world somewhere in the past for someone...

I am getting addicted to your urban explorations, so excited to see what you reveal next

Have a great day!

Thanks for the comment @creativemary, I don't get to see many like this and was not expecting to gain entry. Someone had pulled some shutters off which may well be attached again now.

I don't know why all the stuff was sitting outside, weird isn't it?

Maybe they just wanted to get them out by any means. Who knows? People can do so many things for so many reasons

Such a shame! You may find out the story someday, though. Someone knows it!

I do try and find a story for all of them, couldn't find one on this occasion.

Managed to snap somebody else in that third shot? They looks like some fairly large foundations off the building.

That's @dizzydiscovery photobombing me!

That is a pretty new TV, so it can't be that old. At least in the past ten years or so. That does look like it was a pretty cool piece of property at one time. Might be worth it to buy the place, demo the house and start fresh just for the land. It sucks that people have to be so destructive.

It may be salvageable, I doubt I will ever go back to find out its fate.

That's damned lovely building. Such a shame it has fallen to ruin. The graffiti was ridiculous in its shortness!

It's not even good graffiti, it has now fallen off the radar. I wonder what it will be like a year from now? Not good I suspect.

Work all that open to the elements-ness it won't be good at all

Looks like it was, and could be again, a nice place.

Looks like the local kids came out to play with their crayons

Is that foundations for extensions at the back and side? Big if it is. Could be a lovely house, so strange to see it abandoned.

It looks to be that way, that would have made it huge. It could be a drug dealer now in jail, that's what becomes of some of these.

I guess some places are tied up legally. Would you buy it if you knew it belonged to a criminal?

What happens when he's out of the nick? Not likely!

It almost looks like it was under some sort of refurbishment, and it just stopped.

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I was not expecting that level of destruction looking at it from the outside. I was thinking a lot of cobwebs and making a few broken furnitures and all but damn. It definitely was an amazing house in it's time..

La verdad hay gente mala, el hecho de que estuviera abandonada no es motivo para que hagan lo que hicieron, es mucha maldad, gracias por compartir ,saludos.

Hiya, @ItchyfeetDonica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #903.

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