free hit counter
Leybourne Grange, October 2016 | Oblivion State Urban Exploration

Post a thread

Post a thread in one of the forums

Browse the forums

Browse threads and contribute to reports

Contact Staff

Contact the team

Leybourne Grange, October 2016

True_British_Metal

Full Member
OS Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Messages
66
Reaction score
127
Points
33
Solo explore.

"It can't be this bad. How can it be THAT bad? How can it be THAT ruined?!" were my first thoughts on this place. Fully demolished in 2010-11 with the exception of three buildings, what once was a site bigger than I could ever have expected was now mostly a leafy rural housing estate. All that remains of the original colony is the superintendent's house (well, a house behind the gardens), the clocktower and manor house.

If there's one type of place or era that's been talked about in exploring more than any other, it's the golden age of the asylum.Closing in 1996, at a time similar to the asylums, Leybourne Grange colony was often incorrectly labelled as an asylum and inevitably associated with the aforementioned golden age. I remember looking at this place in my early days of exploring (online, not in person), but I never ventured there mainly a. because it was too far away and b. far too trashed to be worthy. But at the same time, I always looked at the manor house and wondered what it was like inside, being one of the golden age sites. For years boarded on every floor and alarmed, I never saw anyone properly cover the inside apart from the staircase. So alongside another golden oldie, I decided to venture out there.

I got on site, and once again for no reason my nerves hit me. I was alone and had heard about the guards, but I otherwise had no reason whatsoever to be nervous. It was stupid, really stupid. Eventually I picked up the courage and went to the clocktower. The floors were among the worst I'd ever seen, and the building had lost most of its photogenic value so I only left with one photo of the clock mechanism.

30072922686_40ed0008c6_c.jpg


I did climb to the top to scope the site out, but forgot to take my camera. Silly me.

The fear hits me again, having seen two cameras covering the manor house and my potential access. Again, it was a now or never moment so I chose a harder but well covered way in to the manor house and got ready.
 

30072889726_06a5f6466a_c.jpg


By no means did I expect the mansion to be mint, no no. But THIS BAD?! Literally, crumbling to a point where I have to watch EVERY step? Yep. I came in expecting a moderate level of decay, but this was worse than anything I've ever done. Utterly ruined.

29993222142_f3411b31a8_c.jpg


30107378005_45e7cd1525_c.jpg


30072784656_743454e7e3_c.jpg


It goes to show; you can alarm a place to its rafters. You can board up every window, every door, but once dry rot or wet rot gets in it's like a cancer that just spreads relentlessly. I never thought it could be this bad, but years of fungal blooms running riot have turned this once-grand building into a fragile, ruinous shell.

29479215714_df238a95e8_c.jpg


On the whole, contrary to my expectations there wasn't that much to see inside but nevertheless some nice little details so as not to go home feeling empty handed and TOO disappointed.

29993124232_064ef449b2_c.jpg


29812456430_781bc735f3_c.jpg


29812425340_43a08e2c69_c.jpg


29479103474_0616e89bd3_c.jpg


30107260955_897307123c_c.jpg


The ground floor had all the interesting features, sadly. Upstairs were just more tags and bare, crumbling rooms.
 

29993008342_5f0363fb66_c.jpg


I had to watch every single step I made. How I didn't even put one foot wrong is a miracle.

29812342150_3065d0902b_c.jpg


30023520471_f973179138_c.jpg


The state of this place in a nutshell. That's not even damage caused by fire!

29992944162_4175f4af9c_c.jpg


Having seen everything, I ran back out and bumped into some local teens. "Have I been busted now?" I joked. Had a nice chat with them about the guard and how angry he'd been when he caught them. That didn't stop them going in many more times though; heh, I was lucky to not catch a single sight of him. "Nah, the guards don't work on Sundays" one said. Ha! Young explorers in the making? They asked me if I believed in ghosts too, which is to be expected to be honest. I told them that "the only ghosts I believe in are the guards you think are lurking at every corner but aren't there!"

On a final note, all the remaining buildings thankfully will get restored eventually. Nothing has happened with the clocktower except installing scaffold to stabilise it, same with the superintendent's house behind the gardens. As for the manor, scaffold and metal sheeting is over the top now; as far as I can tell if they're doing anything with the place it's securing the roof before anythign else. Either way, it's a herculean effort ahead.

Once again, thanks for reading through the waffle. Cheers,

True British Metal x

 

mookster

Full Member
OS Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Messages
934
Reaction score
360
Points
63
That is ruined but I like it, reminds me of Chateau Congo which is in a much similar state.

 

Urbexbandoned

Full Member
OS Full member
Joined
Aug 25, 2014
Messages
2,218
Reaction score
855
Points
113
Location
Lincoln
As much as it's trashed it's pretty photogenic. I like it too (y)  

nice report mate 

 

Maniac

OS Full member
OS Full member
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
1,269
Reaction score
324
Points
83
Location
Kent
WOW that is looking a right state these days!

I'm sure they were supposed to be doing something with this, but I guess developer got greedy/lazy and did the easy stuff leaving this to rot. 

 

The_Raw

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
3,931
Reaction score
2,183
Points
113
Battered but still charming somehow, like that staircase

 

The Wombat

OS Member
OS Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Messages
126
Reaction score
27
Points
28
Location
Leicestershire
Looks a bit dodgy in places... then that shot with no floor!

Excellent set of shots, liking that lots

 
Top