Tales of the Urban Explorer: Garrett Hall

I am getting to the point where I am thinking ‘Tales of the Burnt Explorer’ may be more poignant. Read on…

“Clarkey has done a new video… Garrett Hall”, @anidiotexplores was telling me over Facebook chat.

The Urban Collective” aka Jason Clark, a GoonTuber who admittedly shoots very entertaining videos full of swearing and over-dramatics had indeed published new content.

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While I can't bring myself to watch ALL of his videos, Mr. Clark does often have me sniggering at his over-the-top dramatics involving old bottles, fag packets, and cobwebs.

..."Look at these guys, a pack of real No.6 fags from 1977, that's fucking amazing.. oooooooooooo'...

For the record, 'Fags' are '*Cigarettes in the UK, though the terminology may well now be dated.


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...'Garrett Hall was recently torched, The UK has way too many Firestarters'...

In any case, we needed to visit Garrett Hall, a former manor house after the embers had burnt away. It had recently been subject to an arson attack and we realised that little would probably remain.

The linked article describes Garrett Hall as ‘a Grade II listed building that had fallen into disrepair.

Sounds like our kind of place I was thinking…

Plans also include a further six flats and 33 terraced and detached houses, which would also be built on the land off Garrett Hall Lane, with the council set to decide the outcome of the application later in the year.

Well, that idea is well and truly fucked, unless the residents want to be in fear of falling through cinders on the upper floors during their sleep.

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...'Garrett Hall in better days, even the sun is shining'...

We arrived on a dull morning on Friday hoping the neighbours would be at work. A quick hop over the fence and we strode toward the old manor house like we owned it.

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There were no cries of 'HOY!!" from the on-looking houses and besides some builders in the next plot of land it appeared devoid of humanity.

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Taking care to avoid the diggers and trucks we approached from the opposite end and ignoring the signs on the gate marched into the grounds.

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"Let's check the cow sheds first?", I offered to @anidiotexplores who was dying to get in the derelict wreck we could now see close up. There could have been a stash of stolen swag or a few hastily offloaded nine-bars inside.

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I can’t see this being related to the major blaze, probably some kids messing around.

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Like most farm outhouses, they were in bad condition. Nobody gives a toss about animal welfare in this country. They freeze outside and get soaked in our incessant rain.

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The previous owners had left the milking equipment behind. No doubt its expensive clobber. It wasn’t keeping us entertained for long in there, and we were soon approaching the old manor house.

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What do you expect? relics from the First World War, nice fireplace though.

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Now if you close your eyes a little and squint slightly, this could be incorrectly identified as a Cinnamon Swirl from your local Starbucks that has gone off slightly.

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Besides fire residue, I would say they are perfectly serviceable.

This room was a mystery and the only place we could not enter. The door was locked and it looked to have escaped the blaze.

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I could squeeze through one of the holes at a push but to what end? There was nothing inside!

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All modern units, the kitchen had mostly escaped being burnt to a crisp and now had that 'natural charred look'. This could well become a future style I figure?

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What a view when you’re washing the dishes. We just needed the sun to shine and it would be delightful.

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Other areas were slightly less desirable.

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Not my choice of colours and little left besides the Costa cup.

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Now, what are these, any ideas anyone?

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I was not going to fall for it and take the bait.

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The bathroom had fared badly, the bathtub giving things away. That horrible colour scheme again.

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This is what I call audacious behaviour. You tip the petrol cans contents into one room, dump the empties here, light the fire and then scram. Why else would they exist?

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It's a cool front door, you could cut your fingers on those sharp studs.

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I could see our trip upstairs was going to be fun. Often the steps are full of shit and it’s like trying to climb a slide from the bottom.

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Not an issue for yours truly, sometimes you need to take a run and hope your momentum holds out. Using the bannister for stability purposes is a terrible idea.

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Stepping any further was inadvisable. You never know what's lurking under those old fallen tiles. Deadly traps such as large gaps of fresh air wait in lie for the unsuspecting explorer.

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The cellar was frankly quite boring. It’s not always the case and you still need to peek down there.

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Paper bags, old cider cans, and slimy mud underfoot are common inhabitants.

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The room must have been the centre of the blaze.

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We found a secondary staircase but there is a line I simply won't cross. I could hear the crack of the burnt stairs before I set my foot on them.

Examining the press article, it was approximately 2 weeks before our visit when Garrett Hall went up in smoke.

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I have found from previous experience this is a decent time to explore. Any earlier and it will be swarming with cops, later and the new security team has moved in.

Grapevine intelligence informs me that this has now happened. What is there to secure… Milking equipment or fans of Cinnamon Swirls?

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If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, rehive, engage me or all of these things.



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They still say fags up here!!

I didn't even have to squint to set the cinnamon roll! :0D

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I also think that the logs are still burning (

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(Edited)

They still say fags up here!!

Do they? I will need to ask @anidiotexplores who smokes (usually not tobacco ;))

The Cinnamon Roll looks mighty tasty don't you think?

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Mmm. I would say it almost had me hungry.... almost.

Yeah, peeps I work with still go out for a fag so I presume that's what they are doing. Lol!

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I am surprised that you went up the stairs that you did. I don't know as though I would have trusted them after the fire was all around. Pretty sad that this place had to get torched like that. It likely had some decent stuff in it before it all went up in smoke.

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I don't know as though I would have trusted them after the fire was all around.

I tend to get a feel on how much I can push things. Not fallen through a staircase yet!

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You probably weigh much less than I do too!

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I'm gaining a few pounds, not a good shape to be in when exploring. Learning to climb again was very hard.

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I think that the old kitchen closet was made of a strong tree so that it could stay for a long time at a home, despite fire :)

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yes, kitchen furniture made of solid wood. Probably it was treated with a special solution from ignition.

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The door must have been closed, it was close to the source of the blaze.

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(Edited)

It's a shame this place burned down.🔥
This is the worst place I've ever seen lol..
Although ... probably one of those that I saw before the war in Ukraine! Now there are many such places in Ukraine ( 💙💛
But not about that!
This is a very cool place. Good for horror films.
Cool pics!
Well done) 👏🏻

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Now there are many such places in Ukraine

Not something I want to compare, it makes me uncomfortable knowing what you guys are going through. Take care over there.

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Calling cigarettes "fags" will always sound strange to me.

That cinnamon roll comparison is hilarious haha. It totally looks like that.

The front door is actually really cool. It reminds me of a medieval door to a castle dungeon or something.

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Calling cigarettes "fags" will always sound strange to me.

Its always been that way here! I had to get used to the 'other' meaning later in life.

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Yeah if you grew up with it, it would sound normal for sure.

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Burnt to a cinder to say the least, fag is right description!

Poor animals not nice housing either!

!BEER
!WINEX

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Poor animals not nice housing either!

There are many barns rotting away. Often I think I have found something and it's a pig barn... yeuch!

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More people with few farming.... Now where is that bacon?

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lmao I fucking LOVE the BAIT drawer. That's fantastic.

The whole place after the fire looks like something straight out of Fallout. That's so cool. Shame the place got torched by dumbasses though.

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(Edited)

The whole place after the fire looks like something straight out of Fallout.

They are quite surreal to be in.. these places. Take your breath away at times.

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Thos pipes look like Industrial quality ABS fittings for sewers. Or maybe they were making the perfect huffing apparatus for all of those cans of gas???

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Often I see things, and don't know what they are. Why are they there.. is the question? There was little else inside the main building.

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If I ever got into urban exploring, I'm positive this is how I'd get caught.

There would be something unique in the dwelling. All the authorities would need to do is see who is Googling for a Black, 8" diameter ABS pipe with 5" X 1/2" treaded rods. Or something similar like that.

Either that or I'd get caught in the building, obliviously examining something. Trying to discover it's backstory sheerly by force of will. ;-)

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This is why I never take anything. It's generally damp, wet and soggy anyway!

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the idiot sure takes you to some right derpy derp derps

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I like to get my hands and feet all charred up, it's some kind of deviant trait that crept up on me from behind 😃.

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and once it has hold of you it never lets go

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Amazing how good the door is !
!LOLZ

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'Pack of fags' can mean something quite different in some countries.

Shame it got burnt out. Do you still get life for arson? I wonder how many get caught.

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We are far too lenient with sentencing IMO. I think part of it is the fact there's no space in our jails. The Americans are much harsher, but they have guns over there, and there seems to be even more crazies than here.

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Well some arsonists are likely to have mental issues, but then we fail on caring to those illnesses too. The prison system is fucked up, but nobody wants to be seen as being soft on criminals.

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A shame that you didn't get un before the fire. Looks like it was a good old building before they ruined it.

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What good photos you took of that house, I liked every detail of each photo, exploring is something that I like for sure you enjoyed this experience a lot

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Really enjoyed the virtual tour. There are lots of burned out buildings to explore in Detroit, but that's an adventure for other adventurers.

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I was thinking cinnamon roll before I flipped to the next pic... No squinting is needed. I must have been hungry. I don't know many that smoke anymore. Everyone has gotten older and quit... or they just go out for a smoke, proudly as it is legit to do it. Now, they are all into growing your own. :)

I digress.

That barn was in pretty sad shape, I can't believe that someone didn't try to salvage the milking equipment, don't they use that kind anymore? The barns here in the US are better than some of the old farmhouses. The livestock are worth more than the house nowadays.

That looked pretty burnt out and I hope you got something out of it. I thought the cellar was the best looking although it had nothing of note. If the entire house was in that shape before the torch, it was pretty nice.

Timing is everything. You have it almost down to a science with when to do what. Interesting explore, but, I would love to know what they get out of destroying with fire? It could burn there and then keep going - to another house.

Those stairs!!! Yikes!

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I think that equipment is still used, but I am no farmer. I am sure it's not valueless. The stuff that people leave behind.

Firestarters? I don't know.. but there's plenty of them around over here.

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Darn your bio and your last words (the ones about the Saliva) are almost as good as your article 😁

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You are braver than I would have been. Especially going upstairs. What would you have done if they collapsed and you were hurt? I saw your post on ListNerds because a ListNerd member shared the link to your post link in an email. If you are not already a member of ListNerds, you may want to consider joining and get the same benefits as the person who shared your link. I would love to see more of your posts

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I rarely go alone, for one.. it's boring, two.. you are braver with a partner and finally.., if things go to shit you have backup. If I fall through the stairs.., well I do. That might be the end of my exploring career.

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So this is what you get up to in your spare time, are you trying to muscle in on Keith Lemon's Through the Keyhole, it would be right up his street, what with fags, studs and bait.

Ooooh Matron.

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Being doing this for a few years now. There's nothing quite like it, and it needs to be experienced to fully understand that.

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The fire in this one almost made me cry, not sure why. I suppose that is the beauty and tragedy of these wonderful posts and the great work all of you 'adventurers" do. In a way it's like you are time travels traveling both into our past and sadly into our bleak futures. You do good work @slobberchops

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In a way it's like you are time travels traveling both into our past and sadly into our bleak futures.

Some of them are quite surreal. I feel as though I am walking through Hell without the demons!

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Excuse me but who the fuck is wasting any sort of petrol these days to start a fire!?

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wasting any sort of petrol these days to start a fire!?

It was before the war, gas was ever so slightly cheaper then. Not that it has made a difference. I was in another living charred hell just yesterday... twice.

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Could it be that you are actually just narrowly missing the flames of hell on a daily basis?

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Hell has some of the finest scenes.., I like burnt out wrecks.

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