Urban Exploration - Allsprings House

We are Urban Explorers, we are not vandals. We take nothing besides photographs and leave nothing but footprints.

Sometimes you can find something interesting on your doorstep and ‘Allsprings House’ is just that. An abandoned gothic looking mansion that from what I can gather has been empty since the 1950’s.

It did take me three attempts to gain access to the grounds, attempt one being foiled by a nosey neighbour and attempt two, a barking dog gaining me unwanted attention. Access itself was relatively simple after getting past the human and canine busybodies.

I will refrain from adding this one to @steemitworldmap as its’ location is little known about and although it would prove hard to burn down (as there is little left), there’s always some dickhead who wants to try.

I dug up some history about ‘Allsprings House’. It was built in 1838 by the son of a wealthy landowner and is reputed to be haunted due to the many broken gravestones within the grounds (I didn’t notice these).

It served as a hospital during World War II for Polish refugees and boasts an air-raid shelter.

It is a Grade II listed building and there has been some legal wrangling over it being demolished, and so it has been left to rot away.

Another rumour says there is a tunnel leading from the house to a nearby church which may be St Hubert's or the tunnel may lead to the nearby River Calder.

Approaching ‘Allsprings House’ from the south I felt none of these haunted or strange vibes. It could be that I am numb to such things, but the more of these I do the more comfortable I have become.

There have been some previous reports where other explorers felt something in Allsprings House. Though I did this one solo I felt noting besides the usual emptiness and decay.

In the depths of winter, the house and grounds are extremely overgrown. A summer visit may render the place invisible until you are literally on top of it.

There have been some measures to board it up in the past, but it’s mostly open to the elements.

The roof has all but gone and 50-60 years of being empty has taken a serious toll. It did look dangerous to enter, but did it anyway taking care not to touch the walls or tread on anything that was loose.

Ivy was climbing up the inside of the walls en-masse and you could see what little there is left of the upper areas. This made for some decent photographs with the walls and sky contrasting each other well.

There were parts of the lower floors which I simply dare not attempt to pass. The basement was a death trap though there was an access point from the front of the house I may have been able to crawl through.

I exited at the side of the house and noticed this remains of maybe a pram.

Walking around the front greeted me with the front view of the house and though dropping apart it still presents an imposing visage.

The exterior if nothing else appears solid and quite unique in its ‘gothic’ appearance.

I was able to gain entrance again through the front door entrance but couldn’t make much ground due to all the crumbling rubble and archways that look like they are about to collapse.

There is some kind of bell tower on this building indicating there may have been a small chapel inside at one time.

A makeshift fence surrounded the front of the house with a clean cut down the middle, not that I entered from this direction.

I headed out via the east side of the house thinking, ‘what a waste’.

It seems like today if you own a Grade II building you have a liability on your hands. Live in it, and sell it quickly if you want to move on or this will happen to your once lovely home.

All photographs were taken by myself.