When the retired London wheelwright, mechanic and body repairman Jimmy Blanche and his parents moved into the forge in the 1950s, none of the neighbours knew about the treasures that Jimmy had brought with him. After the passing of his parents about 25 years ago, Jimmy is said to have become a recluse who ventured out only to do his shopping, and every Sunday to go to church. Despite keeping himself to himself he was well liked by the locals, who remember seeing him out and about on his bike. He is described as always having worn wellington boots and a long tatty leather coat that was held together with a bit of baler twine. Jimmy passed away in January 2009, aged 80, and what followed is history.
Details as to how exactly this came about are not published in the media but one fine day in April, three months after Jimmy's passing, Aylsham auctioneer and classic car enthusiast Guy Snelling and some of his colleagues entered Jimmy's property, and when there, 'found' about 30 classic vintage cars, some of them over 80 years old. Some were quietly decaying in the outbuildings, others had been kept outside and were almost hidden in the dense vegetation.
The following pictures, taken from an article which was published in the Daily Mail, show some of Jimmy's cars as they were found
...and here is the article
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...red-barnyard-set-fetch-thousands-auction.html
None of the cars had been driven for 50 years and some of them had trees growing through them. There were several Singers, a Lea Francis, two Swifts and a couple of Riley Monacos, a 1930s Morris Minor, a Riley Lynx and a Willys Overland, amongst others. Vintage motorbikes including two Sunbeams and a 1930s BSA were also found on the site. A team of eight men were kept busy for two weeks, clearing yard and buildings of cars, says one report. A fork lift truck had to be used to pull free some of the most overgrown vehicles. The cars were then put up for auction. Nature has since reclaimed and covered over the gaps ripped into the vegetation where cars were pulled out.
According to media reports, Jimmy's cottage was found to be in a derelict und untidy state, with piles of soup cans and pie tins strewn about outside the windows and the rooms full of car parts. Moreover, the front of the house had started to collapse and there was no running water.
Three years on there is, of course, no sign of the cars that once used to populate this place. In one of the smaller sheds I found this, perhaps somebody knows what it is.
The buildings are still there or rather, their remains are. It looks as if the recovery of the vintage vehicles was accomplished by demolishing the outbuildings. It looks as if the roof was taken off and one wall was pulled down for easy access to the largest shed, the shed in which many vehicles had been stored bumper to bumper.
Some of the walls of the cottage and the adjoining outbuildings were built from clay-lump ('bricks' made from clay mixed with straw or chaff). The surface of such walls was commonly coated with tar or whitewashed to protect it from the elements but the cottage's walls appear to have had an exterior skin of red brick. With the roof in disrepair, water has trickled in and softened the clay-lump 'bricks' and one side of the cottage has now slumped. Most red bricks on this side appear to have fallen off.
Viewed from the other side the building does not look much healthier.
A peek through the glass-less windows reveals quite a grim interior. An avalanche of magazines has cascaded down the steps, and the small rooms are so cluttered with rubbish, one has to wonder how it was possible to move, let alone live, in there.
Assorted paint cans, some tidily arranged on a shelf, and broken pieces of what appears to once have been a piano, are decaying side by side in an adjoining shed. I did look around but failed to find any evidence of the forge this once used to be.
Jimmy and his cars are gone but Jimmy's coats are still hanging on their pegs, and I think I can spot his favourite leather coat amongst them.
Details as to how exactly this came about are not published in the media but one fine day in April, three months after Jimmy's passing, Aylsham auctioneer and classic car enthusiast Guy Snelling and some of his colleagues entered Jimmy's property, and when there, 'found' about 30 classic vintage cars, some of them over 80 years old. Some were quietly decaying in the outbuildings, others had been kept outside and were almost hidden in the dense vegetation.
The following pictures, taken from an article which was published in the Daily Mail, show some of Jimmy's cars as they were found
...and here is the article
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...red-barnyard-set-fetch-thousands-auction.html
None of the cars had been driven for 50 years and some of them had trees growing through them. There were several Singers, a Lea Francis, two Swifts and a couple of Riley Monacos, a 1930s Morris Minor, a Riley Lynx and a Willys Overland, amongst others. Vintage motorbikes including two Sunbeams and a 1930s BSA were also found on the site. A team of eight men were kept busy for two weeks, clearing yard and buildings of cars, says one report. A fork lift truck had to be used to pull free some of the most overgrown vehicles. The cars were then put up for auction. Nature has since reclaimed and covered over the gaps ripped into the vegetation where cars were pulled out.
According to media reports, Jimmy's cottage was found to be in a derelict und untidy state, with piles of soup cans and pie tins strewn about outside the windows and the rooms full of car parts. Moreover, the front of the house had started to collapse and there was no running water.
Three years on there is, of course, no sign of the cars that once used to populate this place. In one of the smaller sheds I found this, perhaps somebody knows what it is.
The buildings are still there or rather, their remains are. It looks as if the recovery of the vintage vehicles was accomplished by demolishing the outbuildings. It looks as if the roof was taken off and one wall was pulled down for easy access to the largest shed, the shed in which many vehicles had been stored bumper to bumper.
Some of the walls of the cottage and the adjoining outbuildings were built from clay-lump ('bricks' made from clay mixed with straw or chaff). The surface of such walls was commonly coated with tar or whitewashed to protect it from the elements but the cottage's walls appear to have had an exterior skin of red brick. With the roof in disrepair, water has trickled in and softened the clay-lump 'bricks' and one side of the cottage has now slumped. Most red bricks on this side appear to have fallen off.
Viewed from the other side the building does not look much healthier.
A peek through the glass-less windows reveals quite a grim interior. An avalanche of magazines has cascaded down the steps, and the small rooms are so cluttered with rubbish, one has to wonder how it was possible to move, let alone live, in there.
Assorted paint cans, some tidily arranged on a shelf, and broken pieces of what appears to once have been a piano, are decaying side by side in an adjoining shed. I did look around but failed to find any evidence of the forge this once used to be.
Jimmy and his cars are gone but Jimmy's coats are still hanging on their pegs, and I think I can spot his favourite leather coat amongst them.
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