On the edge of a woodland, some distance away from the nearest road and hence out of sight, stand the remains of what appears to once have been a prosperous farm.
The farmhouse is adjoined by outhouses, sheds, byres and barns, and it had its own abattoir, which in its heyday would not have been unusual.
It is sited in 70-odd acres of pastureland. However, with supermarkets gaining forever more ground in the 1960s, food sales shifted dramatically. In 1960, for instance, small independent retailers had a 60% share of the food retail market. By the year 2000 their share had been reduced to 6%. Today only a handful of companies control 93% of the dairy industry. In short, many farms were forced out of business and this farm was one of many.
A car breaker's business moved onto the land, using the areas that did not make good grazing as a scrap yard, with the larger farm buildings serving as sheds for storing cars and car parts. But this is another story.
Back to the farmhouse. It has stood empty ever since the farmer and his family left in the 1960s. The house still stands, albeit in a much dilapidated condition, with part of the roof gone and the upstairs floors collapsed.
Needless to say that after all this time not much is left inside. A fireplace in the sitting room and the old stove have survived, surrounded by bits and pieces from days long past.
The following pictures show an old chaff cutter. It was used for chopping straw or coarse hay into very short lengths, a method of turning coarse fodder into a form more palatable to livestock
There are large cracks in some the walls, debris on the floor and peeling paint everywhere else but the place has not been touched by vandalism and that, I suppose, is something, at least.
See also Part 2:
[ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?p=190549#post190549[/ame]
The farmhouse is adjoined by outhouses, sheds, byres and barns, and it had its own abattoir, which in its heyday would not have been unusual.
It is sited in 70-odd acres of pastureland. However, with supermarkets gaining forever more ground in the 1960s, food sales shifted dramatically. In 1960, for instance, small independent retailers had a 60% share of the food retail market. By the year 2000 their share had been reduced to 6%. Today only a handful of companies control 93% of the dairy industry. In short, many farms were forced out of business and this farm was one of many.
A car breaker's business moved onto the land, using the areas that did not make good grazing as a scrap yard, with the larger farm buildings serving as sheds for storing cars and car parts. But this is another story.
Back to the farmhouse. It has stood empty ever since the farmer and his family left in the 1960s. The house still stands, albeit in a much dilapidated condition, with part of the roof gone and the upstairs floors collapsed.
Needless to say that after all this time not much is left inside. A fireplace in the sitting room and the old stove have survived, surrounded by bits and pieces from days long past.
The following pictures show an old chaff cutter. It was used for chopping straw or coarse hay into very short lengths, a method of turning coarse fodder into a form more palatable to livestock
There are large cracks in some the walls, debris on the floor and peeling paint everywhere else but the place has not been touched by vandalism and that, I suppose, is something, at least.
See also Part 2:
[ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?p=190549#post190549[/ame]
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