St Cadburys Church

(Disclaimer: Joking aside, I fully understand the risks/dangers involved in these adventures and do so in the full knowledge of what could happen. I don't encourage or condone and I accept no responsibility for anyone else following in my footsteps. I never break into a place, I never take any items and I never cause any damage, as such no criminal offences have been committed in the making of this blog. I will not disclose a location, or means of entry. I leave the building as I find it and only enter to take photographs for my own pleasure and to document the building.)

When Jess and I first started teaming up, we first went to Cloud House and then the Cyclops Cavern, which was of course me sharing with her my locations. After this, it was her turn to share some of hers. The first was sadly being redeveloped and was unexplorable. The second was a delightful derelict chapel that we snuck out to in the night, because  Jesus said "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness" which means that if we commit blasphemy in the dark, Jesus won't be there to see!

While this obviously isn't the church of St Cadbury, it earned its nickname with its somewhat unconventional interior colour scheme, as we'll see.

Sadly the external shot was ruined by signs and a big obnoxious traffic light. Nevertheless the building looks quite ominous in the darkness.

The chapel was built in 1810, but rebuilt in 1820 and rebuilt again in 1876, presumably to make it larger as the community grew. It ended up with seating capacity for about 450 people. Following a sale in 2008, it was just left to become steadily more derelict. Plans were drawn up to convert it into residential accomodation or offices, but due to internal water damage such plans never came to be and the chapel has just been left to rot.

Inside, you can totally see the source of my Cadburys reference. For some bizarre reason this place has been painted bright purple and yellow. And this colour scheme isn't just isolated to the entry hall, but it's prevalent across the entire chapel area too. I like it. It suits my quirky tastes. However, for a chapel it's unusual.

As you can probably guess, the doors lead through to the main chapel, while the stairs lead to the upper pews which overlook it.

There was an old stained-glass window which looks into the chapel from the hall, but it's been smashed.

Of the two staircases, one was far more rotten, with the majority of the decay being on one side of the building. It was still possible to get upstairs though.

Unfortunately the fact that we were there at night meant that we couldn't really see the windows very easily, apart from the ones that were facing the streetlamp outside. On closer inspection we realised that the windows weren't genuine stained glass. No, the design is painted on. It's a little unusual, but for a very intricate design it's really well painted.

The pews still have numbers on them, reflecting an old outdated practice where church goers had allocated seating based on social rank. The pews closer to the front of the church were reserved for the higher ranking members of society, like Maggie Thatchers hot grand daughter Amanda, while towards the back of the church would be poorer people, the village eccentric, and me gazing longingly at the back of Amandas lovely head.
In some towns and villages there were even seating known as the "Negro Pews," where the black people would be confined. The Negro Pews would often be in the upper levels, so that the rich white church goers wouldn't have to actually see them. Although the Negro Pews would be monitored by white overseers.

Given the location of this particular chapel, I doubt any of these were negro pews. The population of the local area isn't that diverse even today, and probably wasn't in the 1800s either.

Numbering pews became an outdated practice towards the end of the 1800s, and now people can just park their buttocks anywhere in the house of Daddy G, but many old chapels still have the numbers on them, as a historic reminder that this religion that talks of a kind, loving, perfect God is still ruled over by very flawed fleshbag humans, and their silly intolerances.

Talking of silly fleshbag intolerances, the most famous one connected to religion is also in my opinion the oddest, and it's when some people use religion to justify their views against homosexuality. It's weird because in the bible, when asked to identify Jesus following his arrest, Judas gives him a big old smooch on the lips. As far as I'm concerned the only way to identify someone based on how they kiss is to have kissed them quite regularly, so Jesus and Judas were probably lovers, at least in biblical canon.
And anyway, theres only one line in the whole book that people refer to when they call homosexuality a sin, and that just says "Do not lie with a man as you would with a woman."
See, to me, that just means that if a man asks you if he looks fat, it's okay to say yes.

But I digress...

I think while the concept of believing in a deity is fine, centuries of book-editing to suit whatever agenda the penholder wants to push has turned religion into just another means of using fear to control what people think. As the world has turned away from God, regarding talking swans as more plausible, the mainstream media has filled the vaccuum, telling us what to fear instead. Centuries ago it was "Satan will get you if you're naughty" and now in 2019 it's an ever-changing stream of topics spewed by the mainstream media.

Still, for all their flaws, these fleshbag humans know how to make a cool looking church!

The yellow and purple though... what were these people thinking?

The ceiling of this building is in a beautiful state of decay.

It all looks very apocalyptic.

In regards to religion, I can wrap my head around the concept of intelligent design, or a God of some sort. But what I can't justify is the worship of it. Belief and worship are two very different things.

But what I really don't understand is the Christian misconception that their God loves them. In the bible God is angry, fearsome and vengeful. He's clearly the antagonist of the story. The humans are just doing their own thing and he swings by every few years to tell them off and punish them.
Read the book, and ask yourself, how would you react if the things being said and done by the Christian God were done by a human being. That human being would be called a sociopath.

If God exists then he does not deserve our blind worship, but our unquestionable resistance.

Doors at the back of the chapel led into this back room, which was much less church-like and full of litter.

In the kitchen were signs that someone had been squatting here.

If you're going to live in a church, at least live in the big pretty purple and yellow room. Why live in a church if you're just gonna lie in the bland kitchen every night?

There's a toilet right at the back of this long, narrow coridor, but it's a bit of a scramble to get to it.

It's still in better condition than the toilets in some pubs and clubs.

Lastly, we have the cellar, which is very cluttered with rubbish bags piled up against a window. I think there's some fly-tipping going on here.

There's a really old coal shute here, which I assume would have helped provide heating in the church at some point. It's now filled with cement, but the door still opens and closes.

Curiously, there's a door at the back of the cellar which won't open. It's either locked or barricaded on the other side.

That's all I have for today.
To conclude, while I don't follow any particular religion, I still like churches and chapels for their architecture and atmosphere, and religion aside their importance as a communual hub in the past cannot be understated. What I love about abandoned and derelict buildings is that there was a time when they mattered to someone, and this can really be seen in religious sites, where the architecture itself is art, and so much effort has gone into their design. This is prevalent across most, if not all churches and chapels, from the massive gothic ones like this, to the teeny chapel at Denbigh Asylum. It's sad when we see them reduced to ruin, and the fact that one has to trespass to appreciate them is by far a greater crime than the trespass itself.

Next blog, we're darting off to one of the most bizarre locations in the UK, Jess will have a video, and a goose will fall. And after that, we get chased by llamas.
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The Bat Castle

(Disclaimer: Joking aside, I fully understand the risks/dangers involved in these adventures and do so in the full knowledge of what could happen. I don't encourage or condone and I accept no responsibility for anyone else following in my footsteps. I never break into a place, I never take any items and I never cause any damage, as such no criminal offences have been committed in the making of this blog. I will not disclose a location, or means of entry. I leave the building as I find it and only enter to take photographs for my own pleasure and to document the building.)

There's a local legend surrounding todays location which tells of a knight who was well known for going off on crusades during thr 1300s. However on one such adventure he was gone for so long that his wife considered remarrying. However one of the milk maids found him, sleeping face down in a field, looking something of a mess, and brought him home. His journey had changed him so much that his wife didn't recognise him, and only agreed that it was him after he produced one half of a ring that they had cut in half before he left on his journey.
He told of what had happened to him. He had allegedly been captured, and locked in a dungeon for some years, until he was rescued and transported home while in a trance.

News spread that an angel had returned the long lost knight, but being of rational mind he corrected them. It was not an angel that rescued him from the dungeon, but a talking swan.

The man died in 1391, the swan being used as the family crest forever after. And while the family has nothing to do with this particular house, apart from the fact that they lived nearby, it's a fun little story. I can't help but wonder if the man, unrecognised by his wife, really did die and an imposter took his half of the ring and decided to weasel his way into a wealthy marriage without all the bother of actually marrying someone.

Todays location belonged to a similarly wealthy family, now vacated from the area. It caught my eye because it looked like a really small castle, very reminiscent of the old watchtower in Shrewsbury.

While the term castle is used in the title, it's admittedly inaccurate, as this is really more of a derelict castelated house, one of four former gatehousesto a castelated mansion that has since been demolished. Old photos of the mansion do exist though, and in my opinion, the fact that it's been demolished is truly sad. Look at it. It was gorgeous.

The castle was built from the money made out of the local iron industry. A nearby corn mill was converted into an ironworks in 1706, and in 1750 it was purchased by a chap named Edward who raked in the profit and had this castelated mansion constructed for him in 1762. Edward then died in 1780, and the mansion passed on to his son John.

But in 1823 John sold the mansion and the surrounding land. The new owner then passed it down to his daughter, although some sources say sister, but with these wealthy families it's entirely possible that she was both. By 1848 it was owned by her descendant, Joshua, a local MP and chairman of the Inventors Society. It then passed down to his descendant, George, in 1913.

But whatever wealth had enabled the family to purchase the land was gone by the mid twentieth century, and the house started to fall into disrepair. Georges descendant Maud inherited it all when she was just sixteen, and it was all a little too much for her. In 1933 the decision was made to sell the estate. In 1939 with the outbreak of world war 2, it was suggested that the mansion be used to house refugees, but on inspection the house was considered unsuitable, given the state of disrepair.

In 1945, they tore it down. Quite why the gate houses were spared is a bit of a mystery, but they all seem to have transitioned into smaller residential dwellings, but only this one is now derelict.

According to Streetview, it's been this way since at least as far back as 2009, but it intrigued me, so I slipped inside.

The means of entry is pretty obvious, but also pretty alarming. The entire lower portion of the building is exposed to the elements via the doorway. This has no doubt accelerared the rate of decay.

In spite of being small by residential dwelling standards, it has a certain refinery which gives away that it was all once part of a wealthy estate. Given that this room connects directly to the kitchen, I assume that it was a small dining area.

The decay here appears to be completely natural, owing nothing to vandalism, and yet, it's curious what's been left behind.

Here's a toy car, obviously designed for younger people. Evidently whoever lived here had a child. Of course, with at least a decade between now and this house being left, the child may well be an adult now.

This room was likely a small lounge, and while it was slowly crumbling, it did have a rather fancy fireplace peeking out from the decay.

There was also a door leading out, but it was quite firmly locked and boarded on the other side.

In the cellar we found the fridge, but there wasn't a lot left in it, thankfully.

And then of course, we have the kitchen.

The kitchen is my favourite room in this little house, and clearly once had a lot of character.

There's still a kettle here, and evidently someone thought that the sink would be an ideal place to prop up a door.

There's a dishwasher here too.

See, this is what confuses me. It's not that a place was emptied, but that some stuff was left behind. Why is that?

Across from the kitchen was a small bathroom, boasting signs of former refinery.

Curiously, I don't think I've ever seen a residential bathroom with two sinks before.

The toilet is still in better condition than the toilets in some pubs and clubs. It's interesting to see a bidet here though.

Moving upstairs, the upper floors were incredibly treacherous, slowly giving in to rot, and not at all safe to explore. Naturally I did it anyway.

This bedroom is situated above the lounge downstairs. All the fireplaces surround one central chimney.

There's a mattress here.

There's also a lamp in the corner.

The second bedroom had more character, and all signs seem to hint that it was the childs room many years ago. Next to the fireplace is a small poster of a kitten.

Hanging on the wall is a ribbon, and stuck to the window are 101 Dalmatians stickers. This movie saw original release in 1969 but in typical Disney fashion saw periodic re-releases, the last one being in 1991. The window had some shells on display on the window ledge.

But by far the coolest thing about this room was on the other side of the window, and if the blog title wasn't a huge spoiler, it's a colony of bats!

The adorable little creatures are roosting up between the glass of the window and the wooden board covering it, so they were quite safe, and also unfortunately rudely awakened by our presence. As such I didn't stick around too long. I would personally hate it if I was trying to nap, and suddenly an entire wall of my bedroom lit up and people were ogling at me. But it was nice to see that they were alive, and it was a rare treat to get such a close look at them. I mean sure, I got pretty close to bats in Denbigh Asylum, but that was in an environment where they were swooping around. Here, they're separated by a pane of glass.

In regards to this land, the council have recently started discussing the possibility of a quarry on the site of the former mansion, which may impact on the gate houses to some extent. However, this proposal has not been well received by locals, what with the increase in noise, the damage to the local wildlife, and dust in the air. Hopefully whatever developments happen, the bat colony is noticed and rehoused.

As far as houses go, this is small, but shaped like a little mini castle. Who wouldn't want to live here?
It's amazing. My one gripe is that there wasn't a way up onto the roof.

That's all I have for today. Next time I'm checking out a derelict church, and then I'm jolting off into the wilderness to find one of the most eccentric abandoned buildings out there. In the meantime, purchase your "I survived Storm Freya" t-shirts on my social media.
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