Tales of the Urban Explorer: Taxal Lodge

in #hive-104387last year

Matlock; territory I had never set foot on and it held a few gems, or so I was led to believe.

A Women's Institute was one; an ancient building that had gaping holes on the ground floor but the higher you climbed the more intact the building became, with the top floor yielding rolling rotting red carpets, a complimentary glass of cheap wine, and a grime encrusted sausage roll for aspiring ascenders.

When we arrived, we saw lots of builders, concrete, paving stones and sandbags.

...Fucking bollocks, it’s a reno...’…

I never would feast my eyes on its top-floor splendors (or be rushed to hospital where a stomach pump would attempt to extract a 14-year-old sausage roll from my large intestine).

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Before all this we made our way to ‘Taxal Lodge’, a stalwart explore that has been visited by every explorer in the NorthWest (except me).

Taxal Lodge closed its doors in 1998 and was built relatively late in 1906 compared to many ancient places I visit. Until 1950 it was a private house and then converted to a school for 'disruptive or emotionally disturbed children'.

There's mention that the school was rife with abuse, but I also see ex-students commenting that they loved their time when growing up. I often think some of these claims are 'made up' for extra drama.


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’Taxal Lodge circa 1937. I didn’t see those Tennis Courts during our visit!’…
Source

“The neighbours seem to be getting pissy about us explorers”, I noted to @anidiotexplores who was experiencing his second visit to ‘Taxal Lodge’.

A large gate was now closed that used to be open. We would need to find another way to bypass the private houses flanking the old lodge.

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We were not affiliated with Barrett but still vacated my car onto a makeshift lay-by hoping no huge digger trucks were going to come by while we were away.

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The public footpath was a welcome relief, we could pretend we were hikers and then sneak into the grounds of ‘Taxal Lodge’ further down somewhere.

Bypassing some ill-placed barbed wire we crept into the grounds using innate wary approach techniques passed down from our grandfathers. It looked clear and a little sealed from the initial approach angle.

Balancing on a dodgy wall, we managed to get in through a broken window not realising the other side of the house yielded many doors that were open or missing.

Better to keep silent until we know the crack!

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The classroom had seen better days but was still recognizable as one, just.

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I knew I was very late getting to this one, and was expecting derpy sights. In that sense ‘Taxal Lodge’ was not going to disappoint.

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A view of the main building; classrooms were not restricted to just there.

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There was little doubt this was now nothing more than a derp, yet it was also not devoid of things left behind. We needed to search a little harder.

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I often wonder when these collapses happen. Is it during a bleak storm at 2am in the morning when the wind is howling and rain is torrenting down, or was it an unfortunate explorer who trod on the wrong piece of carpet and perished?

The latter point would happen to me on this very same day, but that is another story.

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Many of the lower sections were off-limits due to these collapses; going in there will result in a few wood splinters in your fingers, ouch!

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There’s a phone in the ‘smoke room’, but could anyone see it due to the swirling brown mists?

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The room didn’t appear very haunted to me, but let’s face it... what’s new?

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The history I could have uncovered if yet another ceiling had not dumped its load on the bottom floor.

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With little to see on the ground floor, my thoughts were reaching up to the upper ones. Would there be anything to stand on? Were there any upper floors left? Could I learn to levitate?

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In 1995 the school was still functional and full of rich kids, or maybe ‘disturbed kids’ if I believe some of the drivel I read.

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Steps! wonderful if a little challenging to climb. It's nothing out of the ordinary and required just a little grunting to overcome.

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Once up there, one needed to walk across here. It looks dodgy but held up surprisingly well.

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The abandoned photocopier; nobody ever thinks of recycling these large plastic monsters.

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Crossing upper rooms I was more wary of. While it may be good to get up and close to all that exciting crap over there, it could well cost you broken limbs.

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Someone beat me to it, damn.

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Where the leaves end, the floor also does.

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Industrial equipment no doubt; you don’t get orange washing machines as a rule in private houses.

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Words of wisdom; It was quite easy to fall a full floor in ‘Taxal Lodge’.

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No old-school books, just instructions on how to load the bloody washing machine.

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At times you need to make hard decisions. Walk over there or be a pussy and stay put.

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Some upper corridors appeared quite safe…

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…while others had, and then collapsed probably disabling some poor bastard permanently.

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@anidiotexplores lurks in the dark knowing I had to cross this dodgy bridge as he already had, or was he simply taking a piss?

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The far side was much worse, and apart from performing static pirouettes, going much further was an idea that would bring doom upon us.

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Jump over to those stairs? I think not.

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One of the collapsed rooms from an upper angle; I dare not creep forward any further.

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Standing on beams is generally the safest option. Sometimes the nails stick in your feet though.

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Someone can't decide on what type of balls or organs they want to suck. Adding all of them is a pragmatic solution.

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We were both on edge a little up here, and for good reason.

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At the end of the line; the room beyond would have hospitalised one of us for certain.

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I only wish there were more 'creepy halls' like 'Taxal Lodge'. Not that it was creepy to me. I desensitised myself to that long ago.

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Very cool exploration! Just such a shame to see such a historic building fall into ruins. But it looks almost beyond salvation at this point. Awesome post!

It would take a lot to recover this, but it's happened before. Was a great explore, very dangerous.., just the way I like them :)

Creepy enough for me! Fantastic photos. They are as close as I need to get to this place. 😁
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Places such as these get your adrenalin going! Is that floor going to collapse or not? 😀

Seems the stuff of nightmares to me! Do you ever have dreams of that happening?

Hehe, no. It affects me not in the slightest!

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That looked like a dangerous exploration with all those collapsed floors. Great pcitures.What shame it was in such a poor state it obviously hampered your exploration. I'll never understand why buildings are left to go to rack and ruin considering the shortage of housing in this country.

The lower floors were more challenging than the uppers. Quite strange, but we couldn't get into many of them.

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What a great discover you have shared with us! I'm dialling 26 for the smoke room... Ahahah What's about the "OVA" meaning, have you any guess about what it is? I could be so bold like you all have been... that flooring has certainly seen better days... Jizz!!!!

There's all kinds of bullshit written on walls, some of it funny, most well.. crap! I look and move on most times 😀

Does Matlock mean something different over there than it does here? Over here it was a TV lawyer played by Andy Griffith. This place looks like it was massive. Too bad it wasn't in better condition. You likely could have spent days there!

Matlock is a town in Derbyshire. This was our general direction that day. It's quite rural and so the locations where somewhat spread out. We have had better days, but a lot happened on this particular trip, some of it very bad.

Oh my! I'll be looking forward to hearing all about it.

Excellent photos convey everything gloomy about the place, entering there is a dangerous expedition due to the conditions of the structure.

My good friend and excellent author @slobberchops!... It's good to see one of your fantastic articles again!... Damn!... That's a place to film a spin-out of the Harry Potter series or something similar! ...As always, lots of drama, anarchy and fabulous chromaticism in your photos!... Taking urban exploration to a very high level, a big round of applause and thank you for this!

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I love these old buildings, not quite Victorian.. Edwardian is the correct term. He didn't last long on the throne.., around 10 years or so before he died.

Probably ate too much rich meat, the royal diet was not good in 1908 or so. It had a lot of character inside, despite being wrecked!


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Cool old building, 'rich' new how to splash out in swanking large homes... Right it became a school fraught with child abuse, no ghost stories today, did you ever find one of them kids to ask?

Splinters, nails, enough detailed walls in covering another grand explore.

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There's some info here. There was a Lodge and a 'Home'. The Lodge people mostly give it good reviews, the Home say it was terrible. I think there's been some mix up somewhere.

Wow what an interesting link, all recognize the building, yet refer back to varied memories in both name and place.

Taxal Edge to some to others Taxal Lodge, which gets one thinking perhaps different wings on the building used for different purpose, or earlier years convalescing sick children, later a home for troublesome children in society.

There's a lot of different opinions in there, some of them disturbing. The younger generation are going to think we all suffered from abuse just because of our age. I escaped with nothing besides shitty teachers - lucky?

Opinions will run rife, consider how much has changed in a short period of time.

When we went to school, yeah you got into trouble, rather than sit an afternoon in detention, the offer of flaps over the bum much quicker to get over. Skirt ever too short, we had a bulldog teacher that ripped into you even outside of the school grounds, we survived!


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This one might be one of my favorites yet. I loved the style of the building it has that castle like vibe. On that note are there any old castles to explore there or they just don't have the same vibe as buildings like these?

Looks like A LOT of missing floors and ways to move around up or down unless you did some jumps which most likely isn't recommended lol

Castles are usually renovation projects, privately owned or ruins. There is nothing in-between such as this. There are many castles here, more in Scotland and Wales.

This place has seen better days! It reminds me of my old Victorian primary school though. Lol (from the outside).

The style is like my primary school also! That got left for years and finally demolished. I was not interested in UX then, but it would have been a blast to explore.

This is a nice discovery and the pictures are very lovely
Nice one!

The last photo will always have the impression like "it's good and beautiful outside but beautifully chaotic inside."

I thought to myself that "this place has seen some serious wear and tear since 1998" and then came to the realization that that was over 25 years ago. Old people brain time.

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The outside looks still kinda decent but damn, the inside definitely had its best days. Seems pretty cool to explore but I would definitely have stayed downstairs only!

Jeez that place looked dangerous - fair play on going as far up as you did ! That looked pretty scary.

It was dangerous! I wanted some of those top down shots, and there's only one way to get them.

Aye - to be fair they are pretty good shots - but scary looking. You are braver than me !

Another great exploy from you, this one is a bit messy like last.. well i guess those neighbors had a bad day.

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Damn. I don't think there was a safe area in that entire building! lol

Not nice to tease about future injury stories.

Coming soon, almost a year ago but still fresh in my mind.

Obviously you came out of it alive, but did you leave any bits behind?

Not literally, but the effects are still with me.

Beautiful photos

Wow, amazing photos! It is surprising what the action of time does with what human beings build 😲 even though it is an abandoned place, everything gives off a kind of strange beauty... I don't know why I find these types of photographs so pleasant, Maybe it's because they make me think of fantastic stories and fairy tale places, although it seems striking to me and I would like to be part of an expedition like that, I would be scared if I saw a ghost, those places seem good for ghosts ha ha😱

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Wow, very interesting and hautingly beautiful photographs! Thank you for sharing these photographs! All the best and plenty of success here on HIVE!