Report - Crookham Court, Berkshire - August 2013

WhoDaresWins · Sep 5, 2013

Visited with Seffy and End-Proc.

History below (such a shame reading about the abuse that occurred here):

Crookham Court stands on the former site of Crookham manor house, built around the start of 14th century and destroyed in 1543, and subsequently Crookham House which was demolished around 1850. The construction of the current building started around this time and continued in two more phases over the next fifty years.

It’s served several purposes such as a manor house, a junior school and a school for children of people serving at Greenham Common. It was abandoned for some time after the US Air Force left the area and purchased in 1961 when it was used as a boarding school until 1990, after which point it was apparently used as apartments (although this isn’t too obvious from looking at the place) and has been abandoned since 2007.

In 1988 there was a well-publicised case of child abuse by several members of staff which was covered on Esther Rantzen’s show That’s Life. This had apparently been going on for thirty years but it was only when the headmaster Mr. Gold joined the school in 1987 that it was discovered and reported. Three were convicted, including the principal who was the owner of the building. Over twenty years later the teacher who had been set free was also convicted when another victim came forward; he has tried appealing but been denied.

Decided to explore this amazing place for several reasons: a) I had never explored a manor before b) all the recent reports of the place wetted my appetite for the place and c) it was a 10 minute detour whilst on our way to the London meet up.

Upon our arrival we did bump into another explorer (bigbadash I believe). A nice chap finishing up on his time there whilst getting some final shots of the exterior. After a few minutes inside we bumped into three girls exploring the place. I believe two have since signed up here, OhSnap and Legos. Nice meeting you three.

Onward to my take on the place: