Wow! What an absolutely awesome place!
Came here early one morning to have a look what all the fuss is about, and it blew my mind. Amazing place!
Lillesden School for Girls was built in 1855, and became a school around 1918, closing in 1999 under slightly confused circumstances. It was thought to have been sold to a wealthy family, but nothing's been done to it since apart from a bit of thievery and some graffiti. The building itself is rotten as a pear, with huge holes in most of the floors and ceilings, floor joists missing and bits of sky peering through. It took a lot of balls (which I don't possess) to creep slowly and carefully around, being told alternately to be careful and stop being a girl by my husband
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Having been told this place was known as the school of mirrors, it was a bit disappointing to find only 3 intact mirrors, the rest having been smashed. The only bit we couldn't find was the bathtub with the red graffiti above it, but everything else we'd seen online we found. Pictures of this place really don't do it justice, having spent 2 hours here and taken over 200 photos it was hard to pick 10 to post.
The basement was for me by far the most unnerving part, I kept being filled with a kind of dark and wary feeling, like the building was projecting an air of hostility. In the light it was almost cheerful, although up on the 2nd floor got a bit weird again! The wind blows across the whole floor, and hundreds of hanging off sheets of wallpaper flapping in the breeze and banging doors made me jump. Loads.
The swimming pool has got what looked like lizards swimming around in it, although they didn't keep still enough to pose for photos. There's an old chicken shed outside with a pretty bit of graffiti on it. The stone staircase in the main part of the building was beautiful, the mirror at the top and various holes in the roof reflected the light and made it very bright.
All in all, a very good trip! Photos aren't perfect, but quite pleased overall.
From the outside:
Swimming pool with an underwater classroom!
The outside of the chicken shed
The great mirror
A block from a stone pillar; engraved with 'Bear ye onz an others burden'
View of the burnt outbuilding
Came here early one morning to have a look what all the fuss is about, and it blew my mind. Amazing place!
Lillesden School for Girls was built in 1855, and became a school around 1918, closing in 1999 under slightly confused circumstances. It was thought to have been sold to a wealthy family, but nothing's been done to it since apart from a bit of thievery and some graffiti. The building itself is rotten as a pear, with huge holes in most of the floors and ceilings, floor joists missing and bits of sky peering through. It took a lot of balls (which I don't possess) to creep slowly and carefully around, being told alternately to be careful and stop being a girl by my husband
:Having been told this place was known as the school of mirrors, it was a bit disappointing to find only 3 intact mirrors, the rest having been smashed. The only bit we couldn't find was the bathtub with the red graffiti above it, but everything else we'd seen online we found. Pictures of this place really don't do it justice, having spent 2 hours here and taken over 200 photos it was hard to pick 10 to post.
The basement was for me by far the most unnerving part, I kept being filled with a kind of dark and wary feeling, like the building was projecting an air of hostility. In the light it was almost cheerful, although up on the 2nd floor got a bit weird again! The wind blows across the whole floor, and hundreds of hanging off sheets of wallpaper flapping in the breeze and banging doors made me jump. Loads.
The swimming pool has got what looked like lizards swimming around in it, although they didn't keep still enough to pose for photos. There's an old chicken shed outside with a pretty bit of graffiti on it. The stone staircase in the main part of the building was beautiful, the mirror at the top and various holes in the roof reflected the light and made it very bright.
All in all, a very good trip! Photos aren't perfect, but quite pleased overall.
From the outside:
Swimming pool with an underwater classroom!
The outside of the chicken shed
The great mirror
A block from a stone pillar; engraved with 'Bear ye onz an others burden'
View of the burnt outbuilding
