Visited with Landie, Northern Ninja, Emerson and Ptchaw. This place has earned notoriety for dangerous groundskeepers. I'd done a "trial run" or perhaps, a recce a while before with Landie simply to actually find the castle and not to get lost in the middle of a field, and to keep an eye out for any security or groundskeepers. Thankfully we encountered no one at all either time.
This wasn't a trial run as such, but it's something that I'm definitely going to pay closer attention to in the future because there are definitely parts that are feasible that we didn't do. Woke up at 3:40am after a rubbish night's sleep (slept at my Gran's empty house in Oxford) and we made our way down to Pyrton to make our way down from the back. Upon entering the grounds through thick shrub we were gretted by very well kept grounds, that were littered with many unmaintained but ever grand outbuildings, such as these...
A kind of Greek summerhouse?
Overgrown greenhouse?
Until at last we were greeted with our target, Shirburn Castle.
Looking at the castle itself, it is clear that it has had no repair work undertaken whatsoever on it for well over a century, with rotting windows, drawbridges and most notably the plasterwork crumbling off the castle face and revealing the underlying brickwork. Even the ceilings are falling (from what I saw) and the moat is in need of repair, being infested with weeds and despite the deluge of the past weeks becoming increasingly shallow. This was one of the driving forces behind the court case of 2003, which concluded in the eviction of the 9th Earl of Macclesfield who now resides a mile away in Watlington funnily enough. Even now, Beechwood Estates have made it clear they don't give a fuck about the castle and its condition, not granting any urgent repair work and continue to refuse access to members of the public citing the owners are a very private family. Yet they're happy to have a massive film crew go inside. It's a no brainer that all the family care about is making a quick buck, so unless you're willing to pay a fortune you won't get in w/ permission AFAIK. It's clear that judging by the signs dotted about, the site is in regular use.
It was 5am and even though it was the height of summer you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a cold winter's morning with the thick fog, which made for some fantastic shots!
I was a bit annoyed by not getting in though, but I am positive that it will happen eventually. From what we could see, whilst some windows are locked (Ptchaw did try a few) others are open, which means that if you can prop one up and push the shutters open you'd be in in no time. We tried getting in by crossing the rotten drawbridge shown, which came to an OPEN door. The door was blocked by the wooden shutters inside, which meant without some serious force the door wouldn't open. Now when it comes to B&E, being a grade-I listed building allegedly guarded by the worst kind of security you'd be an idiot to attempt any kind. On the other hand, perhaps if you could reach round the door (there is a gap) and push the shutters open you'd get in no problem!
Moving round the front, whilst the drawbridge is up we noticed the main door (left) was slightly ajar. From the LW pics, the door is secured by a plank of wood resting behind, so if you could reach through (again the gap is big enough) it may open!
Leaving the castle for a later date, we made our way to the outbuilding next door. Initially I thought that this was active but it appears that all of the buildings within the estate are now unoccupied and largely derelict. They're truly photogenic buildings, perfect natural decay à la GT Manor.
At this point, I thought it'd be worth climbing up the tower (photo [7]). Now bear this in mind, the place is rotten as hell, and no-one had gone up there for GOD KNOWS how long. I'm not fat but I've got a large stature, and the climb up is so narrow (and DUSTY!) that you can't even just take a camera up. So on up I climb, dust in mouth, eyes closed out of fear of spiders, storming through cobwebs. I arrive at the top to find a dead pigeon, dead flies and a skylight. No way out onto a roof, and no windows looking out each side. ARGGGGGHHHHHH!
Looking around the place more, I'd suspect this place was a dairy of some sort; it was by sheer coincidence there was a giant copper still and another wooden one inside, not to mention there were LOADS of opened and unopened bottles of Kwak!
After our trial run before, mine and Landie's friend, whose brother and he used to trespass on the grounds (another story) told us there were possible underground tunnels. Underneath the stairs shown below was a padlocked door. A way into the castle? Two panels had come off, which meant we chose Ptchaw (the smallest of our group) to squeeze through and see. It was damn painful even for him to go through, and to add insult to injury, he found more bottles and no way elsewhere. Bollocks!
So we leave this particular outbuilding and look round the rest. From what we could see, the main entrance to the outbuildings are locked but for every building bar the castle (?) there are unlocked doors. It's a shame we didn't look at some of the EPIC buildings like the woodmill, but here's why. I need to use the toilet (use your imagination, I'm not saying anymore), so I use the groundskeeper's one. Outside NN and PT are looking around the other outbuildings and all of a sudden...
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
They'd set a PIR off whilst I was in there! So they all run off, leaving me behind panicking! Luckily I managed to escape in time! LMAO! They'd tripped a beam from a PIR by the gate! So anyone who tries easy access by jumping any of the gates will be in for a shock! Odd, but none of the buildings are alarmed inside!
On a final note, if all else fails with regards to access Ptchaw is going to call BE and claim to be a director wanting to do a shoot there, looking at the castle beforehand. Of course we'll never get back to them after our photos or if they ask for big money, but let's see!
Thanks for reading,
Love TBM x
This wasn't a trial run as such, but it's something that I'm definitely going to pay closer attention to in the future because there are definitely parts that are feasible that we didn't do. Woke up at 3:40am after a rubbish night's sleep (slept at my Gran's empty house in Oxford) and we made our way down to Pyrton to make our way down from the back. Upon entering the grounds through thick shrub we were gretted by very well kept grounds, that were littered with many unmaintained but ever grand outbuildings, such as these...
A kind of Greek summerhouse?
Overgrown greenhouse?
Until at last we were greeted with our target, Shirburn Castle.
Looking at the castle itself, it is clear that it has had no repair work undertaken whatsoever on it for well over a century, with rotting windows, drawbridges and most notably the plasterwork crumbling off the castle face and revealing the underlying brickwork. Even the ceilings are falling (from what I saw) and the moat is in need of repair, being infested with weeds and despite the deluge of the past weeks becoming increasingly shallow. This was one of the driving forces behind the court case of 2003, which concluded in the eviction of the 9th Earl of Macclesfield who now resides a mile away in Watlington funnily enough. Even now, Beechwood Estates have made it clear they don't give a fuck about the castle and its condition, not granting any urgent repair work and continue to refuse access to members of the public citing the owners are a very private family. Yet they're happy to have a massive film crew go inside. It's a no brainer that all the family care about is making a quick buck, so unless you're willing to pay a fortune you won't get in w/ permission AFAIK. It's clear that judging by the signs dotted about, the site is in regular use.
It was 5am and even though it was the height of summer you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a cold winter's morning with the thick fog, which made for some fantastic shots!
I was a bit annoyed by not getting in though, but I am positive that it will happen eventually. From what we could see, whilst some windows are locked (Ptchaw did try a few) others are open, which means that if you can prop one up and push the shutters open you'd be in in no time. We tried getting in by crossing the rotten drawbridge shown, which came to an OPEN door. The door was blocked by the wooden shutters inside, which meant without some serious force the door wouldn't open. Now when it comes to B&E, being a grade-I listed building allegedly guarded by the worst kind of security you'd be an idiot to attempt any kind. On the other hand, perhaps if you could reach round the door (there is a gap) and push the shutters open you'd get in no problem!
Moving round the front, whilst the drawbridge is up we noticed the main door (left) was slightly ajar. From the LW pics, the door is secured by a plank of wood resting behind, so if you could reach through (again the gap is big enough) it may open!
Leaving the castle for a later date, we made our way to the outbuilding next door. Initially I thought that this was active but it appears that all of the buildings within the estate are now unoccupied and largely derelict. They're truly photogenic buildings, perfect natural decay à la GT Manor.
At this point, I thought it'd be worth climbing up the tower (photo [7]). Now bear this in mind, the place is rotten as hell, and no-one had gone up there for GOD KNOWS how long. I'm not fat but I've got a large stature, and the climb up is so narrow (and DUSTY!) that you can't even just take a camera up. So on up I climb, dust in mouth, eyes closed out of fear of spiders, storming through cobwebs. I arrive at the top to find a dead pigeon, dead flies and a skylight. No way out onto a roof, and no windows looking out each side. ARGGGGGHHHHHH!
Looking around the place more, I'd suspect this place was a dairy of some sort; it was by sheer coincidence there was a giant copper still and another wooden one inside, not to mention there were LOADS of opened and unopened bottles of Kwak!
After our trial run before, mine and Landie's friend, whose brother and he used to trespass on the grounds (another story) told us there were possible underground tunnels. Underneath the stairs shown below was a padlocked door. A way into the castle? Two panels had come off, which meant we chose Ptchaw (the smallest of our group) to squeeze through and see. It was damn painful even for him to go through, and to add insult to injury, he found more bottles and no way elsewhere. Bollocks!
So we leave this particular outbuilding and look round the rest. From what we could see, the main entrance to the outbuildings are locked but for every building bar the castle (?) there are unlocked doors. It's a shame we didn't look at some of the EPIC buildings like the woodmill, but here's why. I need to use the toilet (use your imagination, I'm not saying anymore), so I use the groundskeeper's one. Outside NN and PT are looking around the other outbuildings and all of a sudden...
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
They'd set a PIR off whilst I was in there! So they all run off, leaving me behind panicking! Luckily I managed to escape in time! LMAO! They'd tripped a beam from a PIR by the gate! So anyone who tries easy access by jumping any of the gates will be in for a shock! Odd, but none of the buildings are alarmed inside!
On a final note, if all else fails with regards to access Ptchaw is going to call BE and claim to be a director wanting to do a shoot there, looking at the castle beforehand. Of course we'll never get back to them after our photos or if they ask for big money, but let's see!
Thanks for reading,
Love TBM x
