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View Full Version : Archived: Tunstall Court, Hartlepool Dec '09



boxfrenzy
17-12-2009, 10:48 PM
It's a chilly afternoon in the North East - Hartlepool to be exact, and we are checking on a place I've wanted to go for a while. This is the ruined grandeur of Tunstall Court, once a fine house in a well to do neighbourhood, now the target of anyone with matches or a lighter in a twenty mile radius.
Across the overgrown (and now croquet free) lawns
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A previous failed attempt had made me keen to get in this time, and fortunately, luck was on our side. The smiling Gods of Urbex nodded and we were teleported into the darkened hallway. Dim light poured through one of three light wells in the ceiling.
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William Gray, a famous shipbuilder, built this place in 1899. The house was staffed by a team of twelve servants who would have polished and swept, cleaned and spent hours in the sculleries and kitchens preparing local fish and other dishes for the family. It was clear that those days were long gone.
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The staircase was once a grand wooden affair-today the balusters have gone and the timbers are smoke damaged.
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The upstairs landing is somewhere I had seen on reports and wanted to see for myself. I wasn't disappointed.
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At the end of the hallway was a tiled room. Was this once the bathroom?
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Hartlepool Council took over this place in 1948, and it was used for different purposes, offices, secretary training etc. By the early years of this century it was empty, and looked after by house sitters. Abandoned completely in 2006, Tunstall Court has remained empty except for the chavs, explorers, smack heads and firemen and women. Alas the indoor swimming pool has gone, but the ballroom remains. How cool to have a ballroom in your house?
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The 4th of July is a popular day with fireworks, and the 4th of July 2007 was no exception. In a twelve hour period, the fire brigade were called twice to put out fires here. Even though this place is smoke damaged, the traces of its original beauty are everywhere. Except in this room.
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