Tales of the Urban Explorer: Priory House ('The White House')

What could be better after a hard day exploring than to end on a nice chilled white country house that is barely standing?

I knew of ‘Priory House’, or ‘The White House’ as it’s occasionally named from other posts on those ‘other’ social media sites.

It took quite a bit of detective work to find it, as besides a few clues about the town, for once nobody was giving the location out easily.

It's nice to clear the dust out and use my location-finding skills once in a while and keeps me from being lazy.

There’s fractured information about ‘Priory House’ littered around the internet. One story tells of a ‘John Holmes’ who got into financial troubles and had to let the house go. Before that, he was known locally for hosting elaborate garden parties.

Another tale from 2011 depicts a teenager who died due to smoke inhalation after being caught by a blaze in the then derelict house, and whose corpse was found under a mattress.

By all accounts, this story was hosted in the Yorkshire Evening Post but when I checked their archives, I found nothing.

I have no reason to doubt either story, the latter one meaning there could well be ghosts, or perhaps walking zombies walking around inside. It all makes for a more interesting visit.

After climbing a medium-sized wall, we were out of sight and walking toward what was left of 'Priory House'. When 'John Holmes' left does not appear to be on record, but I am estimating 20+ years with what I could see.

This was not going to amount to a A+ class explore, together with lost troves of gold relics, but rather... more piles of stone, wood, and miscellaneous other shit covering what the house used to contain.

Getting inside was hardly an issue, the window gaped in front of us enticing us into the gloom.

The white tiles indicate it could have once been a kitchen area.

… just as the wooden horizontal slats make this suspiciously like what was a staircase. As much as I tried, upstairs was going to be out of the question on this occasion.

Passing by several completely destroyed rooms, I noticed yet another ex-set of stairs leading upwards that was also missing.

Other rooms were quite inaccessible unless you wanted large beams to fall on your skull whilst trying to get in.

Spare tyres and what looks like the wheel from a golf cart.

When stone steps have this much-dried shit stuck to them, they are tricky to climb.

The fireplace and the built-in cupboards are recognisable, but little else.

These shelves had been attached to the wall by someone in the past, and miraculously are still attached.

It was easier to exit via the original window than to access the other areas of 'Priory House' using the interior passages. Many were blocked.

Guess what’s over there?

This once elegant house was not getting any better, the further inside we dug.

Is that real glass in the window? I didn’t bother wandering over to check.

Now just look at that; it's a real desk, with real drawers that can positively be identified.

I found more doors in wayward positions such as this one than attached by their hinges.

You might think there could be some important documents contained within or at least a few vintage porn magazines?

Fuck that, I am not going up there.

Sometimes you need to hold your breath inside derps that have decayed as badly as this one. One bad move and it comes down around you.

Upstairs was not going to happen in this part, but I did manage to climb a mound of dirt to take this one from an upper vantage point.

‘Priory House’ appeared to be a menagerie of several buildings that were once connected. It would have been some place once.

The rest of our exploration consisted of external shots as many blockages impeded our internal curiosity.

A huge bay window sticks out further than what seems possible.

As if there were not enough other access points into ‘Priory House’. This one was a little small to climb through.

The local wildlife and flowers were having a great time. Nettles were still in abundance and hindered our progress.

'Priory House' is slowly sinking into the ground and within another decade will be gone from this world. It is beyond saving and disappointingly we saw no undead or otherworldly beings inside.

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