Sheephouse Meets T.O.D. (Again)

Morning folks - hope everyone is well and finally getting to enjoy some Summer. Over here we've had the coolest Spring I can ever remember and also what seemed like weeks of grey skies courtesy of unusually cold sea temperatures.

Anyway, it seems to be lifting now and yer Sheepy has once again been let out of his pen to experience a wee adventure . . . so without further ado . . . 

You know the more I think about it, this country of ours must be dotted with places like I am about to show you. 

They are obvious out in the mountains and glens - you can spot dereliction a mile off (though thankfully some of these old [200+ years!] buildings have been given new leases of life by intrepid renovators).

This being said, stuff can slip through the net, or can literally be too far gone to even think about. Sadly there are plenty of places like that around - one needs only to check the Buildings At Risk Register to find them, and then when you factor in the costs of getting anything done properly (and especially with care and conservation in mind) well, astronomical becomes a word you'll often find used. 

There are people out there who can do it, but the demands on them are heavy (and you'd better be ready to sell your kidneys).

Anyway, our subject today is definitely in the too-far-gone/bleeding-millions/would-it-be-worth-it-to-sort-out? bracket.

Sadly 60-odd years of neglect has made up our minds for us.

And thus it was, a short tale unfolded. 

My friend Bruce from The Online Darkroom dutifully picked me up (he likes driving  . . ) and took me to a place I'd heard of and read about, yet had strangely never visited.

Just as a short aside, I can't even begin to describe how nice it is when someone wants to meet up with you photographically. 

This is the second time we've done it and to say it felt like the most natural thing in the world is an understatement.

All my snapping life I've been a 'lone' photographer.

You'll recognise the archetype - they talk to themselves a lot: 

Muttering away about f-stops. 

Why is that person bothering me when it is obvious that I am very busy and have a tripod set up. 

If that couple crosses my field of view again I'll f-ing murder them.

 

Yeah, that sort of thing!

So to be able to say:

Oops, sorry, I'll get out of your way!

and 

Hold on, I'll get that barbed wire fence!

and even 

Right, I've got it composed, could you clap your hands and scare the crows!

is something as much of a revelation as it is 'nice'. 

We chat on the same level. 

No one wonders what the hell we're on about with raised 'blimey, not again' eyebrows.

Jings I even got to relax and handle his Mamiya Universal Press (Double Yum) and his Rollei SL66SE (Double Triple YUM). 

He got to have a look through the weird and squinty-woo world of a Hasselblad SWC/M finder and admire the heft of a Gitzo Series 3 with Arca Ballhead. 

It was great. 

We even showed each other our prints (no euphemism intended). 

Fantastic.

Anyway, there we were again, chatting and laughing about all sorts, and then, on a back road, he saw a sign saying:

Private Road

(obviously he knew where he was going) so he turned in there and further on there was a sign saying:

Private Road, No Turning, No Parking

 

He just shrugged his shoulders, said he'd done it before and eventually parked up in a woody enclave, next to a fence with a sign on it which said:

Danger Of Death, Keep Out

Blimey I thought, what if the rozzers nab us? 

Fortunately that wasn't to happen, neither were we beset by angry locals wielding pitchforks demanding our immediate evacuation.

Instead we took our time. 

We looked in awe at a house, beautifully made, but on the wrong side of collapse.

We gently squeezed ourselves through barbed wire and sheep wire.

We got to sip the sad atmosphere of impending house doom. 

It must have been extraordinary when originally built. 

Quirky detailing; gothic beauty; battlements; grandeur beyond the ken of the common man - all in the most peaceful setting you could imagine. 

It has apparently been unoccupied since the late-60's and I found it really incredible what nigh-on 60 years of neglect and weather can do to a place.

We took our photos, listened to the crows, and I think both of us left with heavier hearts because of the obvious end of the house. 

Granted a lot of the wall work will last more than a few hundred years, but the detailing will soften and decay. 

Frost and seedlings will do their worst, and the recognisable will ultimately just become a pile.

It is really sad, not just from the point of view that a place so beautiful will be lost, but also for the sheer effort, quality of building skills and indeed the spirit of place (that it must have been imbued with when someone called it home) that will all slowly fade into the encroaching countryside. 

Standing there, listening to the harsh carcks from the roost and feeling the atmosphere of the place, well, it was almost like a metaphor for life.

I used the Hasselblad SWC/M on a tripod. 

Film was Pan-F (fresh) rated at EI 25 and, unusually for me, processed in 1+3 Perceptol. 

The grain is smoother than a bald man's pate.

Prints are on MGRC pearl and are printed at Grade 4 (4.5 for the one with the two pillars and 'Mich'). Again this was an unusual move for me, but the soft lighting and soft developer made things a little too soft. 

Also the paper is of an unknown age, but has (I think) lost a bit of speed, so Grade 4 gives it back some sparkle without losing the atmosphere. 

I printed them quite dark deliberately to complement the mood of the place - it was a grey sky day - little in the way of shadows and you could feel the ghosts clinging on as best they could. 

I think the film/developer/grade worked as a nice combo though - I shall definitely be using it again.

I hope in my taking and printing that I have treated the place with some respect. 

One likes to think so.

And that's it - briefer than that shrunken pair of 1970's mustard yellow Y-Fronts you're still hanging on to.

Hope you enjoyed it - thanks for reading as always.

TTFN

H xxx

Sheephouse Meets T.O.D.
I'm the one on the left.