We all know in this area the sad story of Great Barr Hall and KES has submitted the following story and some of his own pictures and off other places he has found, the latest pictures were took this summer.

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As a keen angler I stumbled across gb hall when checking out the lakes from google earth even though I lived on beacon rd for 10 yrs i never new about the mansion. After sneaking through the fence just before the motorway bridge I entered a magical overgrown kingdom of forgotten brick structures entwined with dense foliage and magnificent ancient trees.

When the bottom lake came into view i was astounded by the beauty of the setting. I followed the path round the lake until I spotted the weir that seperated the top and bottom lakes,to stand on the weir stones between the lakes and take in the scenery just blew me away.

Crossing the weir to check out the other side of the top lake something caught my eye,a beautiful but broken building, I took a couple of pics but an angry frothing at the mouth alsatian bounding out of the bushes towards me stopped me in my tracks.Anyway, I`ll never forget how haunting and beautiful that hour or so in the grounds of gb hall made me feel.

My photos show that something looks like it was been done to the building but in reality there wasn`t, so I`ve included a few from elsewhere too, Since these photo`s were taken I gather that the local kids destroyed the security hut that was abandoned and also destroyed the security fence and scaffold.

There are pics on various urban explorer sites that show the real sorry state of affairs,the photo`s
on Nick James Don’t Go into the Woods Alone. Again site are probably the worst I`ve seen. There was one site (can`t remember which one) where there was an insurance investigator sniffing around for info regarding a claim made by the owners regarding vandal/fire damage,this was last summer I think.

Has Peter Allen given up on things? I don`t know why English Heritage or whoever couldn`t force the compulsory purchase order route or at least threaten the owners with heavy punishment for letting this happen, do you think E H or the local press have seen photo`s like the recent ones from don`t go into the woods. When you look into the names of the famous people who are associated with GBHall like Repton, Galton, Shenstone and the Lunar
societies etc you really do wander how this has happened.

I don`t think things are past the point of no return but they are very very close indeed,imo. Anyway I`m going now I feel really totally flippin depressed after thinking about this.

p.s. I was told last year that Walsall council were keeping a close eye on things regarding gb hall, and I`ve read somewhere recently that they are spending millions restoring Walsall arbouretum and park!!!