Location: Newlands Estate, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Camera: Canon 40D
Lens: Canon 17-85mm IS EFS USM
Exposure details: HDR 3 Exposures - 1/125 sec @ F/10 ISO100
Processing: Merged with Photomatix, Some minor edits to vibrance and clarity in Adobe Lightroom
This odd little abandoned village on the outskirts of Normanton was probably my first Urbex Experience. My old Landlord asked if we wanted to join him for a walk and he showed me this place just a mile or 2 from the main road accessed via a small dirt path next to some woods! While trolling the internet looking for information on this place i found links to several UK Urbexing websites and there began the addiction :).
The Newland estate was a small township on the outskirts of Normanton and lies on the north bank of the River Calder. Existing since 1213 when it was established by King John of England as a preceptory of the Knight's Templars, it was later transferred to the similar organisation, "The Knights Hospitallers" in 1256. The property belonging to the Hospitallers was dissolved by King Henry VIII who bestowed the property upon himself. The earliest known preceptor of the Knights Hospitallers was Simon Paccable in 1313. Newland was once held by the Levett family, and William Levett, who was lord of the manor, was admitted tenant of the Knights Hospitallers on October 2, 1447.
The estate changed hands of ownership a number of times since King Henry VIII sold the land in 1544, with final ownership landing on The Warmfield Company Limited in 1926, who ran brickworks until the mid-20th century.
Newland today is kept as a nature reserve, with the crumbling remains of the Estate overgrown with shrubs and plant life. A small fishing area just outside the Newland Estate remains popular with local fishermen.
Here is an external shot of this particular building where the picture out of the window was taken. I'm not normally a heavy sepia user but I liked this preset on Nik's Silver Efex Pro. This building is not one of the older buildings on the site but a Farm House a stones throw away from the old stone town buildings
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