https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/inside-eerie-red-dress-manor-21978738?utm_source=mirror_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Mirror12at21&utm_campaign=daily_newsletterInside eerie Red Dress Manor abandoned with clothes in wardrobes and love letters on the floor
Calcott Hall, in Llanymynech, Powys, Mid Wales, known as Red Dress Manor by locals, has stood empty by almost 40 years
ByJane LavenderAssistant Editor
10:49, 6 MAY 2020Updated09:11, 9 MAY 2020
For almost 50 years Red Dress Manor has stood eerily abandoned - but it's far from empty. The stunning four-bedroom home last had people living within its walls during the early 1970s but it has never been empty, almost, its last owner, Ellen Jones, passed away. A former dairy farm dating back to 1725, Red Dress Manor as it is now called by locals is officially Calcott Hall, in Llanymynech, Powys, Mid Wales. The Grade Two listed building stands proudly in the countryside but instead of a bustling family home, it is now nothing more than a relic of a time decades ago. Following Ellen's death, all of her possessions have remained exactly as they are in her home. Hanging from one wardrobe door is the red dress that gives the empty home its nickname but it is far from the only belonging left behind from a forgotten time. Ellen's picture, including one of her in the red dress, hangs from the walls still covered in places in fading 1950s floral wallpaper. Where the wallpaper has tumbled to earth, heavy stone covers the walls, harking back to the time the dairy farm was first built. Love letters and notes from friends strewn the floor and haven't been read for almost 40 years, their personal messages now are forgotten. Family snaps line the fireplace, black and white images of people long dead, as dust covers arms chairs and their cushions. Beds still have their covers on them and curtains still hang in the windows, many of them cracked and broken as nature forces its way into the house. Branches crawl along the walls, as leaves fill roof spaces and floors where people once trod. There are humdrum signs of life throughout the eerie home, with washing powder left on the side in the kitchen, plates, cups, and pots and pans all still in the cupboards. And in Ellen's former bedroom, there are memories of a bygone time as her dressing table is still filled with remnants of make-up, brushes and a mirror. Lamps, covered in decades of cobwebs, and bottles which once contained 19th-century cleaning products, line side tables, and shelves all now thick with dust. A TV from the 1960s, no pictures or signs coming from it since the 1970s. Newspapers, filled with news from years ago, are piled up in the living room. Photographer, Dan Circa, from Manchester, ventured into the home to capture it in all its eerie glory. He said: "I heard stories of the manor and so wanted to investigate for myself. The picture of a lady in a red dress and the actual red dress still being there was particularly intriguing. I wanted to see what else was inside. I felt like I was in someone's home uninvited, I expected the owner to walk around every corner I saw. When I climbed the stairs to enter the main bedroom, I opened the door and to the right, there was a photo of the lady in the garment on her dressing table with all her makeup and other personal items on it. I then turned to the left and saw an open wardrobe with that red dress hung up, it was a very eerie feeling as if someone was there, and I thought it was her at first glance."
Despite the home-standing empty for so long, the previous owner was identified as Ellen Jones, the same woman pictured in the red dress in one of the photographs on the wall of the abandoned home. Dan said: "Because of how personal this particular urban exploration is, the main message is beauty in decay, as documenting things that someone once cared about or used is very important. People are amazed to see the pictures, especially when they see it~s a place with personal belongings in."
