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Woburn House is a B2 listed grand mansion located on the grounds of Lisnevin Training School.
An 1800 Italiante property that was once the private summer mansion for John Gilmore Dunbar, a wealthy mill owner who passed it down to multiple generations of his family.
In 1929, the local coroner, Dr. Wallace was called to the home after the discovery of a deceased baby stuffed in a suitcase under the bed of dairymaid, Sarah Cameron.ย
Sarah Cameron pleaded guilty to infanticide and her employer; Mr Pack-Beresford asked the court to โbe as lenient as possibleโ as she was the best dairymaid he had ever hired. The judge said that he had sympathy with Cameron and that โshe had been punished enoughโ before subsequently releasing her.
During WWII, Woburn house went on to be used as a convalescent home for injured soldiers. In 1949, Mr Pack-Beresford passed away and the estate was acquired the state.
An open borstal was planned for the site and in 1956, the first juveniles moved in. ย Some windows were secured with iron bars, but many juveniles escaped over the years, simply by smashing windows in the middle of the night. One boy escaped after 10 weeks at the borstal and was not apprehended until 8 months later!
Lisnevin Training School was opened next door to Woburn House as a secure borstal.
After its closure in 1980, the site was taken over by the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS). The Northern Ireland Prison Service converted rooms into training facilities and offices. The Northern Ireland Prison Service also opened a prison museum on the site which hosted history from over 200 years of policing in Northern Ireland.
In 2018, both Woburn House and Lisnevin Training School went on to be sold for ยฃ1.75 million.
Full report here:
https://urbexhub.com/woburn-house/
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๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ โ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฅ
Drone footage of the former Lisnevin Training School. A now abandoned borstal that once housed up to 40 juvenile delinquents.
Full report here:
https://urbexhub.com/lisnevin-training-school-millisle.../
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๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ โ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฅ
Lisnevin Training School first opened in 1981 with accommodation available for up to 40 boys between the ages of 10 and 17. ย Most of the boys who were housed here had a history of absconding from other open training schools. Some of the juveniles housed here had been charged with terrorism related offences during the Troubles.
Lisnevin was the only training school in Northern Ireland which housed both Catholic and Protestant boys together. This in turn meant conflict was rampant between the juveniles on site. Staff would reprimand boys by caning them with a bamboo cane.
In 1997, it was reported that the reoffend rate for Lisnevin Training School was 100%.
Mary Honeyball, General Secretary of the Association of Chief Officers of Probation described Lisnevin as โbleak beyond beliefโ.
An independent report by researchers at Queenโs University Belfast concluded that boys that were sent to Lisnevin โcame in as criminals with low self-esteem and went out as criminals with high self-esteem.โ
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Chief Commissioner, Prof. Brice Dickson, said that โIf the contents of this report are borne out, it gives rise to real concern that there have been breaches of human rights at Lisnevin.โ
In 2000, it was announced that Lisnevin Training School was to close and by 2003, the remaining juveniles were transferred to new detention centres.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland became the new custodians of the site. The PSNI used it as a police training school until 2016 when it closed to due financial constraints.
In 2018, the site was put on the market for ยฃ1.75 million. It sold shortly after and has remained derelict since. ย
Full article and report here:
https://urbexhub.com/lisnevin-training-school-millisle-borstal/
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Your posts are really fascinating. How do you come across all these places? I'd love to get into it. Where has been your favorite place?
Lots of time spent on Google and Google Maps researching!
One of my favourites will be posted tomorrow. It's a massive complex so will have to be split over 5 or 6 articles. I'm excited to share our recent Baltics road trip soon as well. Loads of old Soviet finds.
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๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฒ
This drone video is from June 2022 when preparatory works for it to be demolished where in progress. It was demolished on the 25th August 2022.
We've previously posted about this monument from our trip in 2019 and went back one last time to see it.
Architecturally, we are sad to see it go but understand why it is a controversial monument - especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
You can read the full article here:
https://urbexhub.com/victory-memorial-to-soviet-army/
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