This Abandoned School In Berkshire Is As Creepy As It Gets

    It was shut down after serious child abuse was uncovered there.

    Crookham Court Manor School has been abandoned for more than 20 years.

    The library is still full of books, and unfinished homework assignments litter the floor.

    The building served several purposes over the years. It was at one point a school for children of members of the armed forces serving at RAF Greenham Common.

    It was abandoned for some time after the US Air Force left the area before the manor was purchased in 1961 and reopened as an independent boarding school for boys.

    The school was shut down in 1989 after a series of high profile child abuse cases.

    Urban explorer Darren Finch, 26, entered through an open window and was careful not to disturb the dilapidated interior.

    He said: “I felt emotional as I walked around. I wondered what terrible things had happened in the rooms which are now eerily empty. It’s horrible to even imagine.”

    The school was the subject of a 1988 BBC investigation for the television programme That’s Life which led to three members of staff being convicted of sexual abuse.

    In 1990 the owner of the school, Philip Cadman, was sentenced to ten years in prison after a trial at Reading Crown Court.

    French teacher, William Printer, was convicted of two counts of indecent assault and one attempted serious sexual assault, and was imprisoned for 10 years at the same trial.

    Anthony Edmonds, who taught English at the school, was jailed for six years after admitting to four charges of serious sexual assault and seven charges of indecent assault.

    In 2012 a fourth member of staff was convicted of four counts of indecent assault. Mark Standish was found guilty of incidents which took place between 1988 and 1989.

    Mr Finch, who visited the property last April, said he tried to look past the building’s troubled history and appreciate the architecture.

    He said: “I had mixed feelings about the place - it was both peaceful and disturbing.”