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    Front Of Building Collapses After Builder Tries To Remove A Brick

    Poet Francis Thompson lived in the house.

    Police were called to a property on Stamford Street Central in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, on Thursday following reports of falling debris.

    View this video on YouTube

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    The Manchester Evening News reports officers decided to cordon off the area after it became clear the building was in imminent danger of collapse.

    A video taken by a bystander shows a contractor later trying to dislodge bricks from the exterior wall using a cherry picker.

    The incredible footage shows the builder struggling to remove the brickwork before finally breaking through with quite dramatic consequences.

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    The property had a blue plaque on the outside highlighting the fact poet Francis Thompson lived there between 1864 and 1885.

    Thompson is said to have lived an unsettled life after becoming addicted to opium. His best known work is The Hound of Heaven, published in 1893.

    Tameside council said the privately owned property had not been in use for some time.