Tertowie Adventure

We love Urban Exploring. Or "Urbexing" if you like. It's been a past time of ours for a few years now and it's taken us to many places off the map you would never think of looking for. Hours and hours have been spent scrolling through Urbexing forums researching our next find and trying to pin point it on google maps which never goes quite to plan because it's never an exploring trip without getting lost at least once! Tertowie House has came up in conversation a few times but it wasn't top of out list of places to visit as we were aware of the fire that destroyed most of the building in late 2011. This weekend we finally decided to make the trip though and what a trip that was.

The original Tertowie House Residential School

Tertowie House is a Beautiful two storey mansion located near Kinellar. Follow the road to Kirkton of Skene (through Tyrebagger forest) until you see the right turn for Tertowie. I do not recommend you go here and you’ll understand why if you carry on reading but if you’re anything like curious little me, you’ll go anyway. The house is originally credited to architect James Mathews in 1867 but may incorporate parts of an earlier structure from the late 16th century. More additions and wings to the house were added in 1905. It began as a private Residential School until 1944 when it was bought over by Aberdeen City Council and was used by Aberdeen College as an education facility and accommodation for the School of Rural and Sports Studies until 2002.

Entrance sign

If Tertowie House itself isn’t impressive enough let me tell you about the secret it holds underground (Ooooo!) Hiding beneath the gym lies an emergency nuclear bunker which opened in 1962 as the North East Sector Civil Defence Group Control until the stand down of the Civil Defence Corps in 1968. The Grampian Regional Council reactivated it in 1987 as an emergency centre until 1998 for council members to remain safe in case of a nuclear threat.

Maps of Aberdeenshire in the nuclear bunker

The whole of Tertowie House including the bunker was sold to a private bidder for £400,000 in 2005 but this is where things get weird. Obviously the site was sold as a development as it had been in a some state of disrepair for years before it was even on the market but in 2009 the owner decided to withdrawn the planning permission to turn the mansion into a private dwelling. Then mysteriously in November 2011 a fire of unknown origin started and burned down most of the insides of the house but thankfully didn’t do any damage to the underground bunker. We were thinking it could be a possible inside job but then again it could also be a complete natural disaster. Either way, it's very sad such a majestic and historic building has ended up in this way.

The 2011 fire. Picture curtesy of P&J

Arriving at a brand new explore is always exciting especially if no one in the group has been before. Nobody knows where we’re going and it’s all fun and adrenalin seeking. As we drove up we were instantly impressed by the overall size and design of the mansion but unfortunately blocking its beauty was what I can only describe as a building site. Debris from the fire was lying around everywhere and big metal fences surrounded the mess. Normally we are quite up for finding a way in if it seems difficult but every door, window and hatch possible was left wide open. It was an invitation we couldn’t decline. Scoping out the place I found parking the cars around the side of the building wouldn’t be blocking the road or wouldn’t draw unnecessary attention to us as there were cottages about 200 yards away that looked pretty lived in. So our logic told us it would’ve been a great idea to park the bright green Clio in first and the tan coloured one in second because it was less noticeable. Must of been the excitement speaking as it ended up being a really dumb idea. We grabbed some torches, locked up and headed straight for the bunker. The giant open hatch in the ground caught our attention first and one of the group began to climb down the ladder. It was one of those moments when you hear something and it could’ve been one of two things. What we heard could’ve been something dropped down the hole or a gunshot and we were 99% certain it was a gunshot. This didn’t bother us that much as here in Scotland we’re used to hearing hunters in the countryside all of the time. The member of the group that climbed down the ladder suddenly appeared behind us showing us that there is actually an open door we could all walk through instead of climbing down into an ankle deep puddle of mucky water. Being inside this bunker was like Christmas minus the decorations. We found rooms upon rooms of giant wall maps of the area, old threat boards, dormitories, shower rooms, telegraphs, recreational areas. It was all still there, just a bit damp and dark. Not all of our torches were working properly and the sun was just beginning to set so we thought we should explore the house while it’s still daylight and go back into the bunker without wasting the torch batteries. I think I would’ve been pretty proud of this plan if it went smoothly. Emerging back into the light from the bunker we spotted a red BMW parked just beside our cars and three men loitering around outside. Ignoring them we kept on walking but were approached by the oldest of the men as the other two younger ones bolted in the other direction. Anytime exploring that we’ve been questioned or bothered by anyone in the area we haven’t had a problem. After all we’re not exactly the most intimidating looking bunch. Usually we just explain what we’re doing, ask if they wouldn’t mind if we took some pictures and if they get tricky, come up with some bullshit story about being students doing a project on abandoned places in the area. This works every single time.... but not this time. This mad mother fucker who I believe to be the land owner but possibly also a farmer as he was wearing a tweed coat, hat, wellington boots and oh yeah, had a gun(!!!!!!) asked the standard what were we doing and we explained we were just having a look around. Apparently this answer wasn’t good enough as he got really grumpy. Everyone in the group sensed this was not a good sign and this guy could be dangerous, remembering he has a fucking gun. The best thing to do was just leave so I grabbed my car keys and calmly said we were just leaving. Now, he doesn’t want us here and we were gladly leaving on our own will. He didn’t even have to force us to go yet he replied with “No. You’re not going anywhere.” We all kind of gave each other the look of what the hell is that suppose to mean? Quickly all of us got into the cars and sped down the down the road. The only road out. The only road out that these nutcases ever so kindly closed and locked the gate behind them. We were stuck with no way out. Panic flowed the group as we rationally came up with ideas why this had happened and tried to think of ways to get out. We discovered the only other straight through way to get back onto the road at the other side of the gate was over a field. One car tried it and got half stuck, to avoid going further into the mud we pushed her back out and forgot about that idea. It went through everyone’s heads that maybe they locked us in until the police got here but there are no trespassing laws in Scotland and we hadn’t caused any trouble so the police couldn’t do anything. Breaking the lock would’ve meant causing damage so we tried to get one up on the crazy trio by calling the police ourselves. We hadn’t done anything wrong and I’m pretty sure capturing a group of people and their vehicles when they haven’t broken any laws isn’t very innocent in itself so it was worth a shot. The policewoman on the phone was very understanding considering how strange the situation was and she assured us she would get an officer out as soon as possible to help us escape as it were. Luckily the boys noticed the reg plate on their car so we knew who we were dealing with if they came back. Ten minutes or so of flapping around passed until out of nowhere appeared the same red BMW in the distance. Understandably we were all terrified. The police notified us that no other complaint had been made in the area so if these guys were coming back it was something personal. To our surprise one of the younger men got out of the car, strolled up to the gate, unlocked it and drove away. This was all very weird. I was half expecting it to be a trap and they’d set up spikes on the road or something but no, we successfully managed to drive out of the gate and back onto the main road. I don’t think I’ve ever driven back to Tyrebagger car park faster in my life. I had to call the police back and explain what had happened as not to waste their time. The policewoman asked if we still wanted to make a complaint and someone would come out to speak to the three scary men. As a group we decided it was best to just leave it this time. We don’t have any plans to go back in the near future even though it’s fairly heartbreaking we didn’t get to see inside the mansion house and if we did it would definitely be on foot next time. 

It’s not difficult to get why these men didn’t want strangers looking through their property. I wouldn’t want people roaming into my own house or garden but saying that my house isn’t abandoned or plastered all over Urban Exploring websites. What they did wasn’t nice or humane and it’s clear now it was only to scare us. Personally if I wanted people off of my land and they were for than up for leaving I probably would of just let them leave instead of closing them in. I guess they were lucky we weren’t a bunch of assholes. There was more than enough stuff lying around to cause serious damage to their property. I think we’re all counting our lucky stars we live in Scotland where we have the right to roam. This morning we all went back to our normal lives. Maybe if we lived in America those three mental hillbilles would be enjoying a pumpkin stew with some human extract. Only maybe though.

H & J x