'The community will lose a child': Fears as youths 'run riot' in derelict Telford property
Teenage vandals running riot in a derelict historic property are said to be plaguing a close-knit Telford community.
In a previous life, the now dilapidated Upper House in Madeley was a stunning 17th century mansion.
The building was built by royalist sympathiser and mining and ironworks magnate Francis Woolfe, who hid King Charles II in a barn in the grounds after the monarch’s defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
But now, centuries later, the Grade II listed property is a crumbling shell of its former glory.
Boarded and battered, broken roof tiles litter the site and the surrounding paths, with residents reporting the home is persistently targeted by teenagers causing havoc.
Dave Matthews, 59, lives behind the property. He said: "It's been years and years of teenagers and schoolchildren daring each other to go up on the roof and take a selfie for social media.
"It used to be 17/18-year-olds, now they're 12 or 13. They rip off the tiles and throw them onto the path below and the Scouts' hut next door. It could hit anyone below. If one of the tiles hits a child in a pushchair it could kill them.
"The whole thing is a death trap. There are huge holes in the roof where the tiles have been ripped off, and there are no internal floors in the building.
