The house in the middle of the M62, north of Huddersfield and on the moors, has baffled people for years. Since the 1960s specifically. It's one of those things that is a massive talking point on any car journey. Generally, people will say: 'Ooh, there it is! The house!'. This is usually followed by: 'did you know that the reason why it's there is because the bloke refused to sell his house so they just built the motorway around it?'. We've all heard that story. It's been passed through the generations. It's something we all took as truth, this urban myth that spread wide and far. So that's the reason, right?
NO! IT'S FALSE.
I can't believe it either. I've always taken this as 100% fact. Mind...blown!
So why is it there?
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Well, a documentary from 1983 has just been uploaded online which reveals that the real reason Stott Hall Farm is slap-bang in the middle of the motorway. It's actually because a geological fault beneath it would have been a massive ball ache to sort out.
In the 26-minute ITV film (under the banner of Clegg's People), journalist Michael Clegg investigates what this house and it's unorthodox surroundings are all about.
He said: "A geological fault beneath the farmhouse meant it was more practical for engineers to leave it rather than blast through and destroy it.
"Outside the noise is relentless but inside it's as peaceful and cosy as any farmhouse."
The Huddersfield Daily Examiner reported that a man named Ken Wild owned it at the time. His father purchased the property back in 1934.
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Ken and his wife, Beth, were happy to stay in the farm - even if it meant having thousands of people go past every day.
Apparently, it does have its perks. Beth said that she was happy because they 'didn't have any neighbours'.
However, one particular event shook them up. One morning, at 4:20am to be exact, a 32ft lorry ended up in their garden. Beth explained: "The driver climbed out through the windscreen.
"He wasn't hurt at all."
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Hmm. I don't know if I'd like to live somewhere like that, especially as thousands of people were under the impression that the owner was just really stubborn and a bit of an arse.
However, the truth is finally out. And thanks to the Internet, we can put this myth to bed for good.
Words by Mel Ramsay
Featured image credit: Getty
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