There's a farm in the middle of the M62

[markshawisthebest]

its still a farm in the middle tho aint it dip shit dont have to get all political

[malcolmcog]

Once (in about 2002) at midnight I stopped on the hard shouler and crossed to the farm in the middle of the motoray, just to say I been there. As I remember it was a fine drizzle.

[ironmanc5]

it's murder getting off the drive in the morning though

[theonlyantony]

Yeah, the chap who bought the land was none other than Geoff Capes, the strongm'n. He breeds budgies there. The Pennine District council and the motorways Commission have offered him millions to move out but he has now appealed to the EEC and the area has been declared a principality. (i.e. a nation state) He is said to be very pleased with the decision and has bred a new strain of budgie to celebrate - 'The M62 Chirpy' - which is a sort of Tarmacky colour with white lines down its back.

[johngferguson]

bit like the Dunsilly end of the M2 in Northern Ireland

[38Highbury]

Great work Davidthirlwell, you knew the real reason the farm was in the middle, as about a million people have ranted below, but by putting that in the title, you get views and comments, and they all fell for it. Great work.

There is a vid on youtube all about the construction of this motorway, Secret life of the motorway I think.

x x x

[deanok1960]

I heard that when they drew the route the draughtsman sneezed and left a gap between Westbound & Eastbound lanes - many years later a would be farmer seized the opportunity of some cheap land and decided to build a farm (he moved up from Milton Keynes and sold his roundabout managerie). Could be an urban myth (or is that a rural myth?)

[bradfordman1]

after numerous attempts of cracking a deal with the guy who owns this home.. he was offered £1,000,000... yes thats right, £1,000,000 to move, but he refused... and once motorway work around his property had started... he decided he wanted to sell it, but by then the works had been carried out, and his acceptance deal was declined...

[lozzyloveyou]

The story is, he's so terrifying, masculine and aggressive, that the building contractors would not approach his door to offer a contract of any sort. So instead of facing up to their personal frights and demons, they simply constructed the motoraway around the tyrants house. But he sits there....waiting...interminabl­y waiting for a contract... a contract that will neeeever come. A sad story really. But its the utter truth.

[pinoyoverseas]

@lozzyloveyou complete and utter rubbish, nothing of the sort my dad worked on this stretch of motorway, it was due to the alignment of the road and suitable ground conditions. Aggressive farmer BS. Compulsury land order was issued for either side of his farm in any case.

[lozzyloveyou]

@pinoyoverseas hahahaha you took my comment seriously?

[sawbodude]

Well spotted. It's only been there forty-odd years!

[toptottyspotter]

The guy who lives in this house was on Radio 1 two years ago, he said it was nothing to do with money.. his land is unsuitable for the building of a road on, and yes he does have an access road.. there was an appeal to find him a wife/girlfriend because he is/was lonely up there... he also says he likes for people to knock on his door for a cuppa or to use his phone if they break down... sounds like a bloody nice chat tbh !!

[tomb982]

Omg i've seen this before i think on the way to leeds :S its soooo random

[p0dg3]

This is a very common misconception. ascolti has hit the nail on the head. It was nothing at all to do with this but the land that the barn was on hence the fact the motorway splits a fair distance from the barn.

[ascolti]

Let me clear this up.

The reason the carriageways split long before the farm and come back together long after it are nothing to do with the money, land ownership or anything else.

The land the farm is on is very marshy, prone to movement under pressure and to make things worse an underground river flows near it.

It was considerably cheaper to separate the the two carriageways than construct what would effectively be a giant dam.

Sorry if that ruins a good story, but there you go.

[nomad806]

yes but surely they would have had to get his permission to hem him in between a mottorway like that. they most have p\id him something

[bradfordman1]

@ascolti ... shit... and iv'e been speading a bullshit story all along...lol... cheers anyways pal!

[Alexis050891]

I was under the impression it was illegal to build a motorway if it is the only access to [the farm]. Is there an alternative route to the farm?

[terrycramp]

yes

[04smallmj]

There's a tunnel to the farm (more of a bridge really) If you look on google maps you can see it. (You need the coordinates of the farm)

[Visor1210]

this is the most pointless post ever!

[sbwords]

No, I disagree. I keep the kids entertained (Are we there yet yet Dad?) on our regular M62 run by getting them to look out for the farm in the middle of the M62.

[thanxx]

bullshit! the land was unsuitable for building the road on-and not because he wouldn't move you should do your research before you post videos

[thanxx]

@blobbydo some research the only reason was the land was fucked.....PERIOD!

no one refused nothing its just an old tale that dads tell there kids when there passing FULL STOP!

[thanxx]

@blobby1972 :) dont even got here with that one! i only found that one out last year.........................G­UTTED! lol

[thanxx]

@blobby1972 and what about batman??? its only bruce fecking wayne lol

[thanxx]

@blobby1972  :)

[simonphilipsmusic]

@blobby1972 we will tell you there's no "r" in father though :)

[blobby1972]

@simonphilipsmusic .You should use a capital letter at the start of a sentence too :(

[NMELLOWS]

i stall my car in the fast lane and the battery went flat , so i had to bump it off Arr!

[atomtraffic]

urban myth.

[scoteee1975]

there is not a farm in the middle of the M62,there is an M62 in the middle of a farm!

[bluebus270]

And another myth going round about the M62 is that over the tops it was heated, but the Highways Agency has never dared switch on the heater matrix because of the cost, so it was easier and cheaper to salt.

[bluebus270]

Maxtoon is absolutely right. Known locally as 'the little house on the prairie' the motorway was indeed routed round it because of the land. There is a similar scenario on the M74 Between Glasgow and Carlisle.

[maxtoon818]

video description is a myth and is not correct ...

The motorway was NOT diverted because the occupants refused to move. The farm was on marsh land unsuitable for the motorway so they routed around it !!

[huddzog]

i hope his animals get run over by the cars and die!

[glennw1002]

CLEVER BOY

[glennw1002]

good on him

[fnslr308]

I well recall one snowy evening when the farmer went out for an Pony and Trap. Approaching the Diggle Road he was surprised by an artic and the Pony bolted.

The mounted section of the RSPCA clocked that Pony doing 84mph past Milnrow.

Awful episode.

[thisisreflex]

Oh eye, that's the section that was cobbled until the late 80's

[LUFC896]

how much extra did it cost???

[fnslr308]

When he walks the cattle to meadow, they do a lap of the field to get them to about 65mph so they can merge in turn.

There were some early problems with Friesans (on arrival) entering the pasturs at about 78mph, but Aircraft-carrier-type slowing bands solved this.

[volvomantom]

I've seen this a few times, usually on the way to Manchester Airport.

[BenCachartMedia]

The only way to avoid this stretch of the motorway is to take the snakes pass; Mr Shuttleworth has a few songs about this one, describing the hazards.

[fnslr308]

The other great myth is that his kids were 'born' athletes.

In truth, playing dare and running three lanes to and from school meant they just walked the Olympic 100 metres.

[Ricktay]

there's a great myth about him refusing to budge when they built the M62, and that's why the carriageways fork right round the farm. But the real reason is the geology at this point on the moor just couldn't support all those lanes side by side. It's too steep.

All the land is owned by Yorkshire Water, and they offered Ken and his wife Beth another place when the M62 was being planned, but Ken wanted to stay put.

[fnslr308]

And if "The State" wants to do something it has powers to just do it.

[Ricktay]

is an 18th-century farm on Windy Hill, situated between the two carriageways of the motorway between junctions 22 and 23.[20][34][35] The road forks around the farm for engineering reasons owing to the surrounding area's geology, though a local myth persists that the road had to be split because the owners refused to sell the land during its construction.

[tarquindewinter]

In some respects I kind of admire that farmer's stubborn nature for sticking around rather than moving, but the traffic noise etc must be awful!

[jackjg06]

it splits a couple of miles before his house cos he own the land right up to were it splits and you cant have sharp turn on a motorway so there not gunna go up to his house and do a 90 degree turn u dumb ass

[dominickearney]

Look, it's a myth that he refused to move. The motorway does that purely because of the topography.

[arthurfonzareli]

Yea that's right. The motorway splits on the west side over 2 miles before the farmhouse. This is indeed because of topography just as Dominickearney states.

I'm beggining to think some of the people on this thread are just trying to wind the intelligent ones of us up. How thick can you get (BINZY)? Oh and don't message me again fruitcake!!

[6PBP6]

Well the story I heard was the guy was offered money to sell when they were building the motorway but just would not budge no matter what the price. He probably thought he was holding them to ransom, but in the end they just built around him, no doubt making him wish he'd sold when he had the chance.

[georeff23]

Vote for binzy1979, he/she is almost right!

[binzy1979]

why do you insist on lying. Your dad was a planning man. yeah right bull bull and more bull

[arthurfonzareli]

ok numpty, let me put you straight. I am not lying, I didn't say my dad was a planning man, I said "I could tell you my dad was one of the planning men" just the same way you COULD say your uncle is the man who owns Stott Hall farm.

Have you never heard of compulsory purchace orders? Take a look at the land levels around the farm, 1 carriageway is about 60m above the other. Care to explain binzy??

[arthurfonzareli]

Why do you all insist in lying about him not wanting to move. The original quote on this thread by paulthe6th is quite right. As is Ricktay, kutarc and some others. If the road buliders had wanted to build it through the farm house they would have compulsory purchaced it. deadrebel2, I'm sure your uncles story is far more entertaining but I could tell you my dad was one of the planning men.

[binzy1979]

The actual story was he was offered a substantial amount of money, but did not want to move ( englishmans home is his castle ) and he sat on his roof and played horrible music to try and get rid of the workers lol. didnt work like.

so they built round him.

get your facts right everyone

from someone who lives close

[fezzerhead]

umm yeah the moterway was built over a hundred yers ago ,the this farmer came along

yeah right cottonwhiskersuk

[cottonwhiskersuk]

What a daft place to build a farm - right on a central reservation! ;-D

[fezzerhead]

umm yeah the moterway was built over a hundred yers ago ,the this farmer came along

yeah right cottonwhiskersuk

[fnslr308]

Oh, right, yeah thanks. We'd all believed cottonwiskas that the M62 was actually the very first Victorian Motorway, allowing Orson Carts to do speeds of up to 100mph

[dermot51]

i remember Orson  Carts very well but what about that other victorian gentleman Shanksis Mayer he was fairly nifty too as i recall

[fnslr308]

H'indeed 'ee wors. I recall 'im comin up the (then fledglin) M606 outah Braadforde 'eeh had a faire head o' wind, ahl tell thee.

Dermot51, thanks for the memory, Aid completely forgotten Shankis.

Sounds like y'orto youtube count arthur strong too.

[fnslr308]

see latest additions, this is getting more surreal, must get out more

[deadrebel2]

Acutally, to put the record straight. He did refuse to move. How do I know, it was my uncle. We used to play on the farm until they built the motorways and then mum wouldn't let us because it was too dangerous, so we had to stay in the house. The ministry offered him 460,000 to move but he was a very difficult man and would not leave his home, that was when an Englishmans home was his castle.

He was run over by a truck tryin to cross the road!

[Ricktay]

I think you may be wrong there.. The price you quote above was never offered... if you lived in the area you would know this...

Stott Hall Farm had the motorway built round it supposedly because of planning wrangles over the siting of a new farmhouse. In fact the carriageway is split here because of geological reasons. This part of the M62 crosses the Pennines and thus affords glorious scenery.

[gus960]

i think your right ricktay cos i was at school with the son from the farm an he never mentioned deadrebel2 once!!

[MySidesHaveSplit]

I think Deadrebel2 was pulling your leg...

[chestertouristcom]

yes this is on the way to Leeds near Huddersfield

[SoftCentaur]

what a stupid git - driving on the M62 and using a camera at the same time.

Good evidence for the police to charge dangerous driving.

[bentsimon]

job's worth....

[paulmac38]

and i feel like the man who lives on that farm that sits in the middle of the m62!

[briwire]

I wonder what his address is-No1 M62 I suppose.

There was an article on North West tonight recently. It's a myth about him not moving. The motorway carriageways went either side because it was too steep to have them side by side.

One man lives there alone to look after the sheep. mmmm

[LMSStanier]

He had female help when I drove past a while back.

[scatterkeir]

it's an urban myth about the farmer refusing to move

[CaptainOatwright]

John Shuttleworth has written a song about this farm- you need to add it as the backing track!

[martinevans123]

I think all motorways should be built with a farm in them, possibly as a legal requirement. Some of the finest 30 seconds I have enjoyed in ages. Thank you.

[kutarc]

I saw a documentary about the construction of the m62. It said the reason why the farm is in the middle of the m62 is because the ground was too soft to take the weight of the motorway, and so it had to be built around it. Personally i thought it was because the farmer would'nt move.

[ogwen040]

Feels like I'm nearly home after the horrors of Lancashire (all that red brick, arghhhhhhh!)...15 minutes later and I'm safely back in Huddersfield.

[Billy244]

They once did a story about this place on TV some years back and I'm sure they said it was because he refused to move. Generations of his family had lived there and he just wouldn't leave it for any amount of money.

[kinkehlilbaybee]

Well i've heard that he refused to move so they built around him, even if thats not the story it sounds better than getting technical!

[picti007]

I remember seeing that bit, from the great Shuttleworth show, where he talked about the farm in the lyrics. Amazing now to think that someone could have been so stupid to actually plan to encompass a farm with noxious chemicals. It's not a waste of 30 seconds....it teaches us a lesson to try and bloody think ahead when we plan things...Millenium Dome anyone...? Thanks for the post.

[nodmoz]

Well, that wasted 30 seconds of my life...

[Pyroman1990]

Hey ive seen you before saying this. you CHOSE to watch it! Christ, do you just copy and paste that onto all vids???

[nodmoz]

Wow. I have a stalker.

[paulthe6th]

this is about 10 miles from where I live! Loads of people reckon that the farmer refused to shift when they built the motorway in the 60's, but the real reason they're there is because the carriageway is on a hill. The structural engineers realised that the land would slide if they put the roads to close together on the hill, so they build them about 75 metres apart.

I thank you!

[randomsoup1]

I'm glad someone else knows that!