A vintage copy of the Daily Mail celebrating the birth of Prince William lies gathering dust alongside many other forgotten relics, including typewriters, vinyl records, personal photographs and an ornate organ in the deserted Berkyn Manor, near Slough.
The copy of the Daily Mail dated June 23rd 1982 lies folded on a table. The front page, reading ‘A prince goes home’, marks the day Princess Diana took the newborn Prince William home from St Mary’s Hospital.
Urban explorer and photographer Oliver James, 43, ventured inside the manor, which was last inhabited in 1987. He said: ‘I felt as if I was in a Poirot novel. As I walked around, I tried to piece together the lives of the people who had lived there.
‘The place is full of artifacts, as if it were a time capsule. It was amazing to see the newspaper from the day Prince William was born.’
The Manor, which is four miles from Windsor Castle, has stood empty and decaying since the last resident, Ernest Rayner, died aged 96.
It was first bought by the Rayner family in 1945 – who still own the home and 60 acres surrounding it.
The historic home was also once the home of John Milton, the English poet who wrote Paradise Lost. He lived in the house with his parents from 1632 to 1638.
