A JCB 540-170 Loadall telehandler and a 22T JCB JS220 tracked excavator completed the demolition of this house.

Two JCB machines have been commissioned to demolish a "haunted house" built in 1887 as a winter retreat for a local businessman and his wife.

The house, which JCB bought in 1969, is close to the company's Rocester headquarters and earned the "haunted house" nickname from locals because of the eerie outline it cast against the sky. Built mainly of Swedish pine for Charles Hartley and his wife, Mary, the house was not expected to last as long as it has. Builders then forecast the Swedish pine to have a lifespan of 25 years.

Now, 124 years later, a JCB 540-170 Loadall telehandler, complete with a man basket attachment, enabled the brick-by-brick demolition of the chimney stacks before a 22T JCB JS220 tracked excavator with selector grab attachment completed the demolition.

A JCB spokesman says despite regular security patrols and a fence around the property, there has increasingly been a problem of youngsters entering the dangerous structure, which had seen better days.

"[It] was in such an unsafe condition that the only option was to demolish it before anyone was seriously injured. The 540-170 Loadall and the JCB JS220 excavator are more used to operating in much more arduous conditions and made light work of this particular project, with [the] demolition completed in two days," he says.