La Porte Fullers Earth works, Redhill - Nov 05

[TheFunk]

I took a look around this place this place last November after reading about it in Section61. Only just found the CD with my photo's on it yesterday so the site may have changed since?

Closed in 1996 this place isn't ageing particularly well however some of the site is still being used as a depot by a waste company.

After looking for a back way on to the site I found the quickest way in was on foot through the main entrance now blocked by a gate and some large mounds of earth.

On site there's the main industrial building housing all the machinery surrounded by a couple of labs and a workshop with a burnt out office building set further up the hill towards the entrance.

I wouldn't recommend smoking on-site... The whole place smelt of gas and on entering one of the lab buildings I found out why. There was a pipe at head height with a hole in it. If it's still spewing gas you can actually hear it hissing before you see it. All the gas taps in the lab next door also work.

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The lab

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The workshop has some particularly grim Health and safety posters.

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Inside the main building it's like a small scale Shoreham works! The walkways that run over the machinery where entertaining. Although most of the structure was relatively modern there where a couple of thick brick walls that would suggest the site had been in existence for some time.

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Control room.

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Open plan area with a kitty litter packaging machine!

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The warehouse was divided by an impressive wall of huge tyres. The other side was used by the waste company.

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The office block was surrounded by an impressive metal fence. On inspection the gate was actually unlocked but with the building torched there wasn't much to protect. The staff canteen on the ground floor of the office has seen better days...

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It had a long bar that spanned two rooms so the place must have employed a large number of people.

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