First off cheers to @bubblehead for pointing out a couple of weeks ago that this place had finally given in to the inevitable after 309 years of casting! Sad really but also a bit mouthwatering when you think this place is claimed to be the oldest 'industrial' foundry in the world. According to the stories Abraham Darby first smelted iron ore with coke here way back in 1709 kicking off the industrial revolution! In recent times the site has been owned by Aga-Rayburn and has been used to cast components for their range cookers. Aga was bought out by an american firm in 2015 and they quite predictably have shut this place down and will now be sourcing cast components from third parties in the future. 42 men with over 900 years service between them lost their jobs.
Sadly it seems this great site has been spunked across the internet already. Next time people tell you how 28DL is supposedly responsible for getting good places sealed up or trashed you can point to this situation as the prime example why they are talking shit.
Never mind tho, i really enjoyed my explores here. The old part has been derelict for ages but there was little to see in there, the part that has just closed was much better. I rocked up early doors but was annoyed to find the power had already been switched off to 90% of the building and it was in darkness. I had to sit it out for a couple of hours until the sun came up before i could really see what i was looking at. Typically just as it was getting light people arrived in the building and started up work stripping out. Luckily their activities were confined to one area so i managed to skirt around them and get photos of most of it. When they disappeared off for a tea break i took my chance and got a few quick snaps of the remaining areas before strolling back out the gate.. Easy
Starting at the main gate
When the men turned up for work at the end of November they found the gates closed and were told they were not needed. They tied their boots to the gate to mark the occasion..
At the rear of site we find the tall cuplars where iron was meted.
Under the cuplars
The melt shop with ladles hanging from overhead track.
Bit tricky to light this shot
Wasn't much left of the core shop
This bit of kit would have processed the castings once they had been poured i think.
There was a fair bit of modern automated line in there which i thought was a little suprising
Dust Extraction
More automated lines
The mens forklift parked up
Bags of casting sand
Plenty of old patterns laying about
Great Graffiti too. Too much to shoot!
Offices
Well you didn't expect them to have a normal cooker in the break room did you lol!
Found quite a bit of stuff they had made for next door
Machine shop entrance with a pair of milling machines setup for production work
Radial drill in the machine shop, looked like this area hadn't been used for a while
Two more
Fettling shop with bays to remove flashing from parts
Selection of large offhand grinders
More grinders for fettling
Sadly it seems this great site has been spunked across the internet already. Next time people tell you how 28DL is supposedly responsible for getting good places sealed up or trashed you can point to this situation as the prime example why they are talking shit.
Never mind tho, i really enjoyed my explores here. The old part has been derelict for ages but there was little to see in there, the part that has just closed was much better. I rocked up early doors but was annoyed to find the power had already been switched off to 90% of the building and it was in darkness. I had to sit it out for a couple of hours until the sun came up before i could really see what i was looking at. Typically just as it was getting light people arrived in the building and started up work stripping out. Luckily their activities were confined to one area so i managed to skirt around them and get photos of most of it. When they disappeared off for a tea break i took my chance and got a few quick snaps of the remaining areas before strolling back out the gate.. Easy
Starting at the main gate
When the men turned up for work at the end of November they found the gates closed and were told they were not needed. They tied their boots to the gate to mark the occasion..
At the rear of site we find the tall cuplars where iron was meted.
Under the cuplars
The melt shop with ladles hanging from overhead track.
Bit tricky to light this shot
Wasn't much left of the core shop
This bit of kit would have processed the castings once they had been poured i think.
There was a fair bit of modern automated line in there which i thought was a little suprising
Dust Extraction
More automated lines
The mens forklift parked up
Bags of casting sand
Plenty of old patterns laying about
Great Graffiti too. Too much to shoot!
Offices
Well you didn't expect them to have a normal cooker in the break room did you lol!
Found quite a bit of stuff they had made for next door
Machine shop entrance with a pair of milling machines setup for production work
Radial drill in the machine shop, looked like this area hadn't been used for a while
Two more
Fettling shop with bays to remove flashing from parts
Selection of large offhand grinders
More grinders for fettling