Established in 1918 this site replaced a former site to the west, the works provided and processed components required for making cement. In 1927 a "Light" railway was constructed to connect the site to the Cambridge region of the GreatNorthern and Great Eastern Mainline, the railway allowed for imports (mainly coal for the kilns) and exports into the works. The massive kins used to lead to a roughly 100ft high chimney which stands to this day. In 1948 planning permission was granted to begin mining of chalk. This permission allowed for an internal light railway to be built with sentinel shunters used a locomotives. This made the works one of the very few to use an internal railway instead of the traditional "Dumper" trucks. The facility had been operated by numerous cement compainies and eventually had the internal railway decommissioned in 2005 as it was too expensive. One of the locos have been preserved although the remains of the original railway fail to exist apart from a scar in the landscape. As of 2008 the site has been mothballed and in 2012 partial demolition of the kiln and several other high value machines and structures commenced, since then it has sat dormant with power still flowing through and security racing around. Since the site is disused a new railway has been built so that DB are able to run freight trains to the quarry to fill it with spoil (waste) from Crossrail.
Here are some photos. I was using an iPhone SE for this.....
I was surprised to see this in this condition. The old control room for the kiln.
Continuing on....
At the base under the chimney.
This photo does not even begin to bring out the scale.
For reference the thing at the bottom of the chimney is a temporary construction fence.
A it blurry but brings out the height of the building within the silos.
On old control board. Only around 20 meters from the security cabin.
Outside the first facility that once cleaned the raw chalk from the mine pit. It was massive and was only a tiny portion of the site.
This would have been the internal railway. Now, a scar.
an office, which kept me hided from pigeon poo.
Thanks for looking. I was joined by a good friend of mine, who goes by ExplorerX on the internet(who no longer explores), on this explore. I have uploaded a better quality video of the site into my "Unseen Structures" series on YouTube. This was definitely something special and something vandals are yet to see. I'm actually happy security are about on this site, hopefully preserving it.
No that wasn't an actual body, it was a scarecrow.
Here are some photos. I was using an iPhone SE for this.....
Continuing on....
For reference the thing at the bottom of the chimney is a temporary construction fence.
On old control board. Only around 20 meters from the security cabin.
Thanks for looking. I was joined by a good friend of mine, who goes by ExplorerX on the internet(who no longer explores), on this explore. I have uploaded a better quality video of the site into my "Unseen Structures" series on YouTube. This was definitely something special and something vandals are yet to see. I'm actually happy security are about on this site, hopefully preserving it.
