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Report - - Big Mill - Leek - Jan 14 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Big Mill - Leek - Jan 14

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Stopford_lad

foul-mouthed oaf
28DL Full Member
Big Mill - Leek - Jan 14

After a morning dodging security at Derby Royal, Noodle and myself thought we'd take a look at an old faithful.
Very big and admittedly very empty it's still worth a wander, if only for the nice rooftop views.

History bit

The Big Mill Leek or Wardle & Davenport Ltd is in Staffordshire Built in 1857 by the famous Victorian architect
William sugden, originally built for Lovatt and Goulding but later became Wardle and Davenport.The firm Wardle
and Davenport was formed in 1867
with the partnership between Henry wardle and George davenport over many years they ran many successful
business's employing up to 2500 people by the 1960's the company was suffering great losses and by 1970
they went into receivership, they also pioneered the way forward in artificial silk stockings.

The building is currently in a rare old state, with the owners unsure it's future.

On our way out, we ran into two senior bods from Staffordshire County Council who seemed fairly keen to secure
the building to make sure no pesky explorers hurt themselves in future...nice chaps tbf :thumb


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The scale of the building is impressive, the walkway leads over to the furnace and a new development of offfice blocks

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Nice stairwells and a rather dangerous lift shaft are two of the main features here

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Big empty open floors with very big holes in them...and little else

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apart from this one which was full of all sorts of junk

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Lift machinery in the attic, covered in poop from a million and one pigeons

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Nice view, but rather precarious rooftop

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The old flagpole from back in the Mills halcion days, now home to the entire pigeon population of staffordshire

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No more than a 20 minute explore, but well worth a look if your passing...cheers for looking :thumb
 

FreshFingers

Choose life, choose tunnels
Regular User
Accessible back in February, not much help given it was six months ago. You shouldn't need too much of a lift to get in.

The flooring where @Stopford_lad is stood is well rotten, watch out for it if you go.
 

J-Steele

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Access has been the same for what seems like years..
nice one man, might have to give it a visit soon. It's about an hour away from me so I don't want to make the trip for nothing haha
 

Stopford_lad

foul-mouthed oaf
28DL Full Member
Accessible back in February, not much help given it was six months ago. You shouldn't need too much of a lift to get in.

The flooring where @Stopford_lad is stood is well rotten, watch out for it if you go.

I seem to remember the floor was more than a little soggy back in 2014. It must be a right deathtrap by now ?
 

FreshFingers

Choose life, choose tunnels
Regular User
@J-Steele I stopped by on the way to a job this evening, peering through the bushes it looked doable by the route we took ( the most obvious too )

@Stopford_lad The ol' girl was a little squishy and rotten for sure! Hope you're all good :thumb
 
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