This place, originally reported by Lithium (Bigloada) has been on the cards since I first read his report.
As Wolfism was in the area and I eventually had some free time, I took the opportunity to take a look. I was looking forward to it, but feckin' hell, its was sooo much more than I expected. An industrialist's wet dream and you get to be covered head to toe in powered rock dust. Crackin' stuff. If I could liken this to anything it would be a mini Steetley, but only with everything still in place plus a shit load more from other local industrial sites.
Broadwood quarry is still active and the site is a weird mix of live, abandoned and storage areas. The storage areas are filled with broken and disused industrial plant from local mines such as Cambokeels and Grove Rake, along with the biggest surprise of the day, which I will get onto later......
The main building is semi live, mainly not in use and is quite the Tardis...
At first the in-use buildings are hard to distinguish from the rest but subtle little items such as new electrical motors and other more personal touches are present in the active parts. The inactive part is very inactive.
The main building is a veritable Aladdin's cave of redundant plant and spare parts
I loved this but was even more chuffed when I saw the other half of this relatively small building (Small considering the amount to see). The guy's who ran this place are the typical 'make do' bunch who have very practical yet rudimentary methods of making things work. It all added to the charm. This along with the 2 -3 inches deep dust made this a cracking few hours.
Check out the dusted up windows of the observation offices
Another level..
Back into the first half at high level
The record sheet said 'Durham Industrial Minerals' and was a log of the chemical content from the ore.
The machines that separated the chemicals were so antiquated they could be a prop from a Harry Potter movie
One of the disused conveyors
Other random shots
All in all a good explore with only one draw back. One area was totally sealed off with only a rope access point (none with me
) and a small climb to get back out. Considering the the nature of the site I was gobsmacked to see these beauties sitting in storage.
Maybe worth a return trip.
As Wolfism was in the area and I eventually had some free time, I took the opportunity to take a look. I was looking forward to it, but feckin' hell, its was sooo much more than I expected. An industrialist's wet dream and you get to be covered head to toe in powered rock dust. Crackin' stuff. If I could liken this to anything it would be a mini Steetley, but only with everything still in place plus a shit load more from other local industrial sites.
Broadwood quarry is still active and the site is a weird mix of live, abandoned and storage areas. The storage areas are filled with broken and disused industrial plant from local mines such as Cambokeels and Grove Rake, along with the biggest surprise of the day, which I will get onto later......
The main building is semi live, mainly not in use and is quite the Tardis...
At first the in-use buildings are hard to distinguish from the rest but subtle little items such as new electrical motors and other more personal touches are present in the active parts. The inactive part is very inactive.
The main building is a veritable Aladdin's cave of redundant plant and spare parts
I loved this but was even more chuffed when I saw the other half of this relatively small building (Small considering the amount to see). The guy's who ran this place are the typical 'make do' bunch who have very practical yet rudimentary methods of making things work. It all added to the charm. This along with the 2 -3 inches deep dust made this a cracking few hours.
Check out the dusted up windows of the observation offices
Another level..
Back into the first half at high level
The record sheet said 'Durham Industrial Minerals' and was a log of the chemical content from the ore.
The machines that separated the chemicals were so antiquated they could be a prop from a Harry Potter movie
One of the disused conveyors
Other random shots
All in all a good explore with only one draw back. One area was totally sealed off with only a rope access point (none with me
) and a small climb to get back out. Considering the the nature of the site I was gobsmacked to see these beauties sitting in storage.
Maybe worth a return trip.
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