The History
The Butterley Company was an English manufacturing firm founded as Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790. Portions of it existed until 2009.
Notable patents were taken out by the company's manager, Sir John Alleyne. In December 1859 Alleyne patented a method of producing a load-bearing iron beam known as the Butterley Bulb, used in many early iron steam ships including HMS Warrior In 1861 Alleyne patented a method that allowed hot ingots to be moved around a roller after they had passed by just one person. During the production of steel sections the bar has to be repeatedly put through rollers. Allowing this to happen using just one person was a substantial increase in productivity. By 1863 the company was rolling the largest masses of iron of any foundry in the country. Among its most famous buildings are the Barlow train shed at St. Pancras in London which included 240-foot spans. After the factory ceased production in 2009 the majority of the site was demolished.
An engraving of the sites early days in the late 1700's
The Butterley works in the early 00's pre demolition
The Explore
The pictures are from two visits in March and June, the weather was shite the first time so I put it on my list to revisit. In early 2018 idiots set fire to a large amount of paperwork and shelving in the large stores area. Afterwards the whole place was boarded up and the stores and offices completely stripped, but there's still a bit to see and the main building is very photogenic.
Sign on the front with a maybe(?) not functional camera
Date stone
Into the main building
The king of knob graff
At the end of the building is a large spiral staircase leading up to an office and the main gantry from which the cranes are accessed
Up on the gantry
And it'd be rude not to have a climb into the little control room for the cranes
And a few other bits including piles of drawings
Unfortunately the old stores are now completely stripped and pitch black
Thanks for looking!
The Butterley Company was an English manufacturing firm founded as Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790. Portions of it existed until 2009.
Notable patents were taken out by the company's manager, Sir John Alleyne. In December 1859 Alleyne patented a method of producing a load-bearing iron beam known as the Butterley Bulb, used in many early iron steam ships including HMS Warrior In 1861 Alleyne patented a method that allowed hot ingots to be moved around a roller after they had passed by just one person. During the production of steel sections the bar has to be repeatedly put through rollers. Allowing this to happen using just one person was a substantial increase in productivity. By 1863 the company was rolling the largest masses of iron of any foundry in the country. Among its most famous buildings are the Barlow train shed at St. Pancras in London which included 240-foot spans. After the factory ceased production in 2009 the majority of the site was demolished.
An engraving of the sites early days in the late 1700's
The Butterley works in the early 00's pre demolition
The Explore
The pictures are from two visits in March and June, the weather was shite the first time so I put it on my list to revisit. In early 2018 idiots set fire to a large amount of paperwork and shelving in the large stores area. Afterwards the whole place was boarded up and the stores and offices completely stripped, but there's still a bit to see and the main building is very photogenic.
Sign on the front with a maybe(?) not functional camera
Date stone
Into the main building
The king of knob graff
At the end of the building is a large spiral staircase leading up to an office and the main gantry from which the cranes are accessed
Up on the gantry
And it'd be rude not to have a climb into the little control room for the cranes
And a few other bits including piles of drawings
Unfortunately the old stores are now completely stripped and pitch black
Thanks for looking!
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