Clegg Street Railway Warehouse – Final Visit – 5th January 2012
History
The Park Road, or more correctly Clegg Street, Railway Warehouse at Oldham was built in 1876 and although it often know as the London & North Western Railway warehouse it was actually built by the Oldham, Ashton & Guide Bridge Railway which was jointly owned by the London & North Western and the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (later the Great Central Railway). It was last used in the 1960s and since then has stood empty and becoming increasingly derelict. It owes its survival to the fact of being listed grade 2 on the basis of its unusual curved layout. Over the years there have been many proposals for the re-use of this building but none have succeeded.
At the end of 2011 Oldham Council submitted a statement saying that the structure was ‘safe and secure’; within a few days they withdrew this statement and said it was in imminent danger of collapse.
Officers from English Heritage and Oldham Council’s Building Control team have undertaken an emergency inspection of the Grade II-listed structure and agreed it was unsafe; demolition work started on the building just after lunchtime on the 5th of January 2012, it will be leveled within the week.
My Visit
Having been in an out of derelict buildings and old mines for as long as I remember, Clegg Street railway warehouse is where I found out about urban exploring and people actually did this for fun!
I had seen photos of various derelict buildings from the Oldham area from a couple of local photographers and had heard they wanted to get into the upper floor of this place. Driving past one day I noticed one of the doors had fallen off allowing access to the basement. A quick email and early on Sunday morning I was in the basement with Darkscore. His idea was to create something to get onto the upper levels; that day we found a long bit of timber that would reach to one of the hatches on the first floor. On leaving we had a quick look around the outside and I spotted a gap at the top of a bricked up doorway; I was over and in, in seconds. Darkscore declined to follow as fair enough he did have a bad back. The following weekend armed with some cheap brackets from B&Q and a battery drill they fabricated the ‘Heath Robinson’ ladder and gained access themselves to the upper floors.
Stood on the huge empty 1st floor by myself was one of these moments when you realise what you are doing is actually very enjoyable and want to do some more; after an hour or so I left with a memory card full of images. I started noticing a few of my contacts on Flickr were posting many images of derelict building and soon became addicted to it myself eventually finding 28DL.
Roll on 4 years, and the building I feel it all started in was in and out the local news, finally the death knell was given so I planned one last visit even though I vowed never to set foot in here again. As it was when my alarm went off I heard the wind and the rain and just rolled over for another hour in bed. I had been down to the warehouse in my lunch hour for the last couple of days, this lunch hour work was just about to start, the equipment was rigged and ready to go. I though a couple of last shots before it came down, this is when I bumped into urbexphotos; a fellow explorer who had a quick word with guys on site, we had about 30 minutes for a last mooch around the basement and take a some photos.
I popped back a couple of hours later and demolition work was well under way, glad I managed my last mooch even though it was just in the basement.
Report
Image 1, 2 & 3..
Clegg Street railway warehouse prior to demolition work commencing.
Image 4.
Demolition contractors ready to start their work, just waiting for the go ahead from Oldham Council.
Image 5.
Last light streaming into the basement of the warehouse, probably the best light I’ve seen in there, but probably helped by the dust caused by the ground preparation been undertaken outside.
Image 6.
The remains of Darkscore and Light_arted’s ‘Heath Robinson’ ladder, glad to see it was still in use and had stood the test of time.
Image 7.
A bit more of the basement of Clegg Street.
Image 8.
This is the last image I took inside before packing up and saying goodbye.
Image 9.
Demolition work just about to commence, time to leave.
Image 10.
I popped back a few hours later and demolition work was well under way, watched by representatives from Oldham Council.
Image 11.
Demolition of the upper floor
Image 12.
As I left members of the Oldham Council’s Building Control team turned up for a final gloat.
Well that’s it the end of another of Oldham’s historic buildings, being listed didn’t save it in the end and probably in the long run aided its demise as the conditions put in place by English Heritage made conversion of the building uneconomical to all the interested developers.
Will put a few more images up if I manage to get down to the ware house over the next few days.
Glad I could pay one last visit, (cheers urbexphotos).
TLR
History
The Park Road, or more correctly Clegg Street, Railway Warehouse at Oldham was built in 1876 and although it often know as the London & North Western Railway warehouse it was actually built by the Oldham, Ashton & Guide Bridge Railway which was jointly owned by the London & North Western and the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (later the Great Central Railway). It was last used in the 1960s and since then has stood empty and becoming increasingly derelict. It owes its survival to the fact of being listed grade 2 on the basis of its unusual curved layout. Over the years there have been many proposals for the re-use of this building but none have succeeded.
At the end of 2011 Oldham Council submitted a statement saying that the structure was ‘safe and secure’; within a few days they withdrew this statement and said it was in imminent danger of collapse.
Officers from English Heritage and Oldham Council’s Building Control team have undertaken an emergency inspection of the Grade II-listed structure and agreed it was unsafe; demolition work started on the building just after lunchtime on the 5th of January 2012, it will be leveled within the week.
My Visit
Having been in an out of derelict buildings and old mines for as long as I remember, Clegg Street railway warehouse is where I found out about urban exploring and people actually did this for fun!
I had seen photos of various derelict buildings from the Oldham area from a couple of local photographers and had heard they wanted to get into the upper floor of this place. Driving past one day I noticed one of the doors had fallen off allowing access to the basement. A quick email and early on Sunday morning I was in the basement with Darkscore. His idea was to create something to get onto the upper levels; that day we found a long bit of timber that would reach to one of the hatches on the first floor. On leaving we had a quick look around the outside and I spotted a gap at the top of a bricked up doorway; I was over and in, in seconds. Darkscore declined to follow as fair enough he did have a bad back. The following weekend armed with some cheap brackets from B&Q and a battery drill they fabricated the ‘Heath Robinson’ ladder and gained access themselves to the upper floors.
Stood on the huge empty 1st floor by myself was one of these moments when you realise what you are doing is actually very enjoyable and want to do some more; after an hour or so I left with a memory card full of images. I started noticing a few of my contacts on Flickr were posting many images of derelict building and soon became addicted to it myself eventually finding 28DL.
Roll on 4 years, and the building I feel it all started in was in and out the local news, finally the death knell was given so I planned one last visit even though I vowed never to set foot in here again. As it was when my alarm went off I heard the wind and the rain and just rolled over for another hour in bed. I had been down to the warehouse in my lunch hour for the last couple of days, this lunch hour work was just about to start, the equipment was rigged and ready to go. I though a couple of last shots before it came down, this is when I bumped into urbexphotos; a fellow explorer who had a quick word with guys on site, we had about 30 minutes for a last mooch around the basement and take a some photos.
I popped back a couple of hours later and demolition work was well under way, glad I managed my last mooch even though it was just in the basement.
Report
Image 1, 2 & 3..
Clegg Street railway warehouse prior to demolition work commencing.
Image 4.
Demolition contractors ready to start their work, just waiting for the go ahead from Oldham Council.
Image 5.
Last light streaming into the basement of the warehouse, probably the best light I’ve seen in there, but probably helped by the dust caused by the ground preparation been undertaken outside.
Image 6.
The remains of Darkscore and Light_arted’s ‘Heath Robinson’ ladder, glad to see it was still in use and had stood the test of time.
Image 7.
A bit more of the basement of Clegg Street.
Image 8.
This is the last image I took inside before packing up and saying goodbye.
Image 9.
Demolition work just about to commence, time to leave.
Image 10.
I popped back a few hours later and demolition work was well under way, watched by representatives from Oldham Council.
Image 11.
Demolition of the upper floor
Image 12.
As I left members of the Oldham Council’s Building Control team turned up for a final gloat.
Well that’s it the end of another of Oldham’s historic buildings, being listed didn’t save it in the end and probably in the long run aided its demise as the conditions put in place by English Heritage made conversion of the building uneconomical to all the interested developers.
Will put a few more images up if I manage to get down to the ware house over the next few days.
Glad I could pay one last visit, (cheers urbexphotos).
TLR
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