After quite a while reading but not writing here on 28DL, this is my first post (hi!), so let me know what I can do better next time!
The Coalbrookdale factory which produced the cast-iron Aga and Rayburn ranges until closing in 2017 has I think been a pretty visited location; there are certainly a few reports on here.
In September 2021 I also finally got the chance to visit. Much of the interior had decayed or been removed by then, but some remained. Just a couple of weeks after my visit, developers moved in, demolishing the roof under the guise of it being dangerous, which will make their intention of getting permission for building houses on the site easier.
The Coalbrookdale site was built on or very near to the original site used by Ironmaster Abraham Darby I in 1709, who is said to have started the industrial revolution. He was the grandfather of Abraham Darby III, who arranged the building of the Iron Bridge in 1779 as essentially a publicity stunt and advertisement for the Coalbrookdale Company.
The world's first steam locomotive engine (the Trevithick Engine) was built at the factory in 1802, and a working replica is available to see at Blists Hill nearby. During WW2, wings for Lancaster bombers were built on the site, and it started to produce Aga and Rayburn range cookers in 1946, and did so until closure mandated by Aga's owners in the USA. Some workers were apparently to be transferred to a different Aga factory in Ketley.
After the developers bought the site, some security was set up (builders' fences and a few Armadillo sensors) but I gained access to a different part of the site. The rules say not to discuss that, so even though it's now mostly gone I'm not going to.
The developers weren't completely lying; the roof certainly wasn't in great shape. The holes had let in enough light and water for plants (mostly buddleia) to grow. I quite like the feel of a place being taken back over by nature, but it certainly wasn't pristine urbex.
While most of the factory was brick and girders, at one end was a wooden section. It seemed to have been mostly used for storage of silica sand.
Not sure if this has been kept as dry as it says to. I'm also not sure what it was for, but if I was to guess it could be for mould-making for casting in, or making rough versions.
Obligatory porn mag. With an intact roof, this wooden part seemed the most habitable so had this one sign of having been visited or inhabited, but there wasn't much more.
A door (in the centre of the wideangle shot of the wooden part) led onto the toilets. They would have been pretty chilly. The fittings - or the sinks/urinals on the right at least, I'm afraid I can't remember about the toilets themselves - had all been removed. This seems most likely to have been by the company or developers to recoup costs, but it seems a strange thing to choose to me. Another option would be people looking to take the pipes for metal.
I went back into the main hall. There were several pieces of machinery built into the structure which were obviously too difficult to remove. The largest piece is in the second picture here: a room with two open doorways and some kind of blower and a water tank on top. Maybe a dryer, maybe a humidifier? It's not my area of expertise so I can't say.
Part of a cart of some kind, left behind.
There were several pallets of bricks lying around, and a rack of crates of terracotta flat and ridge roof tiles. Their presence seems odd because AFAIK that's not what the factory produced. Possibly they were planning an expansion or to fix part of the existing roof before they received notice of closure.
I'm quite a paranoid and hyperaware urbexer when I do get the chance to do it (normally I'm a landscape photographer), so I was a little on edge as the sun rose and the world started to wake up. I didn't go to the rest of the site due to the difficulties of the builders' fences, the alarms (though someone's thrown some stuffed toys at one with no apparent effect), and the fact that it's just more open and easier to be seen. I didn't hear any vehicles arrive but I did notice the alarm calls of disturbed magpies as if someone had visibly entered the site, so I made my exit.
I liked this tree striving for the light, which I spotted on my way in and out.
And nearby I did a bit more of what I normally do, some atmospheric landscape.
I had a great time exploring it, and I'm really glad I finally got in!
Then of course, a couple of weeks later the developers started tearing down the roof, as well as the wooden part and the back wall (allegedly for access to the roof). They've left the front wall and the girders which held up the roof, because it remains a listed building; they only got away with the roof and the rest because it was apparently in danger of falling down - though how knocking it down helps takes some thinking about. If I remember correctly, the owners (Shropshire Homes) want to build around 100 houses on the site, though the number could be different. The planning department is apparently quite positive towards their applications, though I don't imagine the locals are. Personally I wouldn't want that to replace the last bit of traditional industry in such a history-rich area.
Security and site presence was much increased during demolition and my entrance was closed off. It's since been reopened but I wouldn't say the old part of the site is worth it anymore - just one or two brick walls, a concrete slab, and some vertical and horizontal girders at roof height.
However, the newer part of the site (a large amount of somewhat ramshackle corrugated steel buildings, a generator house with a large open water tank on the roof, and a pair of tall iron chimneys) remains because it wasn't included in the roof demolition of the old section. I haven't tried it, but it's there at least as a shell, perhaps more.
All photos a7rii / a7riii with Tamron 28-75mm or Samyang 18mm, and a few from my Pixel 2 (the worse ones). I've downsized all the camera pictures to 4000 pixels long edge.
Thanks for reading!
The Coalbrookdale factory which produced the cast-iron Aga and Rayburn ranges until closing in 2017 has I think been a pretty visited location; there are certainly a few reports on here.
In September 2021 I also finally got the chance to visit. Much of the interior had decayed or been removed by then, but some remained. Just a couple of weeks after my visit, developers moved in, demolishing the roof under the guise of it being dangerous, which will make their intention of getting permission for building houses on the site easier.
The Coalbrookdale site was built on or very near to the original site used by Ironmaster Abraham Darby I in 1709, who is said to have started the industrial revolution. He was the grandfather of Abraham Darby III, who arranged the building of the Iron Bridge in 1779 as essentially a publicity stunt and advertisement for the Coalbrookdale Company.
The world's first steam locomotive engine (the Trevithick Engine) was built at the factory in 1802, and a working replica is available to see at Blists Hill nearby. During WW2, wings for Lancaster bombers were built on the site, and it started to produce Aga and Rayburn range cookers in 1946, and did so until closure mandated by Aga's owners in the USA. Some workers were apparently to be transferred to a different Aga factory in Ketley.
After the developers bought the site, some security was set up (builders' fences and a few Armadillo sensors) but I gained access to a different part of the site. The rules say not to discuss that, so even though it's now mostly gone I'm not going to.
The developers weren't completely lying; the roof certainly wasn't in great shape. The holes had let in enough light and water for plants (mostly buddleia) to grow. I quite like the feel of a place being taken back over by nature, but it certainly wasn't pristine urbex.
While most of the factory was brick and girders, at one end was a wooden section. It seemed to have been mostly used for storage of silica sand.
Not sure if this has been kept as dry as it says to. I'm also not sure what it was for, but if I was to guess it could be for mould-making for casting in, or making rough versions.
Obligatory porn mag. With an intact roof, this wooden part seemed the most habitable so had this one sign of having been visited or inhabited, but there wasn't much more.
A door (in the centre of the wideangle shot of the wooden part) led onto the toilets. They would have been pretty chilly. The fittings - or the sinks/urinals on the right at least, I'm afraid I can't remember about the toilets themselves - had all been removed. This seems most likely to have been by the company or developers to recoup costs, but it seems a strange thing to choose to me. Another option would be people looking to take the pipes for metal.
I went back into the main hall. There were several pieces of machinery built into the structure which were obviously too difficult to remove. The largest piece is in the second picture here: a room with two open doorways and some kind of blower and a water tank on top. Maybe a dryer, maybe a humidifier? It's not my area of expertise so I can't say.
Part of a cart of some kind, left behind.
There were several pallets of bricks lying around, and a rack of crates of terracotta flat and ridge roof tiles. Their presence seems odd because AFAIK that's not what the factory produced. Possibly they were planning an expansion or to fix part of the existing roof before they received notice of closure.
I'm quite a paranoid and hyperaware urbexer when I do get the chance to do it (normally I'm a landscape photographer), so I was a little on edge as the sun rose and the world started to wake up. I didn't go to the rest of the site due to the difficulties of the builders' fences, the alarms (though someone's thrown some stuffed toys at one with no apparent effect), and the fact that it's just more open and easier to be seen. I didn't hear any vehicles arrive but I did notice the alarm calls of disturbed magpies as if someone had visibly entered the site, so I made my exit.
I liked this tree striving for the light, which I spotted on my way in and out.
And nearby I did a bit more of what I normally do, some atmospheric landscape.
I had a great time exploring it, and I'm really glad I finally got in!
Then of course, a couple of weeks later the developers started tearing down the roof, as well as the wooden part and the back wall (allegedly for access to the roof). They've left the front wall and the girders which held up the roof, because it remains a listed building; they only got away with the roof and the rest because it was apparently in danger of falling down - though how knocking it down helps takes some thinking about. If I remember correctly, the owners (Shropshire Homes) want to build around 100 houses on the site, though the number could be different. The planning department is apparently quite positive towards their applications, though I don't imagine the locals are. Personally I wouldn't want that to replace the last bit of traditional industry in such a history-rich area.
Security and site presence was much increased during demolition and my entrance was closed off. It's since been reopened but I wouldn't say the old part of the site is worth it anymore - just one or two brick walls, a concrete slab, and some vertical and horizontal girders at roof height.
However, the newer part of the site (a large amount of somewhat ramshackle corrugated steel buildings, a generator house with a large open water tank on the roof, and a pair of tall iron chimneys) remains because it wasn't included in the roof demolition of the old section. I haven't tried it, but it's there at least as a shell, perhaps more.
All photos a7rii / a7riii with Tamron 28-75mm or Samyang 18mm, and a few from my Pixel 2 (the worse ones). I've downsized all the camera pictures to 4000 pixels long edge.
Thanks for reading!
