Hi all,
I noticed there have not been many updates as far as Coalite Chemicals is concerned so as a local I had a good mooch around today. It was a great retrospective visit as my dad ran a haulage business for thirty years and contracted two lorries and drivers out to Coalite for nearly ten years to move the lime mud from the chemical side to the coking tip (Which is now all grassed over). A lots changed and but a lot of the big stuff is still exactly where I remembered it when I went in the lorry with him as a kid. My granddad was also a chemist on the site for 30 years so the distinctive smell brought back a lot of memories.
Just as a heads up, anyone thinking of visiting the security down there is incredible. Considering the plant has been officially closed down for almost eight years I ws there on a Sunday and had a four hour game of cat and mouse with three.. THREE security guards, two in cars and one on a bike lol and they were lapping around the site constantly... most of the buildings are really well secured now but there were quite a few areas I want to go back and have a better look at... probably under cover of dusk.
Sorry its a bit photo heavy but there was quite a bit to see.... all photos taken with a Canon 5D MkII and Canon 50 f1.4/Canon 70-200 L IS.
COALITE:
Coalite was manufactured by the Low Temperature Carbonisation Company, which established a manufacturing plant at Buttermilk Lane, Bolsover, Derbyshire in 1936. At the time it was the largest one of its type in the world. Plants were also opened later in Askern and Rossington[3] near Doncaster and at Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire. The coal oil and liquor from these plants was processed at the central refinery at the Bolsover plant. The ovens continued producing Coalite until the Bolsover works closed down in 2004.
I could not have picked a worse day... Buttermilk Lane, where Coalite is based was flooded and impassable with the river Doe Lea running over the road instead of under it, much of the plant site was flooded as well.
So decided to park in Markham Vale and walk all the way in from the railway siding
Old fire extinguisher box on a fallen pole
The Gatehouse on the Chemical plant side
Inside the Gatehouse... exactly as it was when I used to go in with my dad whilst his lorry was on the weight bridge
That PC used to print these out to issue to the drivers as they were weighed out... I found hundreds of these in a garage pit behind the main office
And this was the weighbridge area
The main head office building... which still has a coffee machine upstairs despite having been torched!
The old site caretakers bungalow
Found in a garage behind the bungalow.... no shit lol!
Site fire station
Bolted, locked, braced and padlocked... dread to think what still lurks in there lol:
I snapped these whilst running from a security guard in a Vectra blasting his horn hence the slight lack of creativity lol!
Thanks for looking... hope you enjoy.
Shatner
I noticed there have not been many updates as far as Coalite Chemicals is concerned so as a local I had a good mooch around today. It was a great retrospective visit as my dad ran a haulage business for thirty years and contracted two lorries and drivers out to Coalite for nearly ten years to move the lime mud from the chemical side to the coking tip (Which is now all grassed over). A lots changed and but a lot of the big stuff is still exactly where I remembered it when I went in the lorry with him as a kid. My granddad was also a chemist on the site for 30 years so the distinctive smell brought back a lot of memories.
Just as a heads up, anyone thinking of visiting the security down there is incredible. Considering the plant has been officially closed down for almost eight years I ws there on a Sunday and had a four hour game of cat and mouse with three.. THREE security guards, two in cars and one on a bike lol and they were lapping around the site constantly... most of the buildings are really well secured now but there were quite a few areas I want to go back and have a better look at... probably under cover of dusk.
Sorry its a bit photo heavy but there was quite a bit to see.... all photos taken with a Canon 5D MkII and Canon 50 f1.4/Canon 70-200 L IS.
COALITE:
Coalite was manufactured by the Low Temperature Carbonisation Company, which established a manufacturing plant at Buttermilk Lane, Bolsover, Derbyshire in 1936. At the time it was the largest one of its type in the world. Plants were also opened later in Askern and Rossington[3] near Doncaster and at Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire. The coal oil and liquor from these plants was processed at the central refinery at the Bolsover plant. The ovens continued producing Coalite until the Bolsover works closed down in 2004.
I could not have picked a worse day... Buttermilk Lane, where Coalite is based was flooded and impassable with the river Doe Lea running over the road instead of under it, much of the plant site was flooded as well.
So decided to park in Markham Vale and walk all the way in from the railway siding
Old fire extinguisher box on a fallen pole
The Gatehouse on the Chemical plant side
Inside the Gatehouse... exactly as it was when I used to go in with my dad whilst his lorry was on the weight bridge
That PC used to print these out to issue to the drivers as they were weighed out... I found hundreds of these in a garage pit behind the main office
And this was the weighbridge area
The main head office building... which still has a coffee machine upstairs despite having been torched!
The old site caretakers bungalow
Found in a garage behind the bungalow.... no shit lol!
Site fire station
Bolted, locked, braced and padlocked... dread to think what still lurks in there lol:
I snapped these whilst running from a security guard in a Vectra blasting his horn hence the slight lack of creativity lol!
Thanks for looking... hope you enjoy.
Shatner
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