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Dawson fabrics ltd
The history
Built in 1770 by William Marsden who's daughter married Richard Field who then traded there for a number of years until forming the partnership of Field & Bottrill in the 1880's. Now Dawson Fabrics Ltd. The company name Dawson Fabrics closed the doors at Greenside Mill sometime in the late millennium years with the loss of 70 jobs. Administrators from Leicestershire insolvency were called and are now handling the company affairs. The company was said to be doing well with orders from high street stores such as Marks & Spencer. Dawson Fabrics were making fleecing for jackets and blankets. The company closed it's premises on Wakefield Rd in 2000 with a loss of 60+ jobs to focus on their other sites including Greenside Mill. Outline planning for 149 houses have been submitted with
a demolition order which was denied but as recentley been re-subbmitted with agreed amendments.
The explore
This has taken some documenting. We have had everything from Alarms to some very sketchy Security (with authentic teeth missing)... chased around the Mill by guard dogs and the local mechanic filming us through one of the Mill's windows then giving chase up the driveway. But paying frequent visits we are now confident we have documented every part of the Mill. Starting in early 2013 we decided to take a look. Having been denied the first time we were persistent and on returning a further 6/7 times managed to start with some of the Mills out buildings.
The repair workshop
Typical tools left over which would have been used to repair various pieces of equipment in order to keep the Mill running... we were surprised to see so many of the original materials left behind perhaps not dissimilar to the day it closed albeit with a little more rust. I suppose when your out on an explore like this you know you've hit the jackpot when theres machinery of this nature untouched from vandals or travellers.
The roof
Offers reprieve when Charlie the guard dog is on the rampage..
The boiler house
One of the tricker out buildings to reach which took some careful manoeuvring to enter... The boiler house was a considerable size and housed some pretty impressive pieces of metal. There were quite a few boilers scattered around and we did mange to document a very old looking although perfectly immaculate Ruston & Hornsby boiler... which if we had the time to persevere with the controls would have provided some much needed warmth on the explore.
Climbing the boiler
The main factory
Block A
This building forms most of the internal workings of the Mill with huge generators lining the corridor. on previous explores we would have been more than happy with this has the main attraction... It was a little like looking around a museum and we wouldn't have been surprised if a guide had popped out and started talking about how the machinery was used to produce some of the garments. It was one of those buildings that if you had more time you could easily spend hours working out what pieces of equipment do what... maybe a guide wouldn't have been so bad.
Cont
The history
Built in 1770 by William Marsden who's daughter married Richard Field who then traded there for a number of years until forming the partnership of Field & Bottrill in the 1880's. Now Dawson Fabrics Ltd. The company name Dawson Fabrics closed the doors at Greenside Mill sometime in the late millennium years with the loss of 70 jobs. Administrators from Leicestershire insolvency were called and are now handling the company affairs. The company was said to be doing well with orders from high street stores such as Marks & Spencer. Dawson Fabrics were making fleecing for jackets and blankets. The company closed it's premises on Wakefield Rd in 2000 with a loss of 60+ jobs to focus on their other sites including Greenside Mill. Outline planning for 149 houses have been submitted with
a demolition order which was denied but as recentley been re-subbmitted with agreed amendments.
The explore
This has taken some documenting. We have had everything from Alarms to some very sketchy Security (with authentic teeth missing)... chased around the Mill by guard dogs and the local mechanic filming us through one of the Mill's windows then giving chase up the driveway. But paying frequent visits we are now confident we have documented every part of the Mill. Starting in early 2013 we decided to take a look. Having been denied the first time we were persistent and on returning a further 6/7 times managed to start with some of the Mills out buildings.
The repair workshop
Typical tools left over which would have been used to repair various pieces of equipment in order to keep the Mill running... we were surprised to see so many of the original materials left behind perhaps not dissimilar to the day it closed albeit with a little more rust. I suppose when your out on an explore like this you know you've hit the jackpot when theres machinery of this nature untouched from vandals or travellers.
The roof
Offers reprieve when Charlie the guard dog is on the rampage..
The boiler house
One of the tricker out buildings to reach which took some careful manoeuvring to enter... The boiler house was a considerable size and housed some pretty impressive pieces of metal. There were quite a few boilers scattered around and we did mange to document a very old looking although perfectly immaculate Ruston & Hornsby boiler... which if we had the time to persevere with the controls would have provided some much needed warmth on the explore.
Climbing the boiler
The main factory
Block A
This building forms most of the internal workings of the Mill with huge generators lining the corridor. on previous explores we would have been more than happy with this has the main attraction... It was a little like looking around a museum and we wouldn't have been surprised if a guide had popped out and started talking about how the machinery was used to produce some of the garments. It was one of those buildings that if you had more time you could easily spend hours working out what pieces of equipment do what... maybe a guide wouldn't have been so bad.
Cont
