Dyson Group, Ceramics Factory, Stannington
Introduction:
My 50th report on 28dl I do believe... Do I get a gold star or something?
haha
Here's one that's been done to death over the years... Visited with @BoroLad to take up a couple of hours in the afternoon. I think we were both quite pleasantly surprised by this place actually, don't get me wrong, it's certainly trashed, but I think we both came away with better pics than we were expecting. There's a fair bit to see, the highlight for me been the Crompton Parkingson Electrical Gear, which I've been meaning to go and see for years now... It's going to be a bit of a repetitive report as everyman and his dogs been here, but hopefully the pics will make your read a little more interesting?
History:
The Dyson Group was founded by John Dyson in Stannington back in 1834. Dyson was born in Sheffield in 1777 and was baptised in St Peter's, Sheffield on the 28th of May 1777, he died on the 24th of December 1851 and is buried in Christ Church, Stannington. The business was a success from the word go, creating ceramics for the local steel industry and homes. Very little can be said in the way of history as Dysons would go on successfully creating ceramics using the same traditional method of gas fired kilns right up until 2005 when the Stannington works was closed due to the gas bill becoming too costly to justify. The Dyson Group does still continue to produce ceramics in their Totley factory, just up the road.
Pictures:
As always, relevant information will be included alongside the images...
Exterior:
The exterior of the factory is pretty impressive, although it's been trashed, a lot of nice features still remain, notably the 1945 built brick chimney.
Shop Floor Kilns:
Moving inside the bottom end of the building we explore the kilns, this is where the production of the bricks would have taken place. Myself and Borolad where still surprised to find these in here, as we'd thought the planned demolition had progressed further than it actually has, that said, it looks as though the large red brick kilns have gone sadly.
The roof is pretty much non-existent in places...
BoroLad giving the derp a little spring clean...
Next door where these slightly more modern looking kilns... The last order seemingly large ceramic balls...
Moulds...
Workshop & Stores:
This area was pretty interesting, it's a bloody mess... But there's a lot to see. The stores are still rammed with the old wooden moulds, all individually hand crafted, plus a large variety of paperwork and tools/spares to look through.
Blast Helmet...
Shop Floors & Crompton Parkingson Electrical Gear:
Saving the best till last, for me anyway, that gorgeous Crompton Parkinson Electrical gear... It looks like something out of Frankenstein... Makes me wonder if this set was still in use up until 2005? Surely not...?
And finally, boots... Every derp has a pair...
And that's all from here! If you're in the area, call in, it's not as bad as you might have thought!
Cheers for reading!
TAW
Introduction:
My 50th report on 28dl I do believe... Do I get a gold star or something?
hahaHere's one that's been done to death over the years... Visited with @BoroLad to take up a couple of hours in the afternoon. I think we were both quite pleasantly surprised by this place actually, don't get me wrong, it's certainly trashed, but I think we both came away with better pics than we were expecting. There's a fair bit to see, the highlight for me been the Crompton Parkingson Electrical Gear, which I've been meaning to go and see for years now... It's going to be a bit of a repetitive report as everyman and his dogs been here, but hopefully the pics will make your read a little more interesting?
History:
The Dyson Group was founded by John Dyson in Stannington back in 1834. Dyson was born in Sheffield in 1777 and was baptised in St Peter's, Sheffield on the 28th of May 1777, he died on the 24th of December 1851 and is buried in Christ Church, Stannington. The business was a success from the word go, creating ceramics for the local steel industry and homes. Very little can be said in the way of history as Dysons would go on successfully creating ceramics using the same traditional method of gas fired kilns right up until 2005 when the Stannington works was closed due to the gas bill becoming too costly to justify. The Dyson Group does still continue to produce ceramics in their Totley factory, just up the road.
Pictures:
As always, relevant information will be included alongside the images...
Exterior:
The exterior of the factory is pretty impressive, although it's been trashed, a lot of nice features still remain, notably the 1945 built brick chimney.
Shop Floor Kilns:
Moving inside the bottom end of the building we explore the kilns, this is where the production of the bricks would have taken place. Myself and Borolad where still surprised to find these in here, as we'd thought the planned demolition had progressed further than it actually has, that said, it looks as though the large red brick kilns have gone sadly.
The roof is pretty much non-existent in places...
BoroLad giving the derp a little spring clean...
Next door where these slightly more modern looking kilns... The last order seemingly large ceramic balls...
Moulds...
Workshop & Stores:
This area was pretty interesting, it's a bloody mess... But there's a lot to see. The stores are still rammed with the old wooden moulds, all individually hand crafted, plus a large variety of paperwork and tools/spares to look through.
Blast Helmet...
Shop Floors & Crompton Parkingson Electrical Gear:
Saving the best till last, for me anyway, that gorgeous Crompton Parkinson Electrical gear... It looks like something out of Frankenstein... Makes me wonder if this set was still in use up until 2005? Surely not...?
And finally, boots... Every derp has a pair...
And that's all from here! If you're in the area, call in, it's not as bad as you might have thought!
Cheers for reading!
TAW
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