Ive had the falcon works on my list for a while now but i just never got round to it until a trip to see a new van put me close enough that it would be silly not to have a shifty.
Its a shame to say the old girl is in a very sorry state but still clinging on with all her might.
For anyone not familiar with this well trampled one here is a brief history as I understand it.
The company moved into the freshly built premises in 1892, originally producing sinks and latrines they expanded into making dinnerware and novelty gift pieces with the domesticware side of things ceasing production soon after.
After a successful move into dinnerware they started expanding into the hotel sector which rather than being a supply and demand business it was cut throat contracts with big multiple orders and tight deadlines often with very little profit to be made, which was nessacary in order to win the contracts in the first place. Unfortunatley with on going costs increasing and the volatile nature of such business practices the decision to go into the commercial sector eventually, in the year 2000 led to its demise.
The site had 4 kilns to start with but this expanded to 8 by 1900. In 1906 things expanded again with a 3 storey, 23 bay entrance block added.
From 1925 to 1961 there were 5 bottle kilns but in 1956 the Clean Air Act severely limited their use and the update of 1968 saw them decommissioned and replaced with electric kilns. A single coal fired kiln was left during the update but was last fired in 1965.
At its biggest capacity there were just over 200 employees for the site and by its demise there were only 10.
The buildings were put on the listed register in 1989 and it has been derelict since the doors closed April 2000.
Not much interesting to say about the explore, its in really bad condition and some parts, at least for my common sence, are just too dangerous to walk on so I didnt get to the 3rd floor for example and I didnt do one end of the office block. Better safe than sorry when on your own.
Not initially seeing any way in, other than the obvious right next to all the taxis which I didnt fancy the audience for, i found myself in one of those situations that once in you realise there's no chance in hell you're getting back out that way lol. I eventually did find an alternative exit in the end but with the heat i was close to just popping out next to the taxis if that hadn't worked lol.
Everything's well trashed, you all know what this stuff was, what it looked like 5,10,15 years ago and the only real things left are the kilns, furnace and mould store but look deeper and there's actually still enough to see for an hour or two. Ill let some pics do the talking, sorry if theres some in a torch beam I didnt realise on one of the hottest days ever I would need my lamp in a building with no roof so made do with a pocket torch lol.
Its been burnt recently as I could smell the smoke, there was also a lot of roof timbers burnt on the floor but they could have been from something previous.
Those cars were taxis waiting for jobs, there was a constant flow of them which is why i didn't squeeze through the gate.
Go past the taxis and round the corner and this is the side,
The first kiln I came to was this small electric one, they must be a popular design because ive seen them in most pottery places ive been in.
Tried my wide angle setting to fit this lift in, i didnt get to the head gear if it was even still there.
Broken pottery is pretty much the story all over site unfortunately. Crunch crunch crunch everywhere lol.
My balls to brain ratio didnt let me go further in here.
Most other parts are concrete floors,
I am surprised so many moulds have survived,
The painting station has been toppled over,
I suspect a lot of the reason it's listed is because of this, the iron work is holding up surprisingly well.
This is the back of the front shown in the first picture,
Clay mixer,
Clay raw material,
Big tumbly thing, wasn't sure what this did, i thought it maybe made the swill that went in the moulds,
Lovely lay shaft,
One exploded and one hanging on to life,
A pair of electric kilns,
The main hopper floor, it had a drying room and some kilns,
I thought this was a glazing bowl for manually glazing pots but then I noticed cubes of somthing inside and that its mounted on springs, ive decided it was a vibrating bowl for knocking sand moulds apart,
Dont ask me why, I just liked it,
A rather odd vault door, the escutions long gone and I couldn't move it either way from that position,
The obligatory safe,
A rather nice and out of place stone arched alcove, it had a rusted metal door,
A lone station,
And thats my picture limit reached which means I've posted too many already so thank you if you got this far. I enjoyed myself even if it is a bit bare, the cellars are full of rubbish and some bits that had holes in the floor were flooded below but they could have been water tanks I guess.
Its a shame to say the old girl is in a very sorry state but still clinging on with all her might.
For anyone not familiar with this well trampled one here is a brief history as I understand it.
The company moved into the freshly built premises in 1892, originally producing sinks and latrines they expanded into making dinnerware and novelty gift pieces with the domesticware side of things ceasing production soon after.
After a successful move into dinnerware they started expanding into the hotel sector which rather than being a supply and demand business it was cut throat contracts with big multiple orders and tight deadlines often with very little profit to be made, which was nessacary in order to win the contracts in the first place. Unfortunatley with on going costs increasing and the volatile nature of such business practices the decision to go into the commercial sector eventually, in the year 2000 led to its demise.
The site had 4 kilns to start with but this expanded to 8 by 1900. In 1906 things expanded again with a 3 storey, 23 bay entrance block added.
From 1925 to 1961 there were 5 bottle kilns but in 1956 the Clean Air Act severely limited their use and the update of 1968 saw them decommissioned and replaced with electric kilns. A single coal fired kiln was left during the update but was last fired in 1965.
At its biggest capacity there were just over 200 employees for the site and by its demise there were only 10.
The buildings were put on the listed register in 1989 and it has been derelict since the doors closed April 2000.
Not much interesting to say about the explore, its in really bad condition and some parts, at least for my common sence, are just too dangerous to walk on so I didnt get to the 3rd floor for example and I didnt do one end of the office block. Better safe than sorry when on your own.
Not initially seeing any way in, other than the obvious right next to all the taxis which I didnt fancy the audience for, i found myself in one of those situations that once in you realise there's no chance in hell you're getting back out that way lol. I eventually did find an alternative exit in the end but with the heat i was close to just popping out next to the taxis if that hadn't worked lol.
Everything's well trashed, you all know what this stuff was, what it looked like 5,10,15 years ago and the only real things left are the kilns, furnace and mould store but look deeper and there's actually still enough to see for an hour or two. Ill let some pics do the talking, sorry if theres some in a torch beam I didnt realise on one of the hottest days ever I would need my lamp in a building with no roof so made do with a pocket torch lol.
Its been burnt recently as I could smell the smoke, there was also a lot of roof timbers burnt on the floor but they could have been from something previous.
Those cars were taxis waiting for jobs, there was a constant flow of them which is why i didn't squeeze through the gate.
Go past the taxis and round the corner and this is the side,
The first kiln I came to was this small electric one, they must be a popular design because ive seen them in most pottery places ive been in.
Tried my wide angle setting to fit this lift in, i didnt get to the head gear if it was even still there.
Broken pottery is pretty much the story all over site unfortunately. Crunch crunch crunch everywhere lol.
My balls to brain ratio didnt let me go further in here.
Most other parts are concrete floors,
I am surprised so many moulds have survived,
The painting station has been toppled over,
I suspect a lot of the reason it's listed is because of this, the iron work is holding up surprisingly well.
This is the back of the front shown in the first picture,
Clay mixer,
Clay raw material,
Big tumbly thing, wasn't sure what this did, i thought it maybe made the swill that went in the moulds,
Lovely lay shaft,
One exploded and one hanging on to life,
A pair of electric kilns,
The main hopper floor, it had a drying room and some kilns,
I thought this was a glazing bowl for manually glazing pots but then I noticed cubes of somthing inside and that its mounted on springs, ive decided it was a vibrating bowl for knocking sand moulds apart,
Dont ask me why, I just liked it,
A rather odd vault door, the escutions long gone and I couldn't move it either way from that position,
The obligatory safe,
A rather nice and out of place stone arched alcove, it had a rusted metal door,
A lone station,
And thats my picture limit reached which means I've posted too many already so thank you if you got this far. I enjoyed myself even if it is a bit bare, the cellars are full of rubbish and some bits that had holes in the floor were flooded below but they could have been water tanks I guess.
