I do love the pottery industry in the Derbyshire / Stoke area, quite a lot has been found over the years, however I was very surprised when I stumbled across a pair of horizontal steam engines! This beauty is tucked away a bit outside of the town, hence why I think its forgotten about, although a few people have been it still seems like the vast majority miss it which I find quite funny as its one of the better examples I've explored! The works was built in 1899. When the Bretby Brick & Stoneware Company was incorporated in 1909 they took over the building. Brick production supposedly ceased in the 1930's, with the works finally closing in 1995. The two engines on-site are quite rare, one been a Tangye built in Birmingham and the other been a Walkers Brothers built in Wigan, quite epic seeing them sat next to each other! There is a lot of belt fed equipment on-site too, that in all honesty I don't know what does, presumably moulds etc? There was also a nice bottle oven. The explore was quite straight forward, although a bit scary with some sort of gypo-yard located next door, after seeing nobody lurking around, we slid down the banking and then found a pretty easy entrance to the inside of the building. Once inside I made it a mission to see everything before the light went, and thankfully I pretty much did! As mentioned, although the steam engines are the main attraction, there is still a lot more to see! The building was quite funny to traverse with lots of holes scattered around everywhere high up and the general feel of it been a death trap.. my photos are a bit naff as I forgot my wide angle but they'll do.
