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Report - - Long Kilns and Clay Mine, Loxley Valley, Sheffield, December 2019 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Long Kilns and Clay Mine, Loxley Valley, Sheffield, December 2019

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HughieD

28DL Regular User
Regular User
1. The History
Continuation of my earlier report on the Loxley Valley so please see HERE for a fuller history. Found a bit more info on the impact of the flood. The valley was badly hit by the Great Sheffield flood of 1864. Thomas Marshall & William Crapper, Clay & Brick Dealers, claimed £1,217 in insurance including the loss of 2,600 tons of clay and the loss of brick production for 26 weeks at 30,000 Bricks per week. Fire Brick Manufacturer Thomas Wragg’s losses were more modest at £560.

Looking over Thomas Wragg’s in the Loxley Valley:

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Advert for Thomas Wragg’s:



2. The Explore and 3. Pictures
It’s such a big site that I decided to spread it over several reports. I’m going to cover everything apart from the main Hepworth’s factory and Claremont House in this report. The kilns factory is due south-east of the main factory. It is on the opposite side of the River Loxley of this section was demolished years ago, but there's still some of the long kilns remaining. In some ways this is more interesting than the other site as the long kilns are quite photogenic as is the iron roof supports. It’s an easy in now Bovis have given up on the site:

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Yup – he’s been here:

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Some half-decent graff too:

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Crumbling long kiln:



An old works chart:

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The electrics room:

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All bathed in the winter morning sun:



Nearby, the work’s own water purification plant:

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And another building pretty-well sealed up:

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We did check one big factory down-stream, but it was, surprisingly, pretty well sealed up:

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So, it was up the bank and into the woods behind the factory of the clay mine:

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img4655 by HughieDW, on Flickr

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img4654 by HughieDW, on Flickr

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Loxley 21 by HughieDW, on Flickr

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Loxley 24 by HughieDW, on Flickr

This old Colorquix piece was a nice surprise:

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img4651 by HughieDW, on Flickr

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img4652 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
Last edited:

Hypatia

28DL Member
28DL Member
Fantastic, thank you! I love these images, especially the old brickwork, long kilns, rusting metal arches.. The skills that must have gone into it. [Tho' I appreciate the graffiti has wonderful colour & is cut above the usual, I'd like to be able to see it without camouflage, so rare] I was ignorant of this place, despite living nearby; all this industry & past importance, we should've learnt this stuff at school & it saddens me that it's mostly forgotten; our ancestor's unenviable hard work built our cities' riches but all the evidence is bulldozed away. I know once a factory shuts there's little use for it [apart from as wonderful photo' set / canvas] - but I wish they'd repurpose more, incorporate into whatever does get built on top. Sheffield's already lost so much history, old buildings, interest & attractiveness that won't be replicated now; what's left should be salvaged.
 

HughieD

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Fantastic, thank you! I love these images, especially the old brickwork, long kilns, rusting metal arches.. The skills that must have gone into it. [Tho' I appreciate the graffiti has wonderful colour & is cut above the usual, I'd like to be able to see it without camouflage, so rare] I was ignorant of this place, despite living nearby; all this industry & past importance, we should've learnt this stuff at school & it saddens me that it's mostly forgotten; our ancestor's unenviable hard work built our cities' riches but all the evidence is bulldozed away. I know once a factory shuts there's little use for it [apart from as wonderful photo' set / canvas] - but I wish they'd repurpose more, incorporate into whatever does get built on top. Sheffield's already lost so much history, old buildings, interest & attractiveness that won't be replicated now; what's left should be salvaged.
Cheers mate. Much appreciated. And can't disagree with any of that. Ultimately all of this will be gone too in the medium term. More of Sheffield's rich industrial heritage gone...
 

Dirge the sergal

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
The rate Sheffield History is going its almost a duty for people to explore and photograph every bit we can lest it forgotten.

Found another open Ganister mine not too far away. Waiting for spring and the drop in water levels to record it.

History isn't kings and queens. It's not just battles and statues. It's the every day life, the things so mundane no one thought to record or preserve it that gives us the best link to the past and some understanding of it
 

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