History
In the early 1920s Mr Owen Aisher, a builder at Harrietsham, Kent, was manufacturing doors and windows for his own use and for sale to other builders and trading as The Marley Joinery Works. In 1923, because of a shortage of clay roofing tiles, Mr Aisher purchased a Winget press which made concrete roofing tiles out of sand and cement. The company began marketing these tiles in 1924 and changed its name to The Marley Tile Works.
In the 1950s Marley opened 3 new factories at Delamere near Chester, Beenham in Berkshire and Ebchester near Newcastle. By the early 1980s there were ten Marley concrete roofing tile factories: Glasgow, Ebchester, Burton, Delamere, Dewsbury, Beenham, Leighton Buzzard, Sawston, Poole and Riverhead.
I couldn’t find any history on the actual factory itself, however plans for 105 new homes were rejected by Northumberland County Council’s strategic planning committee back in December 2019. Looks like the factory will be staying there for a while longer unless anything changes.
The Explore
We had to park away from the site, as there was no suitable parking next to it, so a short walk was needed to get there. We managed to get it alright without any problems. The key to getting in is timing. We started our explore at the back of the factory, only to be abruptly stopped by a noise, which we thought was other explorers or security. Turns out the wind was blowing a hanging piece of corrugated roof against the wall, so all was fine. The first building was empty, apart from some rubbish lying around. As we walked further in, we came to what we think was some sort of loading bay. There wasn’t much to look at, however it was quite cool to see some of the chalkboards which still had some writing on.
Next, we had a look in the front building, which at a guess housed some kind of offices. The place was trashed, with very little to look at. There were tables, chairs and drawers all over. As for upstairs, that was also trashed. It had been completely stripped out and had glass, wood, pieces of ceiling etc, all over the floor. If you decide to visit this place, be careful going upstairs in this building as drivers can easily see you because half the wall is missing. We moved onto the next set of buildings, which seemed to be another set of offices.
These rooms were quite empty also, although there were a few piles of paperwork lying around. We interestingly found a statement, from a worker there we presume, about his account of an accident that happened in the factory. It was intriguing to read through the different documents, as it felt as though we were taking a step back in time. One of the rooms contained nothing but a broken chair, which was quite creepy in itself. Why was there only a chair? Guess we’ll never know. We moved across to next building, which again, was empty apart from rubbish all over the shop. The final part of our explore was the small hut down by the car park. There wasn’t much there, apart from the questions we had around why there was a small pond type pool of water.
Looking back, even though there wasn’t much inside the buildings, this was still one of the best explores we have done. Having plenty of time to explore the place means you can take in your surroundings, which makes it all the more enjoyable. The graffiti on show was amazing, as it is with most places we’ve been to. If you haven’t already been, I would definitely recommend having a trip.
Photos from the visit
Someones clearly not a fan
Interesting insight into the life of a worker there
A tag from some previous explorers
Why the chair?
Outside view of the back
In terms of signs, I think about a 5/10
Thanks for reading!
In the early 1920s Mr Owen Aisher, a builder at Harrietsham, Kent, was manufacturing doors and windows for his own use and for sale to other builders and trading as The Marley Joinery Works. In 1923, because of a shortage of clay roofing tiles, Mr Aisher purchased a Winget press which made concrete roofing tiles out of sand and cement. The company began marketing these tiles in 1924 and changed its name to The Marley Tile Works.
In the 1950s Marley opened 3 new factories at Delamere near Chester, Beenham in Berkshire and Ebchester near Newcastle. By the early 1980s there were ten Marley concrete roofing tile factories: Glasgow, Ebchester, Burton, Delamere, Dewsbury, Beenham, Leighton Buzzard, Sawston, Poole and Riverhead.
I couldn’t find any history on the actual factory itself, however plans for 105 new homes were rejected by Northumberland County Council’s strategic planning committee back in December 2019. Looks like the factory will be staying there for a while longer unless anything changes.
The Explore
We had to park away from the site, as there was no suitable parking next to it, so a short walk was needed to get there. We managed to get it alright without any problems. The key to getting in is timing. We started our explore at the back of the factory, only to be abruptly stopped by a noise, which we thought was other explorers or security. Turns out the wind was blowing a hanging piece of corrugated roof against the wall, so all was fine. The first building was empty, apart from some rubbish lying around. As we walked further in, we came to what we think was some sort of loading bay. There wasn’t much to look at, however it was quite cool to see some of the chalkboards which still had some writing on.
Next, we had a look in the front building, which at a guess housed some kind of offices. The place was trashed, with very little to look at. There were tables, chairs and drawers all over. As for upstairs, that was also trashed. It had been completely stripped out and had glass, wood, pieces of ceiling etc, all over the floor. If you decide to visit this place, be careful going upstairs in this building as drivers can easily see you because half the wall is missing. We moved onto the next set of buildings, which seemed to be another set of offices.
These rooms were quite empty also, although there were a few piles of paperwork lying around. We interestingly found a statement, from a worker there we presume, about his account of an accident that happened in the factory. It was intriguing to read through the different documents, as it felt as though we were taking a step back in time. One of the rooms contained nothing but a broken chair, which was quite creepy in itself. Why was there only a chair? Guess we’ll never know. We moved across to next building, which again, was empty apart from rubbish all over the shop. The final part of our explore was the small hut down by the car park. There wasn’t much there, apart from the questions we had around why there was a small pond type pool of water.
Looking back, even though there wasn’t much inside the buildings, this was still one of the best explores we have done. Having plenty of time to explore the place means you can take in your surroundings, which makes it all the more enjoyable. The graffiti on show was amazing, as it is with most places we’ve been to. If you haven’t already been, I would definitely recommend having a trip.
Photos from the visit
Someones clearly not a fan
Interesting insight into the life of a worker there
A tag from some previous explorers
Why the chair?
Outside view of the back
In terms of signs, I think about a 5/10
Thanks for reading!
