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Report - - Millennium Mills (aka Spillers limited)--Royal Victoria dock--12.06.20//10.10.20 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Millennium Mills (aka Spillers limited)--Royal Victoria dock--12.06.20//10.10.20

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Discoverdecayuk

28DL Member
28DL Member
DEBUT MINI REPORT BY "DISCOVERDECAYUK"

INTRODUCTION:
Discoverdecayuk is the name of an urbex group created this year by myself and my two best friends. We share a love for urban history, exploring of abandoned places sites and locations across London and potentially Europe. Here is my first mini report of the millennium mills site which is an immensely popular site for Urban explorers, thus has been explored and reported on numerous times since its abandonment. Which is why my first report is titled as an mini report due to lack of internal exploration of the two main buildings on the site on our behalf. Thank you and enjoy.
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PART I - A BRIEF HISTORY.
Millennium Mills aka "Spillers ltd"

Originally erected in 1905 by William Vernon and sons. This 20th Century flour mill stands tall at an impressive 10 stories on the south of the Royal Victoria dock.

The current architecture of the building was a redesign after an explosion in 1917 during the First World War destroyed much of the original mill. The building was taken over by “Spillers limited” in 1920, thus the name written on the eastern side of the building.

Since then the building was again partially destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt accordingly. After the Royal docks closure in 1981 the area and site was decommissioned. With the site regularly being in and out of use for recreational purposes and supposed council schemes to renovate the site for residential and/or commercial use. Nothing has come to fruition yet though.

Still standing and now completely derelict this building is now a shadow of its former self and is none other then an abandoned beauty. The sheer intimidating look of the spillers building is nothing but impressive and has absolutely caught my eye in my urban exploring adventures.

I’m still unable to access the inside as the building has been completely closed off at all corners upon inspection so unfortunately only outside photos of this one.


Maybe in the near future I’ll gain access but for now that mission is on hold..indefinitely.

PART II - THE EXPLORE (NIGHT).

Our first expedition to Millennium mills began on a a quite mild evening during the summer. The night was very impromptu and we had no real plan on how we'd even get there, let alone get in. But alas we came too after stopping at a local off license prior to our gallivanting and stocked up on the usual essentials; Chewing gum, instant coffee and alot of enthusiasm! Up until this point of the evening I had no real idea who or what the "Spillers" building even was. That was of course until we arrived and I was instantly surprised at how intimidating the building actually is. The architecture is simply incredible!

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The first view I saw of Spillers. As seen here the name is written on the western side. at the very top the words "AD 1933" are also visible.

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Eerie. Another shot from the western side.(It began to rain heavily at this point).

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Up close and very personal. View from the North-West side on the dock yard.

..Continuation
During the heavy down pour I was unable to take any better quality photos as I was using quite questionably an iphone. It was also during this time the explore ended up turning into a real life version of "Metal gear solid" as security came out of no where and were patrolling the site. After successfully evading patrols I managed to get onto the docks themselves. But due to the awful weather conditions we were unable to take any decent photos. We decided to head on over to the Silo site about 50 metres or so away from the main building and take a look.

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The first view I got of the "silo" North-Facing side.

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Another view of the silo on the South side on my second expedition more recently.

..Continuation
We could't get any access to the silo site inside either as its completely and rightly so contained and locked up.

PART III - THE FINAL EXPEDITION (DUSK)

After we left the first time around we knew we wanted to return to try to gain more access and get better photos and most importantly have fun, because we had an incredible time the first time round!
There's just something about urbex that deeply intrigues me. A deep desire to explore and experience forgotten history that I just can't get enough of.

We began our second trip which went surprisingly smooth and during the sunset we managed to take some incredible photos of the Spillers building and the chimney which is located in the residential part of silver town estate just outside of the site.

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The chimney view with the sun setting just behind. (Spillers to my back)

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Quite literally behind me as I took the chimney shot.

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Another shot with sun set husk creating a menacing beauty.

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The dock facing West.

..Continuation
Now unfortunately this expedition came to an end abruptly as while I was enjoying the view of the sunset Security came out of no where and I was asked to leave the site.
Which is a huge shame as I had plans to try an take some more better quality photos. But a blessing in disguise maybe who knows, but for now I've had my share of this marvel of a site and enjoyed every bit of whilst there.


Summary
Well overall I would say my experience was more then incredible and definitely an amazing place to start on my urban exploring journey.
This was exactly what I needed this year considering the current situation the world is in. And a much needed escape from the current state of affairs in London right now.
No politics, no egos just the simplicity of being in a state of awe and peace while exploring the forgotten sites in London.

Thank you for reading.
GG

london from the wqest of spillers.jpg

 

Staska_

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Nice! Any tips for this one? I've been wanting to go but it seems heavily guarded and inaccessible
You can go. You can take pictures, but not directly in the place, it’s definitely heavily guarded when I went around October from all sides and still is. You might be able to find a way in, I’m not sure. Good luck!
 

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