Report - Monckton Coke Works, Royston, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, December 2014

[Jimmy9092]

A bit of background: Coke has been made on the site for 130 years. It was originally at the heart of the local coalfield with Royston Drift just over the road closing in 1989. The current owners, Hargreaves took over the plant in 2005 and the last coke was produced on 15th December 2014. The closure marks the end of the coal industry in Barnsley. In the 1960s over 50% of all males were employed in this industry.

I went on bitterly cold afternoon. The light was poor and I only expected to get a few over the fence shots anyway. I was very lucky as it was the Christmas holidays and hardly anyone was about (only someone in the main building). It was a rare lull between final production, stripping and ultimate demolition so I took full advantage. The thing that I found was that nothing appeared to be closed, it could have been started up at any minute. It was very eerie given that the site was formerly hot, noisy and busy. It didn't seem right that it was now cold, silent and deserted. Get there while you can as I don't think they'll hang about demolishing it.

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More pictures:

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[Ojay]

Good effort mate, thanks for sharing, look forward to seeing more stuff

 

[Jimmy9092]

Good effort mate, thanks for sharing, look forward to seeing more stuff

Thanks, I've got pics from other places from years back, I've just never got round to joining this group.

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

Well done on getting them up mate....eventually

 

[Jimmy9092]

More pictures:

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And more pictures.

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[Jimmy9092]

And more:

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[norfolkexplorer]

So true that, and nice one on the report, looks good

 

[Cuuvin]

Good pics !


Cheers! looking forward to more !

 

[jST]

Nice one, glad to see you got them up in the end.

 

[Jimmy9092]

Thanks. Very basic pics and others have taken much better in subsequent visits but I'm glad I went.

 

[catbalou]

looks like youve covered every square metre of the place, so many photos... did you spend a weekend there or something?!
Great stuff cheers for posting this.