One of the first sites on my list for my little 10day trip daan saaf. Hooked up with Speed, and went for a look.
Oilite was a specialist bearing manufacturer (& remanufacturer from what I could see) based out of Ipswich, most of the bearings for automotive application.
The site was closed down in approx 2006/7 and is now in a right old state, the only area really worth note was the testing labs, all sorts of fun stuff to play with in there
The front door!
Most of the inside looked like this
most of the outside looked like this!
Employee wash basins
A place for busted & abused tools to hide out
as there wasn't all that much in the way of big machinary to play with, I focused mostly on detail of what was left.
Even the invoices & purchase orders said that they were in administraton, there were loads like this, Oilite obviously circled the drain for a considerable period of time.
Say it with flowers, say it with plastic flowers, that will make everything right again :/
Oilite obviously had links with Rover & Landrover, judging by the state of the packing crates I'm gonna say it was for remanufacturing of bearings for some of the contracts?
Recipricating saw, mmm juicy.
This is typical of what the site looks like from the outside, absolutly trashed. However, don't judge a book by its cover, always look inside
pull for win
Inside was the testing labs, all manor of meturlagy, x ray and chemical testing equipment lurked inside, we had a quick bash tidying the room up a bit, make it look a bit more presentable.
mystery machine!
Distil it
ChemiKhaL warfare
Unfortunatly there wasn't many exciting bits of paper left, most have already been used to build cable fires
The last building left was the welfare buidling, consisting of locker rooms, canteen, smoking room, tv watching room (!?) some toilets and a mini first aid room.
Overall, worth an hour or so potter about the place, and theres other things that can be done in Ipswich, all combined make for a nice day out!
Oilite was a specialist bearing manufacturer (& remanufacturer from what I could see) based out of Ipswich, most of the bearings for automotive application.
The site was closed down in approx 2006/7 and is now in a right old state, the only area really worth note was the testing labs, all sorts of fun stuff to play with in there

The front door!
Most of the inside looked like this
most of the outside looked like this!
Employee wash basins
A place for busted & abused tools to hide out
as there wasn't all that much in the way of big machinary to play with, I focused mostly on detail of what was left.
Even the invoices & purchase orders said that they were in administraton, there were loads like this, Oilite obviously circled the drain for a considerable period of time.
Say it with flowers, say it with plastic flowers, that will make everything right again :/
Oilite obviously had links with Rover & Landrover, judging by the state of the packing crates I'm gonna say it was for remanufacturing of bearings for some of the contracts?
Recipricating saw, mmm juicy.
This is typical of what the site looks like from the outside, absolutly trashed. However, don't judge a book by its cover, always look inside

pull for win
Inside was the testing labs, all manor of meturlagy, x ray and chemical testing equipment lurked inside, we had a quick bash tidying the room up a bit, make it look a bit more presentable.
mystery machine!
Distil it
ChemiKhaL warfare
Unfortunatly there wasn't many exciting bits of paper left, most have already been used to build cable fires
The last building left was the welfare buidling, consisting of locker rooms, canteen, smoking room, tv watching room (!?) some toilets and a mini first aid room.
Overall, worth an hour or so potter about the place, and theres other things that can be done in Ipswich, all combined make for a nice day out!