Introduction
I saw a few reports on this place in the past, and although it’s effectively a rusting heap, I thought it looked quite picturesque and I liked the remains of machinery, so I decided to drag @V50jake along to this one on our recent trip to Merseyside.
Information & History
This building was used for the processing of sand for the Pilkington Glass sites dotted around St Helens. This plant was used for purifying the sand. This was required to ensure materials were produced to a specific quality, ensuring particles were the correct size for manufacturing glass. If the material was produced incorrectly, it would make the glass too green. The sand was brought here via narrow gauge wagons from a multitude of sandpits in the local area.
The company was originally known as St. Helens Crown Glass Company and was established in 1826. The sandwash plant began operating in the late 1800s and ran up until the late 1960s. I find it astonishing that the site is still standing today and nothing has been done with it. The site consists of the main plant which still has some machinery in place such as the crushing machines on the lower floor, there is also a lighting tower (which is climbable, but I gave it a miss). A large section of the site also houses large storage structures for the sand, but from my understanding, these are flooded and devoid of any good features and we had quite a few places to visit that day so we didn’t look at those. There was also a lovely little pump house on site which was a nice surprise, which we spent some time photographing. It looks like the main pumps have been removed, but a few features remained and it was still photo-worthy.
The Explore
I’ve heard bad things about the entry for this place, a lot of people have said you either have to get wet or get noticed. We decided on the easier option and hopped the main gate in broad daylight with cars etc coming past, it was easy but maybe not the most ideal choice. Either way, we didn’t have any issues and we were on the site for a good couple of hours getting some shots. @bobdobelina’s report proved very useful.
This was one of my favorite sites from the couple of days we were up this way, simply due to the fact that I love old rusting industrial sites, even better when they still have machinery in, even though it is rotting away. Jake wasn’t as pleased as I was with the place but we were both happy in the end as he enjoyed the pump house on site.
Onto the photos, starting with an external of the front:
We started at the top and worked our way down, at the top there are some dodgy walkways, I didn't go too far on these for obvious reasons, but did get a couple of shots from up top.
Moving down to the next floor. This floor houses five rusting filter drums. Sand and rocks were passed through these with water, the added water mixed these materials into a slurry and this was then brought down via large filter cones to the crushers on the lower floor.
I couldn't help myself, I had to take a pic of one of the old light fixtures:
Moving down to the lower floor. Here is one of the filter cones that were used to separate the water from the mixed materials:
A few shots of the machinery which is present on this floor:
Overview shot, it is getting very overgrown now but I think this adds effect:
Moving down into the basement section, there were a few interesting remains including a number of old pipes, pumps etc:
On one side of the building, there are a number of cylinders which the slurry was passed through:
And finally, a few pics of the pump house on site:
For further reading, I found @urbanchemist's report of this place really interesting and goes a bit more in-depth. Definitely worth a look. Thanks for looking!
I saw a few reports on this place in the past, and although it’s effectively a rusting heap, I thought it looked quite picturesque and I liked the remains of machinery, so I decided to drag @V50jake along to this one on our recent trip to Merseyside.
Information & History
This building was used for the processing of sand for the Pilkington Glass sites dotted around St Helens. This plant was used for purifying the sand. This was required to ensure materials were produced to a specific quality, ensuring particles were the correct size for manufacturing glass. If the material was produced incorrectly, it would make the glass too green. The sand was brought here via narrow gauge wagons from a multitude of sandpits in the local area.
The company was originally known as St. Helens Crown Glass Company and was established in 1826. The sandwash plant began operating in the late 1800s and ran up until the late 1960s. I find it astonishing that the site is still standing today and nothing has been done with it. The site consists of the main plant which still has some machinery in place such as the crushing machines on the lower floor, there is also a lighting tower (which is climbable, but I gave it a miss). A large section of the site also houses large storage structures for the sand, but from my understanding, these are flooded and devoid of any good features and we had quite a few places to visit that day so we didn’t look at those. There was also a lovely little pump house on site which was a nice surprise, which we spent some time photographing. It looks like the main pumps have been removed, but a few features remained and it was still photo-worthy.
The Explore
I’ve heard bad things about the entry for this place, a lot of people have said you either have to get wet or get noticed. We decided on the easier option and hopped the main gate in broad daylight with cars etc coming past, it was easy but maybe not the most ideal choice. Either way, we didn’t have any issues and we were on the site for a good couple of hours getting some shots. @bobdobelina’s report proved very useful.
This was one of my favorite sites from the couple of days we were up this way, simply due to the fact that I love old rusting industrial sites, even better when they still have machinery in, even though it is rotting away. Jake wasn’t as pleased as I was with the place but we were both happy in the end as he enjoyed the pump house on site.
Onto the photos, starting with an external of the front:
We started at the top and worked our way down, at the top there are some dodgy walkways, I didn't go too far on these for obvious reasons, but did get a couple of shots from up top.
Moving down to the next floor. This floor houses five rusting filter drums. Sand and rocks were passed through these with water, the added water mixed these materials into a slurry and this was then brought down via large filter cones to the crushers on the lower floor.
I couldn't help myself, I had to take a pic of one of the old light fixtures:
Moving down to the lower floor. Here is one of the filter cones that were used to separate the water from the mixed materials:
A few shots of the machinery which is present on this floor:
Overview shot, it is getting very overgrown now but I think this adds effect:
Moving down into the basement section, there were a few interesting remains including a number of old pipes, pumps etc:
On one side of the building, there are a number of cylinders which the slurry was passed through:
And finally, a few pics of the pump house on site:
For further reading, I found @urbanchemist's report of this place really interesting and goes a bit more in-depth. Definitely worth a look. Thanks for looking!
