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Report - - Redler Conveyors, Stroud - February 2017 | Industrial Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Redler Conveyors, Stroud - February 2017

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clebby

( . Y . )
Regular User
Redler Conveyors, née Apperly, Curtis & Co. Clothiers - Dudbridge Mills, Stroud.

Visited with @Salmon. Don't get too excited, it's a festering hole.

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Some history:

This was the site of the medieval Dudbridge Mill, recorded from the late 12th century, when Gilbert Canis held it. By 1608, the mill was occupied by Henry Halliday, and in the mid 18th century, Daniel Chance had three fulling mills, one corn mill, one gig mill and a dyehouse with eight drying racks here. The Stroudwater Canal plan marks the site as 'Mr. Chances Mills'.

In the early 19th century, or possibly as early as 1794, John Apperly took a lease of the mill, and for the next 140 years the family ran it as a woollen cloth making firm. In 1834, the management of the business passed to John's sons James and David. In 1872, David's son Sir Alfred Apperly took control. In 1895, the firm was incorporated as Apperley, Curtis and Co. Ltd. In 1889, there were 90 looms and 6,950 spindles at the mill, but in 1933, it became bankrupt and Redler Conveyers took over the site.

Redlers was founded in 1922 by Arnold Redler at Sharpness as Redler Patents Ltd. They moved to Dudbridge in the 1930s, taking over the Apperly Curtis site. They manufactured conveyors, elevators and other equipment for bulk handling and for malting. In the early 1990s, Redler Conveyors was purchased by the Swiss company Buhler. Initially, manufacturing continued on the site, but it had largely ceased by the late 1990s, when much of the site was redeveloped bar a small unit which Redler continued to occupy until August 2015.

~

I'm largely posting this out of posterity as the building we explored (a former loom shed) is somewhat of a local landmark, with its distinctive circular windows bordering Dudbridge Road. The closure of Redler in 2015 also saw the end of almost 100 years of the company's presence in the Stroud valleys, and some locals might appreciate seeing inside.

It was also quite interesting to see how a former textile mill had been repurposed into an engineering works, and to be fair a few traces of its former use do still remain, notably the tracks of the old line shafting cut into the roof joists. This was another one of those places where one can say 'I've been where that was made' after visiting, as several explores I have been on have showcased Redler conveyors, most notably the Sharpness Dock grain silo a few miles away and some of the Gloucester mills.

This was one of those places I've known of for years, but have always had bigger fish to fry. It was actually @host who reminded me to get my ass into gear here, after a comment on my Springfield Engineering report from up the road. No idea if this is the place you were thinking of??

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Like I say, a festering hole

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Oh well, reasonably dated at least

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Inside a more modern extension that was added by Redler at some point in the 1950s

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Back into the older part

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The building we explored is a former loom shed of Apperly's, built as an extension to Dudbridge Mills in 1910. Note the 'AC' carvings on the date stone

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Not epic by any stretch, but by no means the worst place I've ever been and more than enough to satiate my curiosity for the time being.​
 
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host

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Fair play mate thats another decent place worth visiting. It looks the same from google maps. Looks like a mini trip south is in order..
 

Lord Oort

Fear is the little death
Regular User
Nice one, everytime I drive past there I keep meaning to pop in. Had a quick squiz through the windows and it looked like an empty shell so left it on the back burner. Pleasantly surprised there's more too it.
 

Camera Shy

Old enough to know better
Regular User
Think you sold it short myself. See waaaaaaaay worse on here every week. Quite like it myself and I'm sure @host will drag me there sometime in the near future :-)
 

clebby

( . Y . )
Regular User
Think you sold it short myself.

Perhaps I'm being a drama queen, it certainly sounds like me. It really is only that one empty loom shed and that toilet block though, but there's enough down this way to make a good day of it. Glad y'all like it anyway.
 
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Fishbeard

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Worked here from 1960 till Redlers moved out early 2000's. Pity you didn't get to see the whole site, in its heyday it included the buildings on the far side of the river Frome (now redeveloped as flats). Somewhere I have old photo of one of the work rooms when Apperleys were there.
 
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