Report - Stanbridge Mill, Rochford. Late Oct 2020

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A friend and I went to do another explore... but due to unforeseen circumstances ..(someone actually broke in to a building next door and tripped the alarm and set off an insanely bright red flashing beacon off inside that building) ...so we were forced to bail. ... so we did the backup explore instead.

I'll add more info on the buildings later this evening..

I'll add the History later this evening....

It was only a small site and we could only explore the lower floor as the main exterior staircases had been removed and scrapped There is still a strong smell of Ash and the lower floor I presume has metal plate flooring as the 2 to 3 inches of water covering the lower floor is rusty in color, but seemed sturdy enough to still walk upon.. The brown corn/grain mill I expect could be accessed from the roof as there seems to be no other doors or windows all around it.. the other smaller building of the two remaining structures 'could' in theory be accessed higher up ...but only by an experienced climber ...(which sadly I am not)... the whole site was very peaceful minus the crunching sounds of debris under out feet.. we left very quietly..

 

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A cutting from the Daily Telegraph headered the news strip with "DOOMSDAY MILL FIRE" .. Which occurred on 27 April 1965 info taken from https://Catalogue.millsarchive.org/doomsday-mill-fire

 

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The plot had many various changes to its layout over the years and dates back to as early as 1084 ...

Here is a pic of the site dated just before 1908 ...looking ALOT different !!

Fire at old Flour Mill top two floors 40 mts x 20 mts 12 floors high the fire started at 10.55 see other photos below as shows it progressing

Attendance: 2 x Rayleigh Weir, 3 x Southend, 1 x Rochford, 1 x Hawkwell

Firefighters are tackling a fire in a 12 storey derelict grain mill. The incident commander reports that the top two floors of the building, which measures 40 metres by 20 metres, are completely alight.

Crews are using covering jets to protect surrounding risks.

Update 12:00hrs: An aerial ladder platform is in use tackling the fire at roof and upper storey level while a large monitor jet (an unmanned jet) is pumping water onto the fire from the ground.

The surrounding risks have been protected effectively. Firefighting operations are continuing.

Update 12:50hrs: Crews remain at the incident and are making good progress tackling the blaze.

Update:13:48hrs: The fire has been extinguished.

Incident Commander, Assistant Divisional Officer Martyn Hodder, said:

"The fire started when a demolition team were working on dismantling a derelict building at the mill.

"The workmen were cutting steel and a spark hit some lagging. The workmen tried to put the fire out by using fire extinguishers, however the strong wind helped fan the fire and it spread very quickly through the top two floors of the building.

"Large pieces of debris from the burning building were falling into the river by the mill. The large clumps of burning material were heading towards the marina area, so a fire engine and crews were based by the marina to protect the moored boats and yachts from any hot embers. Thankfully no one was hurt and the boats were all protected from any chance of catching fire.

"Meanwhile, fire crews used the aerial ladder platform and monitors to reach the top of the builiding to tackle the blaze."

Update 19:00hrs: Crews were recalled to Stanbridge Mill at 19:00hrs when the fire reignited. One appliance from Rochford, one from Hawkwell and one from Southend attended along with Southend's aerial ladder platform.

Using an ALP monitor crews had extinguished the fire by 20:27hrs.

A revisit is planned for 23:00hrs to ensure that no hot-spots remain.
Info taken from :

https://flic.kr/p/e5VyPP

 

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Despite fire fighters doing their upmost to snuff the fire ...the damage was done and the lifeline of the old brown grain mill expired.