Just another little report to supplement @slayaaaa decent effort the other day. Its locked up again now unsurprisingly. Clebby went to have a look one lunch time and found the front door wide open and a bunch of men in suits from the local posh businesses having a casual explore on their lunch break.. Good sign it wsant going to last i guess!
Il cover the Unity Works first..What can you say about the place, just bloody good! Very similar to how George Barnsleys was back in the day just lacking the office areas that were so good in GB's. The upper floors were a bit sparse but the ground floor and basement quite the opposite. I think i went back 4 times in the end to make sure id seen everything.
This place was home to various companies over the years but as far as i know was always a silversmiths making things like tableware and trophies. Lots of stamping and forging going on presumably with an area to solder it all together somewhere too (although i dont think i saw much of that kind of thing). Most of the JQ works ive had the pleasure of exploring in the past have been jewellers so it was good to see something a little different.
Entering the works your already having to step over a discarded polishing tumbler and pair of carboys used to store acids for pickling..
The ground floor, home to the line shaft driven drop forges
The forge on the left was massive and had dies fitted to press a large silver plate
Heres a close up of some dies. Teapot spouts on the left and some kind of terrine lid on the right i think
There were 100s of these dies in here for all different stuff
You can see the rope that was pulled to tension the belt on the line shaft wheel. This lifted the weight and when it hit the top the belt would slip and the weight would drop hammering the two halves of the die together. A very simple machine but also dangerous!
At the the back here there was what looked like a little tool room area with surface grinder to sharpen tools and the remains of a lathe.
Also a small gas furnace in front of the original coal fired hearth
Across the courtyard there was a small stores area
Next down into the basement
Usual story here. Way too much stuff to look at so didn't take may photos.
We did however find this room, probably the most impressive of the whole site. 1000s of die sets going rusty on collapsing shelves and piled high with ancient equipment..
The first floor was easily the most sparse
Sign must belong to one of the last companies to operate of of the works.
1st floor would have also been home to the works offices but unfortunately they were all stripped and pretty empty. This safe makers plate tho, seen one or two before from this company and they have to be the best design out there!
Moving up to the top floor its all about stamping. These benches would have had fly presses on them
They had all been taken off and dumped on the floor however!
The early morning sunrise made for some good photos. The bench on the left was full of old stamping tools.
Managed to put a few presses back where they should be
Fairly nice set of scales too
Comedy fire alarms
One other thing we spotted were all these printing blocks. These were used to print the companies catalogues. I found some catalogues in an old locker in there but totally forgot to photograph them!!
Lastly a few odd shots
Clocking in machine and card holders
Epic sinks
Didn't fancy a tipple tho!
Il cover the Unity Works first..What can you say about the place, just bloody good! Very similar to how George Barnsleys was back in the day just lacking the office areas that were so good in GB's. The upper floors were a bit sparse but the ground floor and basement quite the opposite. I think i went back 4 times in the end to make sure id seen everything.
This place was home to various companies over the years but as far as i know was always a silversmiths making things like tableware and trophies. Lots of stamping and forging going on presumably with an area to solder it all together somewhere too (although i dont think i saw much of that kind of thing). Most of the JQ works ive had the pleasure of exploring in the past have been jewellers so it was good to see something a little different.
Entering the works your already having to step over a discarded polishing tumbler and pair of carboys used to store acids for pickling..
The ground floor, home to the line shaft driven drop forges
The forge on the left was massive and had dies fitted to press a large silver plate
Heres a close up of some dies. Teapot spouts on the left and some kind of terrine lid on the right i think
There were 100s of these dies in here for all different stuff
You can see the rope that was pulled to tension the belt on the line shaft wheel. This lifted the weight and when it hit the top the belt would slip and the weight would drop hammering the two halves of the die together. A very simple machine but also dangerous!
At the the back here there was what looked like a little tool room area with surface grinder to sharpen tools and the remains of a lathe.
Also a small gas furnace in front of the original coal fired hearth
Across the courtyard there was a small stores area
Next down into the basement
Usual story here. Way too much stuff to look at so didn't take may photos.
We did however find this room, probably the most impressive of the whole site. 1000s of die sets going rusty on collapsing shelves and piled high with ancient equipment..
The first floor was easily the most sparse
Sign must belong to one of the last companies to operate of of the works.
1st floor would have also been home to the works offices but unfortunately they were all stripped and pretty empty. This safe makers plate tho, seen one or two before from this company and they have to be the best design out there!
Moving up to the top floor its all about stamping. These benches would have had fly presses on them
They had all been taken off and dumped on the floor however!
The early morning sunrise made for some good photos. The bench on the left was full of old stamping tools.
Managed to put a few presses back where they should be
Fairly nice set of scales too
Comedy fire alarms
One other thing we spotted were all these printing blocks. These were used to print the companies catalogues. I found some catalogues in an old locker in there but totally forgot to photograph them!!
Lastly a few odd shots
Clocking in machine and card holders
Epic sinks
Didn't fancy a tipple tho!
