Walkleys Clog Mill
Introduction:
Decided to make a visit here after seeing a few old photo's from the 80's/90's of the static steam engine that was in situ here... I wasn't sure if the engine would still be in place but having read through Urbexplore's recent report (Great work as per guys!
) and hearing them mention large machinery on the ground floor that they where unable to photograph due to not having tripods, I decided there was a good chance it may still be hidden away in there! So I packed my lighting gear and headed off with high hopes of coming across the old engine, it's just as well I did too, as the report will show the rest of the place isn't quite as inspiring as I'd hoped Industry wise, interesting though nonetheless...
History:
Walkley clogs was founded in 1946 by Frank Walkley. The Factory initially produced four different styles of clog design, these where the Derby, Gibson, Bar and Safety Boot clogs, slip on clogs where introduced at a much later date. In 1978 Mr Walkley bought out the Maude clog sole works in Hebden Bridge, a company that at its hey day had over 100 employees.
Today the company continues
to produce clogs in Mytholmroyd, with quite a bit of success too by the looks of things, I don't know who buys clogs these days but somebody clearly does, and good on them too, keeping a British business above water! However production takes place now on the old Maude site rather than the original Walkley Mill premises...
The Walkley Mill site proved to be a big tourist attraction in the Calder Valley during the 1980's however during the 90's interest dipped, then a large fire broke out on site... Walkley's decided to close down the once popular attraction and concentrate solely on their other main factory... The premises where sold and in 2006 a planning application to turn the mill into apartments was passed, however something evidently went wrong as the site is still abandoned in 2015 nine years on!
Photo's:
May be quite pic heavy this one, the place diversifies so much!
Exterior:
Starting off with the exterior, as you can see the building is of a similar design to most local West Yorkshire Mills...
Top Floor:
Might seem a little bit strange starting on the top and working our way down, however the best bits including the engine are on the ground floor, so we'll save best till last!
The top floor was the Fashion Exhibit when the museum was open, and there's not an awful lot up here, other than the old German built National Till and the shells of old arcade View attachment 627209 games...
Children's Play Area and Retail:
The next floor consisted of the children's play area and a few shops, the Christmas Shop made for an interesting mooch and I almost broke my ankle in the ball pool trying to get the slide shot, good times...
There where a fair few shops like this one dotted about, I explored them all, but they where fairly repetitive...
It's always Christmas in Mytholmroyd! Complete with Santa's grotto and Christmas Tree!
Ground Floor, Kitchen & Cafe + Steam Engine and Mill Machinery:
The above was a nice bonus I guess, but it's what you're about to see now that really warranted my visit...
The static steam engine that would have powered the Mill. I can see why people have had issues getting this in the past, absolutely pitch black in here, 30 second light painted exposures most of these...
Steam Pressure Gauges from the Dowson Taylor Engineers Company, Manchester...
Weaving Machine in the next room...
There where a few other machines too, I'll pop a few in for good measure, as well as these old archive pictures of the mill, just lying around...
And I think I'd better leave it at that, anymore and I might break the forum
All in all though, this place made for an interesting few hours and is defiantly one of the more bizarre places I've been to, think there's almost a bit for everyone in here...
Cheers for reading!
TAW
Introduction:
Decided to make a visit here after seeing a few old photo's from the 80's/90's of the static steam engine that was in situ here... I wasn't sure if the engine would still be in place but having read through Urbexplore's recent report (Great work as per guys!
) and hearing them mention large machinery on the ground floor that they where unable to photograph due to not having tripods, I decided there was a good chance it may still be hidden away in there! So I packed my lighting gear and headed off with high hopes of coming across the old engine, it's just as well I did too, as the report will show the rest of the place isn't quite as inspiring as I'd hoped Industry wise, interesting though nonetheless... History:
Walkley clogs was founded in 1946 by Frank Walkley. The Factory initially produced four different styles of clog design, these where the Derby, Gibson, Bar and Safety Boot clogs, slip on clogs where introduced at a much later date. In 1978 Mr Walkley bought out the Maude clog sole works in Hebden Bridge, a company that at its hey day had over 100 employees.
Today the company continues
The Walkley Mill site proved to be a big tourist attraction in the Calder Valley during the 1980's however during the 90's interest dipped, then a large fire broke out on site... Walkley's decided to close down the once popular attraction and concentrate solely on their other main factory... The premises where sold and in 2006 a planning application to turn the mill into apartments was passed, however something evidently went wrong as the site is still abandoned in 2015 nine years on!
Photo's:
May be quite pic heavy this one, the place diversifies so much!
Exterior:
Starting off with the exterior, as you can see the building is of a similar design to most local West Yorkshire Mills...
Top Floor:
Might seem a little bit strange starting on the top and working our way down, however the best bits including the engine are on the ground floor, so we'll save best till last!
The top floor was the Fashion Exhibit when the museum was open, and there's not an awful lot up here, other than the old German built National Till and the shells of old arcade View attachment 627209 games...
Children's Play Area and Retail:
The next floor consisted of the children's play area and a few shops, the Christmas Shop made for an interesting mooch and I almost broke my ankle in the ball pool trying to get the slide shot, good times...
There where a fair few shops like this one dotted about, I explored them all, but they where fairly repetitive...
It's always Christmas in Mytholmroyd! Complete with Santa's grotto and Christmas Tree!
Ground Floor, Kitchen & Cafe + Steam Engine and Mill Machinery:
The above was a nice bonus I guess, but it's what you're about to see now that really warranted my visit...
The static steam engine that would have powered the Mill. I can see why people have had issues getting this in the past, absolutely pitch black in here, 30 second light painted exposures most of these...
Steam Pressure Gauges from the Dowson Taylor Engineers Company, Manchester...
Weaving Machine in the next room...
There where a few other machines too, I'll pop a few in for good measure, as well as these old archive pictures of the mill, just lying around...
And I think I'd better leave it at that, anymore and I might break the forum
All in all though, this place made for an interesting few hours and is defiantly one of the more bizarre places I've been to, think there's almost a bit for everyone in here...
Cheers for reading!
TAW
Glad we inspired someone to head back in and document what we didn't manage to!
