1. The History
On Mill Lee Road are the former water-board filter houses which filtered water from the Agden, Dale Dike (the cause of the 1864 great flood of Sheffield) and Strines reservoirs in Bradfield Dale. The filter houses were built in 1913 and extended in 1953. In 1930 the Filter House was the first building in the village to have a telephone installed. The works are a fine example of the Victorian/early twentieth Century Neo-Classical stone buildings constructed for water treatment and thus is considered to be an important unlisted building in the local Conservation Area. Behind the works is a detached two-storey house, Filter Cottage, where the former caretaker lived. A large mound on the southern part of the site conceals an earth sheltered concrete water storage tank covered in soil and grass.
In 1974 the Yorkshire Water Authority took over and then during the Thatcher government some years later, the entire UK water industry was privatised with the Water Act of 1989. The pumping house at Lower Bradfield was abandoned in 1994 when a new pump house and processing plant was built Further down the Loxley valley. The water main from Dale Dyke Reservoir still passes under the site on its way to the new Loxley Water Treatment Plant.
The building is now derelict and its future unknown, but it has found a use as an artist’s canvas for various graffiti artists in the area. In 2013 planning permission to develop the site for residential usage was refused. Disappointingly, in 2017 a revised application to convert and extend the Filter Works building into 16 market apartments and remove the underground water tank and build a terrace of 4 two storey, four-bedroom houses went the same way. The sticking point was the applicant’s request for “significant extra enabling development” in the form of the conversion of all the 1950’s extensions (planners argued this part of the works was of little merit and should be demolished rather than extended). This was in addition to applicant’s amended viability appraisal containing significant errors and inconsistencies, as well as failings in terms of standard methodology.
2. The Explore
This place has cropped up in reports from time to time. With Dyson Refractories and Loxley Chapel just down the road the works were a nice add-on explore. However, with the former now gone and the latter a burnt-out shell, it’s hard to justify a trip to see the works in their own right. Despite being fairly local, I’d only visited here back in the depths of 2013, six years ago, hence decided to have a look-see. The place has changed very little. It’s a pretty easy in however now the owners have upped the ante security-wise with a CCTV system with PIRs including loudspeaker announcements. It’s more of an inconvenience than a show-stopper, but turns what could be a relaxed mooch to see some nice graff into something a little less relaxed. We thought we’d avoided the PIRs but then walking into the main area, set-off an internally mounted sensor. That didn’t stop us getting a decent set of pictures as no one turned up.
3. The Pictures
A few externals:
img3310 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3311 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 09 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3312 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And in we go. Inside it’s pretty trashed:
img3294 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3297 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3301 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 08 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3304 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3306 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On to the best bit – the main hall:
img3300 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lower Bradfield WW 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img9198 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img9191 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A couple of the best bits of graff:
img9193 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img9192 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A couple from the back room:
img9206 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img9204 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And a few details to finish off:
img9217 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img9215 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img9216 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On Mill Lee Road are the former water-board filter houses which filtered water from the Agden, Dale Dike (the cause of the 1864 great flood of Sheffield) and Strines reservoirs in Bradfield Dale. The filter houses were built in 1913 and extended in 1953. In 1930 the Filter House was the first building in the village to have a telephone installed. The works are a fine example of the Victorian/early twentieth Century Neo-Classical stone buildings constructed for water treatment and thus is considered to be an important unlisted building in the local Conservation Area. Behind the works is a detached two-storey house, Filter Cottage, where the former caretaker lived. A large mound on the southern part of the site conceals an earth sheltered concrete water storage tank covered in soil and grass.
In 1974 the Yorkshire Water Authority took over and then during the Thatcher government some years later, the entire UK water industry was privatised with the Water Act of 1989. The pumping house at Lower Bradfield was abandoned in 1994 when a new pump house and processing plant was built Further down the Loxley valley. The water main from Dale Dyke Reservoir still passes under the site on its way to the new Loxley Water Treatment Plant.
The building is now derelict and its future unknown, but it has found a use as an artist’s canvas for various graffiti artists in the area. In 2013 planning permission to develop the site for residential usage was refused. Disappointingly, in 2017 a revised application to convert and extend the Filter Works building into 16 market apartments and remove the underground water tank and build a terrace of 4 two storey, four-bedroom houses went the same way. The sticking point was the applicant’s request for “significant extra enabling development” in the form of the conversion of all the 1950’s extensions (planners argued this part of the works was of little merit and should be demolished rather than extended). This was in addition to applicant’s amended viability appraisal containing significant errors and inconsistencies, as well as failings in terms of standard methodology.
2. The Explore
This place has cropped up in reports from time to time. With Dyson Refractories and Loxley Chapel just down the road the works were a nice add-on explore. However, with the former now gone and the latter a burnt-out shell, it’s hard to justify a trip to see the works in their own right. Despite being fairly local, I’d only visited here back in the depths of 2013, six years ago, hence decided to have a look-see. The place has changed very little. It’s a pretty easy in however now the owners have upped the ante security-wise with a CCTV system with PIRs including loudspeaker announcements. It’s more of an inconvenience than a show-stopper, but turns what could be a relaxed mooch to see some nice graff into something a little less relaxed. We thought we’d avoided the PIRs but then walking into the main area, set-off an internally mounted sensor. That didn’t stop us getting a decent set of pictures as no one turned up.
3. The Pictures
A few externals:
img3310 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And in we go. Inside it’s pretty trashed:
On to the best bit – the main hall:
A couple of the best bits of graff:
img9193 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A couple from the back room:
And a few details to finish off:
img9217 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img9216 by HughieDW, on Flickr
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