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Tuesday 31 December 2013

Lancashire Mill


This Grade II listed building was originally a cotton spinning mill, built by G. Temperly in 1903. 


 
 
It is a 6 story building with a tower in the South-west corner. The mill is now used by a variety of small businesses, split into separate parts. I have to credit @UKLightCreation for photo-shopping the shot above.  



And below, the usual signage, the bane of the Urbex- er . . .

 
 
 
As the mill is still in use, I decided to just take shots from the outside. It has a particularly photogenic red fire escape that caught my eye.
 
 
It is reputed to be one of the first mills to be equipped with
concrete filler joist floors, but the internal structure has
been modified. 
 


 
In the car park, there was a great view of the back of the colourful terraced housing on the nearby main road, framed by a barbed wire fence.

 
And more barbed wire round the back of the building. . .

 
 
Looking up at the building from an unusual angle . .


 
And more of the red fire escape, with the rest of the colour extracted in a particularly geeky edit . . .

 
A bit of sepia tint for the "retro-look"

 
Maybe one day I will take a climb up this fire escape . . .



Ferris Wheel in Bolton Town Centre

Bolton Council, in their "wisdom," decided to treat visitors to Bolton this Christmas to an offer to ride a Big Wheel (at a cost of £3.50 per person mind) and to enjoy "a bird’s eye view of the rolling Pennine countryside when people reach the top of the wheel and it will be brightly lit each evening" (Bolton News)  
The huge 100ft Ferris wheel was set up in Victoria Square from December 12 and is  thought to be the only giant wheel in Greater Manchester this Christmas.
 
 
On impulse, on a shopping trip to try to spend my Christmas money (failing miserably as there are only pound shops, mobile phone shops and cash converter shops in the town centre) I decided to take my son on the wheel.
 
 
Armed with only my I-phone camera, we climbed into a "gondola" which started to rock precariously as it set off and upwards . . .
 
 
 
 
I am not sure if I was more nervous about the rocking gondola or what views I might behold at the top, but luckily, it moved at quite a pace . . .
 
 
 
 
We passed over the people of Bolton, going about their business, shoplifting, skating on the temporary rink, or merely sitting on the town hall square, drinking meths . . .
 
 
 
 
 
 
If I squinted I could just about see the "rolling Pennine countryside" mentioned in the Bolton News, but it is verging on being a false advertising claim . . .
 
 
 
The best view was of the town hall clock tower . . .
 
 
 
Or a view of the Arndale loading bay with the Parish church in the far distance . . .
 
All too soon, the experience was over and we were helped out of our Gondola by a Council worker, onto an extremely slippery wooden platform.
 
 
 
Enough excitement for one day . . .
 
 
 
 
Thank you, Bolton Council - my bin only gets emptied once a fortnight but I have seen Bolton from high up and for that I should be extremely thankful . . .
 
Apologies for quality of photos - I-phone was all I had.
 
 

Monday 30 December 2013

Derelict Brickworks with Graffiti aplenty!

 
 
It appears to be difficult to find much in the way of history of this old brick works and I'm sure to merely repeat what little everyone else has researched. Henry Victor Allen took over the Halifax Glazed Brick Works in the Walterclough valley and converted the works to manufacture refractory bricks. Apparently their Selfrac refractory bricks were world famous!
In recent years it was a plastic manufacturer, but a series of fires and the bankruptcy of the site owner have left the site in wonderful dereliction, much to the delight of the local graffiti artists!


We parked up and took a muddy but picturesque countryside walk on a public footpath to the brickworks.


The site is in a bad state of dereliction and is much larger than first impressions give, with many various brick buildings, most with roofing in a bad state. There is evidence of the many fires that have damaged the buildings even further.



A previous explorer had left playing cards in various places around the site . . .


 
 
 


 
 


 
As expected, there were a variety of different bricks lying around the site.
 

 
The usual signage (usually graffitied of course) . . .
 


 
 And the odd padlock, which thankfully didn't prevent us from seeing everything that we wished to see.
 
The main draw was the prolific graffiti.
 
 




 
At this point, we could hear some graffiti artists at work, with the tell-tale sounds of shaking of aerosol cans. We didn't actually see them, and weren't sure how "friendly" they would be anyhow. We decided not to say "hello" and left them to their work . . .
 
 
 
 
 
 
And not forgetting the ubiquitous manky old armchair!
 
 
There are plenty more shots that I like but, for some reason, technology is against me and most of my portrait-oriented shots are being inserted landscape so I've had to leave them out - very frustrating! If anyone has any tips on what I'm doing wrong, they would be gratefully received and may save this laptop going through a window at some point!
Thanks for looking . . .