I know this place has been done many times before but not for a while from what I can see and I thought you might like to see how it's looking now.
This place has been on my radar for ages but like everything else thats a long drive off I can't be arsed but after Speaking to the Yorkshire Cowboy (known only to his dogs as Snapt) it would seem it's time on this earth is now sadly very short so it was now or never.
Construction of the factory began in 1919 but it apparently opened in 1922 at great cost to the Pilkington company which was established in 1826 over in St Helens. The site was chosen due to its canal side location and access to local coal and sand. In 1923 Pilkington’s, in collaboration with Ford in the States, developed a continuous flow process for the manufacture of glass plate and a method of continuous grinding. However in the 1950′s Pilkington’s developed the “float” method of glass production (the molten glass is poured onto a bath of molten tin at 1000C). This was much cheaper as it did not require the grinding and polishing processes. Pilkington’s quickly set about converting all their factories to this new technology with the exception of the Doncaster plant which retained the old method of production.
At its peak the factory had around 3,000 employees but by 1966 the plant was only running at 56% capacity and eventually the doors closed in 2008. The site was then sold in 2009 and has remained abandoned ever since.
He was even more surprised just before I found him as he had just tipped a cup of Maccy D's finest Latte over his spuds when "a f***ing taxi slammed on in front of me"
Anyway we parked up and exchaneged shire insults for a bit then went for a walk along t'canal, found an in and we inned.
Access was far easier than most places and although the place is well fooked it was ok and a good day was had by both.
Snapt decided the most stealthy approach was to loudly kick everything in sight as hard as he could to try and frighten any secca that might be about the place and to his credit it seemed to work, cupboards, doors, bits of steel, glass and anti personnel mines in fact anything that made a loud noise it all seemed to help.
The place is huge and we had a good few hours in there.
Here's a few pics.
This place has been on my radar for ages but like everything else thats a long drive off I can't be arsed but after Speaking to the Yorkshire Cowboy (known only to his dogs as Snapt) it would seem it's time on this earth is now sadly very short so it was now or never.
History (even though you all know it already)
Construction of the factory began in 1919 but it apparently opened in 1922 at great cost to the Pilkington company which was established in 1826 over in St Helens. The site was chosen due to its canal side location and access to local coal and sand. In 1923 Pilkington’s, in collaboration with Ford in the States, developed a continuous flow process for the manufacture of glass plate and a method of continuous grinding. However in the 1950′s Pilkington’s developed the “float” method of glass production (the molten glass is poured onto a bath of molten tin at 1000C). This was much cheaper as it did not require the grinding and polishing processes. Pilkington’s quickly set about converting all their factories to this new technology with the exception of the Doncaster plant which retained the old method of production.
At its peak the factory had around 3,000 employees but by 1966 the plant was only running at 56% capacity and eventually the doors closed in 2008. The site was then sold in 2009 and has remained abandoned ever since.
T'hexplorey Bit
Very reasonable start of 07.15 saw me arrive next to a very surprised yorkshire person on a very quiet road leading to a car park, he was surprised because this wasn't our RP, I just happened across him whilst in the process of being lost.He was even more surprised just before I found him as he had just tipped a cup of Maccy D's finest Latte over his spuds when "a f***ing taxi slammed on in front of me"
Anyway we parked up and exchaneged shire insults for a bit then went for a walk along t'canal, found an in and we inned.
Access was far easier than most places and although the place is well fooked it was ok and a good day was had by both.
Snapt decided the most stealthy approach was to loudly kick everything in sight as hard as he could to try and frighten any secca that might be about the place and to his credit it seemed to work, cupboards, doors, bits of steel, glass and anti personnel mines in fact anything that made a loud noise it all seemed to help.
The place is huge and we had a good few hours in there.
Here's a few pics.
Now then, when I posted this on UKX a few weeks back I gave it 6/10 but after looking back through my pics for this report I think I enjoyed it a bit more so I'm going 7/10 now
Thanks for looking
Thanks for looking
