This has been a favorite haunt for Dave and myself since our early road trips in 2005 and its about time I stuck a post up here. The CWM Coke works has a section on our Industrial Britain website which can be viewed here: http://www.industrialbritain.co.uk/locations/coke/tour.html
The coke works itself was built in the 1950's though I believe Coke was produced here prior to that. The site was built and Operated by the NCB until privatization, when it was bought and operated by CPL Industries until it closed in 2002. CWM was presumably surplus to requirements as a result of overcapacity for coking coal in Europe. CWM was also desperately in Need of modernization, and technology's such as combined power generation that would have extended the life of the plant were thought too expensive.
Architecturally the site could be considered to be unremarkable, unless like me you happen to be a fan of the wonders of utilitarian design, Reinforced concrete and all! CWM stands out not so much for architectural merit so much as for its scarcity as a large scale heavy industrial structure. Sites like this have disappeared in large numbers over the last 20 years, often being reclaimed only a matter of months after closure.
Up until now the clearance and reclamation of the site seems to be going at a pretty leisurely pace. However during recent visits we have noticed signs of sample taking and some smaller tanks had been cut open. There was also some new temporary fencing around the cooling towers which may suggest that clearance work may be staring to get underway in the near future.
The Cooling towers are actually Listed grade 2* which has been one of the factors that has slowed the demolition work until now. Sadly it would appear that after recent planning decisions the cooling towers will be demolished like the rest of the buildings. It seems that Like the rest of Britain welsh planners are determined to remove all traces of our industrial history.
Photos,
Coal Loading Gantrys & Tower
Chimney & Battery from beside the quenching area
On top of a coking battery
View to Settlement Tanks: Ammonium, Tar and bitumen and other byproducts where refined.
Control desk in a Larry car.
Locomotive which moved hot coke to the quenching tower,
Coal Silo,
Stairwells nr showers,
Oventops,
Its worth pointing out that this place is a death trap, Ive put my foot trough floors that looked solid and crumbled to nothing. If you attempt to go remember to watch your step.
I'm sure other people will post there photos up, But if anyone has any queries on what went on here i'm sure Dave and I will try our best to answer them.
The coke works itself was built in the 1950's though I believe Coke was produced here prior to that. The site was built and Operated by the NCB until privatization, when it was bought and operated by CPL Industries until it closed in 2002. CWM was presumably surplus to requirements as a result of overcapacity for coking coal in Europe. CWM was also desperately in Need of modernization, and technology's such as combined power generation that would have extended the life of the plant were thought too expensive.
Architecturally the site could be considered to be unremarkable, unless like me you happen to be a fan of the wonders of utilitarian design, Reinforced concrete and all! CWM stands out not so much for architectural merit so much as for its scarcity as a large scale heavy industrial structure. Sites like this have disappeared in large numbers over the last 20 years, often being reclaimed only a matter of months after closure.
Up until now the clearance and reclamation of the site seems to be going at a pretty leisurely pace. However during recent visits we have noticed signs of sample taking and some smaller tanks had been cut open. There was also some new temporary fencing around the cooling towers which may suggest that clearance work may be staring to get underway in the near future.
The Cooling towers are actually Listed grade 2* which has been one of the factors that has slowed the demolition work until now. Sadly it would appear that after recent planning decisions the cooling towers will be demolished like the rest of the buildings. It seems that Like the rest of Britain welsh planners are determined to remove all traces of our industrial history.
Photos,
Coal Loading Gantrys & Tower
Chimney & Battery from beside the quenching area
On top of a coking battery
View to Settlement Tanks: Ammonium, Tar and bitumen and other byproducts where refined.
Control desk in a Larry car.
Locomotive which moved hot coke to the quenching tower,
Coal Silo,
Stairwells nr showers,
Oventops,
Its worth pointing out that this place is a death trap, Ive put my foot trough floors that looked solid and crumbled to nothing. If you attempt to go remember to watch your step.
I'm sure other people will post there photos up, But if anyone has any queries on what went on here i'm sure Dave and I will try our best to answer them.