Millway (Dairy Crest) Cheese Factory, Stilton Specialists.

Sorry totally rubbished the title should of said Millway (Dairy Crest) Cheese Factory, Stilton Specialists
Info pinched from Geograph "Millway Foods Ltd was incorporated in 1987 and produced Stilton from this site in Harby. Dairy Crest acquired Millway Foods Ltd in March 1999 and Millway Dairy Crest Ltd became the operating company for Dairy Crest’s consolidated Stilton and speciality cheese business. However, Dairy Crest moved all production from Harby to the Hartington Creamery in the Peak District, Hartington Cheese Factory, and the Harby site was closed. The Dairy Crest speciality cheese making division, including the Hartington Creamery was bought by Long Clawson Dairy, Leicestershire, in 2008 so it could be said that Millway has been brought home. The future of the Hartington Creamery is unsure at the present date.

At the closure Dairy Crest took out an injunction forbidding any other company using the site for cheese production. It has lain empty ever since."

This site if full of smashed up asbestos pipe lagging - not cool

Thanks for the report Lolz101 and the detailed history up front.

I'm intrigued by the chart on the wall on photo 11. I first assumed it was a cheese size measuring chart but then saw some of the shapes and realised it was to hold tools for use in cheese making. Do you have a close up of this and can anyone enlighten us on the types of equipment stored there based on the shapes shown. Start on the premise that I know nothing about cheese making.

Hmm no closeups but i have cropped it to make it a bit clearer, i took some photos of the other tool holders but none of them were as "interesting" as that one, like you i know nothing about cheese making what so ever! Does look like lots of drill bits and some other tools/blades?

devonian42 said:

... can anyone enlighten us on the types of equipment stored there based on the shapes shown. Start on the premise that I know nothing about cheese making.

Click to expand...

Me neither! But, I vaguely recalled that Stilton is bored into and a bacteria introduced to produce the blue veins. So, I just checked in Wiki, and it says that steel needles are used and that the bacteria is Penicillium roqueforti mould. So maybe those tools are something to do with that, plus sizing perhaps?

Nice pictures mate i do like some epic graffiti so i like the graffiti shot!

Q.What cheese is made backwards???

A.Edam

Sorry i couldn't resist!!

The place is well messed up now, seems like some dodgy stuff has been going on there too. The tools have nothing to do with cheese making, they are in the boiler room and maintenance areas!

Brill pics, I always love reading you're posts/ Looking at you're pictures! x

Thanks for the update Lolz101 and FL.

Looks like they even numbered the tool locations. I'm sure some of those tools are nothing to do with cheese, more like pipe wrenches and other 'plummers' toolsets. I guess we'll never know now. Also, FL, on second thoughts I hope they are not for use on the cheese as it seems rather unhygienic to hang such things amongst general tools for pipework, especially if these other tools had lubricating oil on them

nice find, and some excellent tag shots

Cheers guys, yeah i think some dodgy going ons have been taking place there, its been well ripped apart!im sure i saw a post after i had been stating that there was loads of blood somewhere? We didnt see that -
Those pics were the best of the graff most of the rest of it was a bit rubbish, in one of the big store rooms theres a 15ft penis, come to think of it theres quite a lot of penis's in that building! Local kids have been building ramps in there to ride they look well dangerous though, square edges and nails could only end in tears

Went about three years ago and the place was pretty much untouched apart from slight pikey damage. A few weeks ago I went back for the first time since then and there was blood splattered on the corridor wall, we didn't hang around for long after seeing that!

It's interesting to see pic of how it is now, I was going to say it's good. But it's not, the place has been smashed to shit!

I first went in May 2007, and think I was the first to report on the place (here and 28DL). It was the second place I'd been to and was a bit worried as the place was massive and the fact I found a copy of the Sun in a drawer that was only 2 weeks old, but it was all good. Enough waffle, here's just an example of how smashed up the place is compared to how it was..

The labs were mint and everything was still in cupboards




Link to thread I did with a bit of info at top [ame="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=11198"]HERE[/ame]

The pics with the shapes on are tool hangers for staff to return the tools after use, to ensure nothing goes missing. Lots of military workshops use the same system.

nice pics, thats some stunning graf work there.

Also as Goldie87 said, these tool boards were in the mainm boiler house which had a large workshop type room attached to the front of it. Due to a site of this size i should imagine they would have had a team of maintenace guys working from that room and due to the sheer amount of pipework on the site they were kept quite busy.

i went along with goldie87 and my better half a couple of months ago and after stumbling across blood splatted up the walls we didnt hang around too long.
the blood looked like sombodys head was smashed against the wall and then you could see where they fell to the ground and also bloodied handprints in the area. it was dry but hadnt turned a brown colour so we didnt go much further as the last thing we wanted to find was a body.
it may sound a bit dramatic but i just had a strange feeling being in that place.

one bonus from the trip was i found a nice little torch left behind by somebody.