Sleaford Bass Maltings - June 2012

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UE-OMJ

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Visited with Priority7 - UrbanX - Headflux - and Jen. This was one of 5 sites we all visited in one day! Quite an epic day out. Saw some good places and met some really decent people.

Admittedly we probably spent more time (and made more noise) getting in and out of the site than we spent in there :mrgreen: but good fun was had all round. I think I was the only one to come out with all my clothes intact! P7 came off worst with a huge flapping hole in a rather awkward place :p

Most memorable moment - looking up at P7 wobbling on the top of a fence and looking straight at his bare ar*e. I keep washing my eyes but the image wont go!


A bit of History taken from http://www.sleafordmaltings.com/maltings.htm - A very interesting website, I'll be heading back there after posting to have a more detailed study...

"The Maltings is a Grade II* listed complex built between 1901 and 1907 that consists of nine parallel ranges.
The central block with its engine house and water tower is flanked by six-storey malthouses on either side containing the Steeps, Kilns and Granaries. It has a total floor space of 500,000 square feet, and occupies a site of 13.3 acres with a frontage almost 1,000 ft long. Internally there is a substantial amount of surviving machinery and fittings relating to the maltings process.

Associated with the main maltings buildings are the former Mess Rooms. In separate ownership are also the former Company Housing, Cart Shed, Stables, Weigh Office and other ancillary buildings.

The building overlooks open countryside but it is physically very close to the centre of Sleaford, separated only by the railway line.

Maltings operations ceased in 1959 and the buildings were subsequently used for poultry farming and vegetable processing. They are now all empty.

An application in 1982 to demolish the Maltings was refused at appeal in 1984."


The size of site is quite overwhelming...

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This is one of two malt houses we got in, the others was full of crates/pallets, and the rest were very well secured... This one was fairly empty except for the piles of pigeon poo!

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The never ending running tap... was still running, and left quite a big puddle (resulted in many wet feet!)...

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Ah, the main tower, the holy grail of the site...

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And a way in!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: The famous spiral staircase!!!

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These were the final 2 ladders up to the roof - 5 of us got to see the ladders, only 2 went up!

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This is the stunning view me and UrbanX got for our bravery :p

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This was the view from the top floor... Still very stunning, and such a nice day too... Shame about the fire damage, but it does give a chance to view some of the workings inside.

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P7 on his way down. I think you can almost make out a pair of black boxers!!!

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One final shot...

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Thanks for looking - hope you enjoyed...

OMJ
 
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Amazing photos dude. Although I know that's from more than one visit! :p

I didn't actually get any shots while I was up there, amazed at the viw, and clinging on for dear life!

Bass maltings started in 1892 when the first well was sunk here. It was later used for a variety of uses in the 70’s, including live chickens, and frozen veg. Since then it’s had more fires than Adeles had hot dinners.

The access should have been easy, yet it claimed four out of the five of our groups trousers…

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The site is HUGE, and arranged into avenues like this:
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The architecture, although industrial, was intricate:
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Inside the buildings weren’t that inspiring, mainly rooms like this:
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So I decided to get some height to make things interesting.

First Roof:
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Into the walkway that you can see on the left (note the window above)
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Then to the other side of the roof:
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I started to notice most of my shots were pointing towards that big water tower and chimney. There isn’t a route up the chimney, but there looks to be one up the water tower…

About level with the gables, looking across the site:
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Another 30ft up, at the top:
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And the other side:
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What ever you do, don’t look down…
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Coming down the ladder:
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Beautiful wrought iron staircase leading our shaking jelly legs to terra firma:
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Cheers for looking.
 
Amazing photos dude. Although I know that's from more than one visit!

Blimey, you dont hang around posting, you must have been waiting there at your keyboard for me to post. My photos didnt look too bad until you posted yours :cry:

Yeh, a slight combination of two trips... Shhhh, no-one noticed...
 
Blimey, you dont hang around posting, you must have been waiting there at your keyboard for me to post. My photos didnt look too bad until you posted yours :cry:

Don't be daft, I prefer your pics!

Had it written and waiting! I cant believe I've spent 14 hours processing / uploading pics today, and still not started on our biggest site of the day! I'm out of work at the moment, so have done 10 sites, and 9 reports this week!

It takes an age to sort / upload pics, which is why I'm genuinely grateful every time anyone posts any report up!
 
Very nice work lads, and I am not paying for your therapy OMJ no matter how much you beg :). Here are the few shots I have:

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I would like to say although it hindered our explore all the building have been resealed and solidly too bad for us but obviously a great piece of news to prevent the vandals and arsonists...
 
Good shots P7, I'm glad you got a photo of the stairs in the mid section of the tower, I managed to miss those :(
 
UrbanX said:
Don't be daft, I prefer your pics!

Had it written and waiting! I cant believe I've spent 14 hours processing / uploading pics today, and still not started on our biggest site of the day! I'm out of work at the moment, so have done 10 sites, and 9 reports this week!

It takes an age to sort / upload pics, which is why I'm genuinely grateful every time anyone posts any report up!

Tell me about it! And I've got to work! :)
 
Ace shots Mr 7! I do didn't bother with pics halfway up, I just ran to the top like a kid in a sweet shop!
The site was hard work, we could have seen more but each building took an age to crack: we went through crawl spaces which were dead ended, and openings which were panelled or locked just inside. Every avenue is fenced off at both ends too!
 
Looks a big place thanks for posting pics shame to see it knocked down,
 

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