Federal Mogul, 2012

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Sectionate

Veteran Member
Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2008
Messages
180
Reaction score
95
Well, having a bank holiday free I scoured the internet for something derelict near my house that required zero effort in terms of exploring. I didn't turn up much, other than an old factory down near Godalming...It was a good little mooch for an hour, the factory floor was totally stripped and featureless.

History shamefully stolen from elsewhere on the internet

The company announced in May 2007 that it was seeking 70 redundancies in its 140-strong workforce at the long established engineering premises but it said it would continue to manufacture out of the Elstead factory, supplying customers such as BMW and Perkins.
remaining workers were informed that the factory would almost certainly close in October 2008.

The Elstead works started life at the beginning of the 20th century as Weyburn Engineering, and in recent years was merged to become Weyburn Bartel before being bought by Federal Mogul.
It has always been the only real factory in the village, and it employed about 300 people in 1937 when it manufactured lifeboat engines and parts for cars and aeroplanes.
When soaring asbestos liabilities forced Federal Mogul to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in 2001, its UK subsidiaries were placed under the control of court appointed administrators.

The Elstead workforce, who carry out precision engineering for a number of high profile clients on the four-acre site, believed the business still had a future, despite the company’s decision to make 70 redundancies.

However, hopes faded after most of the site was sold to a property developer.


7873537972_52a00da14a_c.jpg


7873536032_b852cf62d3_c.jpg


7873533962_cbf7f61484_c.jpg


7873537216_9501eeecfb_c.jpg


7873534406_e4ac225d20_c.jpg


7873535718_86ec6bacbc_c.jpg


7873534980_b0dc69bff1_c.jpg


7873536364_37404427cf_c.jpg


Attached to the site was an office block/social club. Which was dire, back at some point in its life, someone had decided to put a false ceiling and lowered the headroom by a good amount. This made for a dingy centre...


7873538684_b82448dd3f_c.jpg


7873538310_e01df237dc_c.jpg


7873534682_d4992d400b_z.jpg



S8 :)
 
Thanks for the photos and the memories.

Last time I was there was in the late 1990's to award them with their Supplier of the Year Award for the third year running. Very sad to see the state of the place now and yet another example of a great British business stuffed by overseas ownership.

I can remember handing over the award to their MD in the social club which was filled with the entire workforce. Their quality and delivery performance was outstanding.
 
Nice one fella, I lived in Shalford for a while and for the life of me Im racking my brain as to where in Godalming this is!

It will come to me, old fart that I am :)
 
doesnt look like muched changed since i last went..you didnt find the hidden room of gifts then?
 
I did not, I know where they are but dismissed the building as boring LOL
 

Latest posts

Back
Top