Turner Brothers Asbestos & Textiles - Rochdale - November 2012

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The Lone Ranger

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Location
East of Manchester
Turner Brothers Asbestos & Textiles - Rochdale
Inc. TBA Ballistics/TBA Electro-Conductive/Telford Rubber

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TBA was one of Greater Manchester's oldest firms and was forced to leave its hometown after more than 100 years. TBA Textiles Ltd has been based at the Turner and Newall factory in Rochdale since 1875. But the developer which owns the site has told the firm to leave by May 2012. The Rochdale site was the birthplace of the modern asbestos textile industry and headquarters of the T&N worldwide empire until 1948.

The site of the old Turner Brothers asbestos textile factory at Spotland upon which plans for developing a housing estate of 650 houses is currently being considered..

Turner Brothers Asbestos (TBA) were pioneers of asbestos material fabrication, and developed spinning and weaving processes. Production commenced in the early 1870’s, and it ended in the Spodden Valley in the mid 1990’s.

The world’s first asbestosis victim was Rochdale TBA worker Nellie Kershaw in 1924. The first mesothelioma cancer victim recognised by T&N was Spotland worker and resident William Pennington in 1936. The link between lung cancer and asbestos exposure was confirmed by a study of Rochdale TBA workers in 1956.

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Researchers have uncovered documents that prove the asbestos and insurance industries knew about the dangers of the deadly fibre for many decades. Factory Inspectors in 1898 warned about the working conditions of asbestos workers. It has been suggested that the story of the asbestos industry is one where known facts about health and safety were suppressed for the sake of profit.

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TBA Electro Conductive Products Ltd is a specialist manufacturer of high quality electro static protection (ESP) and electro magnetic interference (EMI) shielding products. The product range is primarily intended at supplying both materials and finished products for electrostatic protection and EMI RFI shielding within a broad range of industries. Their product range largely falls into four family groups: static control, EMI/RFI gaskets and seals, conductive polymers, and conductive coatings and metallising.

TBA Ballistics manufactured protective clothing for the emergency services and armed forces.

Telford Rubber has been providing a specialist service to industry of granulating and powdering virgin rubbers and elastomers for inclusion in compounds for applications as diverse as brake linings to gaskets for over 25 years.

Report

After playing about in a local culvert; Ojay mentioned a huge site nearby which may be possible, off we shot and were soon wandering around the huge complex.

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Our first attempt to get in found us very close to the territorial call of a lesser spotted pikey going about his business, so after a quick retreat we found another way in. First thing to greet us was this recently burnt out car.

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Onwards and upwards we passed this lift motor room on our way up to the roof.

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Sat on the roof the full scale of the site hit home, I couldn’t do it any justice even with my wide angle lens! It was all adding up to be a good explore. Back in the main building we soon found flooded floors from where the pikeys have stripped out the water pipes.

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Back down on the lower floors we past through vast workshops with the odd bit of equipment left in them.

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These scales proved who ate all the pies!

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We then found the offices of TBA Ballistics, you could spend ages in here looking through all the leaflets, drawers and cupboards.

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The guy in this office was a bit of a photographer, not sure if the image was taken on this site, but not a bad capture.

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TBA Ballistics also made flame retards, was lucky enough to capture one here.

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Back to wandering around the offices and factory floors.

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Some rooms still have plenty of interest to see, the place hasn’t been fully stripped as yet.

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At this point we had obviously gone full circle as the gentle tap tap of the lesser spotted pikey started up again from through the hole in the wall.

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We retraced our steps and visited some of the outbuilding before heading off for a well earned kronie or 2.

All in all a quality Sunday afternoon stroll around a huge site.

Hope you enjoyed

TLR
 
Cheers all, a grand day was had :)

Wow great report and pictures , be in the area soon and this is defo one i want to see ,thanks :).

Just watch out for the pikeys, they are very active on the site!

I think you need to go back judging by the size of the complex! And I can see many peeps following in your tracks ( albeit without wellies ) :)

Quality mooch ;)

We were dressed for culverts, but the wellies came in useful for the areas where the water pipes had been cut. We saw a fair bit of the site, but it would be good to head back, hopefully without the in-situ pikey.
 
I work security on this site and it it's dangerous as fuck, every day we hear something else collapse, the whole thing is just a mass of rotting wood and rusting steel, cast iron pipes dangling by bolts that can sheer at any moment, floors that can no longer support the weight of people, holes in the ground that drop in to pits of rusted metal and dirty water....oh did i mention the whole site is contaminated with one of the most carcinogenic substances known to man? Asbestos is EVERYWHERE, the walls, roofs, fence posts and the dust covering everything is asbestos. And there is CCTV all over the site now, just stay out it's not worth the risk honestly there are loads of urban explorers been in there now, all the pics are online there really isn't anything else to see that hasn't already been snapped by somebody else, and i don't want to be the one who comes across your body impaled on and old rusty drainpipe
 
I work security on this site and it it's dangerous as fuck, every day we hear something else collapse, the whole thing is just a mass of rotting wood and rusting steel, cast iron pipes dangling by bolts that can sheer at any moment, floors that can no longer support the weight of people, holes in the ground that drop in to pits of rusted metal and dirty water....oh did i mention the whole site is contaminated with one of the most carcinogenic substances known to man? Asbestos is EVERYWHERE, the walls, roofs, fence posts and the dust covering everything is asbestos. And there is CCTV all over the site now, just stay out it's not worth the risk honestly there are loads of urban explorers been in there now, all the pics are online there really isn't anything else to see that hasn't already been snapped by somebody else, and i don't want to be the one who comes across your body impaled on and old rusty drainpipe
It is reassuring to have a comment 'from the other side'. All exploring - whether an old factory or mountain climbing - needs to be done with common sense at the forefront of any visit anywhere.
 
"It has been suggested that the story of the asbestos industry is one where known facts about health and safety were suppressed for the sake of profit." This is probably true, just as in the tobacco industries - where the carcinogenic nature of cigarette smoking was suppressed, along with the risk of having other breathing ailments. But since there was a very real need for the insulating and fireproof properties of asbestos fabrics, what alternatives were available at the time? Nowadays fibreglass and plastics of many types have taken over the roles once performed by asbestos. And today all manner of plastics are condemned. Handling fibreglass loft insulation is not hazard free. Total freedom from risk appears to be wishful thinking. And all risks are relative.
 
I work security on this site and it it's dangerous as fuck, every day we hear something else collapse, the whole thing is just a mass of rotting wood and rusting steel, cast iron pipes dangling by bolts that can sheer at any moment, floors that can no longer support the weight of people, holes in the ground that drop in to pits of rusted metal and dirty water....oh did i mention the whole site is contaminated with one of the most carcinogenic substances known to man? Asbestos is EVERYWHERE, the walls, roofs, fence posts and the dust covering everything is asbestos. And there is CCTV all over the site now, just stay out it's not worth the risk honestly there are loads of urban explorers been in there now, all the pics are online there really isn't anything else to see that hasn't already been snapped by somebody else, and i don't want to be the one who comes across your body impaled on and old rusty drainpipe

These are all good points, but fact is you've revived a ten year old thread and thus attracted attention to somewhere that many folks had forgotten about.
 
These are all good points, but fact is you've revived a ten year old thread and thus attracted attention to somewhere that many folks had forgotten about.
Almost all religions are thousands of years old, yet billions of people want to attract attention to them. Besides, who is to say what should not be mentioned on this website? Are we not all adults? I know the dangers when I cross the road, so I look left and right before so doing. Everest was first climbed in 1953 and 310 people have died in their attempts, 11 in 2019. Should it be never climbed again, and all attempts banned? 'Caveat Explorer' is my motto.
 
I agree with you, we all need to take responsibility for our own actions rather than relying on someone else to think on our behalf. My point is that the security guard from Turners Asbestos has probably made his own job more difficult, so he might have been better to let sleeping dogs lie - since TLR visited around ten years ago and this thread has lain dormant since.
 
I agree with you, we all need to take responsibility for our own actions rather than relying on someone else to think on our behalf. My point is that the security guard from Turners Asbestos has probably made his own job more difficult, so he might have been better to let sleeping dogs lie - since TLR visited around ten years ago and this thread has lain dormant since.
Thanks for your reply. That member Not Worth The Bother has joined us - and has ended with "I don't want to be the one who comes across your body impaled on and old rusty drainpipe" after a long explanation of what the site looks like today - suggests concern for anyone trying now to explore it. While there have been no posts since 2012, this does not mean others have not read the 2012 post and, from that, have visited the site. I certainly do not report here much of my illicit exploration. Since Not Worth The Bother is writing from a professional viewpoint - and that final sentence - I would think twice about a visit. There are, of course, those who want bigger and bigger challenges to be met, and conquered. The security guard here has warned them off entering the site. I wonder what explorations this guard has made, and hopes to make. Perhaps 'silence is golden'.
 
I wonder what PPE the security guard wears, to protect him from this hazardous site, and why the HSExhasnt taken action against the owners. As it stands, that asbestos dust is being carried invisibly on the breeze, putting people at risk, security guards included.
 
I wonder what PPE the security guard wears, to protect him from this hazardous site, and why the HSExhasnt taken action against the owners. As it stands, that asbestos dust is being carried invisibly on the breeze, putting people at risk, security guards included.
 

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