The great grimsby ice factory..

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Mikeymutt

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me and man gone wrong were debating what to do so we come up with a choice of places and decided to have a go at this,and a few other places he had never been and I had visited a few yeas back,but was not over happy with my shots from here and missed huge parts of it.so off we go hoping that we get through the secca barrier ok and in before the port authority drive down the road,and we got in ok and it was a bit different way in this time..i have a bit of a fascination for this place its very unique.construction of the factory started in 1898 and completed in 1901.the factory was built to accommodate the massive fishing industry growing in Grimsby.it became the largest factory of its type in the world and one of the largest refrigeration buildings in the world.a massive decline in the need for ice with onboard refrigeration in the boats meant the factory slowly cut down production and in 1990 the factory shut down for good.the ice was originally made by ammonia compressors starting the process powered by stema engines the steam was provided by six lancashire boilers but in 1930 new electric compressors were added a total of four made by J and L hall and were powered by wellington ickers motors.these were the largest of this sort ever built.and the only remaining ones left.a fith one was added in 1950.the water was poured into massive tray lined with brine and then it was crushed and then taken up and on conveyor belts straight to the docks and on the boats.there was seven ice rooms in total at its peak with the factory producing 1200 tonnes a day.there is a group trying to save the building but not to much joy there as the are struggling to get funding and the port authority really eem to have no interest in the building which is a crying shame really

Looking down over the four compressors

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Sadly there looks like to have been a few idiots in since my last visit spraying stupid little tags.luckily enough there was not loads

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Switch gear for the compressors

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This was the lateradded compressor five

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small office up the top with a drawing board and the rotting remains of some plasns

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This was the pump house were the water would be extracted from boreholes in the ground

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Don't know wat these valves were used to operate but I liked them.

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Up the stairs to ice tank rooms one and two.its a bit ropey up here..looking over tank room one

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Looking across rooms one to two.you can see the pipes on the wall that were used to feed water into the tanks

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you can see on the roof how bad things have got

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the main building and another building are separate the other building is tank rooms five and six.the way across was a rusty old bridge.which I don't know why I crossed it that high up.

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Looking over tank room five I stayed on the concrete pad I did look at the spiral taircase but it was all rotten around it so left it,there are four spiral staircases in the factory

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The upper and lower amonia tanks

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Heading back down to the pump beds

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This was the original boiler house.six boilers sat in here once

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Down below is tank rooms three and four

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And lastly we have rusty the uebex fox he followed us around for quite a bit and even laid down watching me take photos

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Went past this place many times as a kid and always wondered about it's innards. One of my early explores was pretty close to here, in Louth - about 15 miles south of Grimsby, over the Wolds. Pretty sure I have a video of it somewhere but it's very old! Thanks for sharing Mikey :)
 
Very nice Mikey and that last image is just beautiful!! A classic case of why 'Listing' hardly ever saves old plant like this. This place was on its last legs when I frequently visited the place in the early '60's. The building was constructed within strict financial limits and with a finite operational lifespan in mind. It now wants a fortune spending on it to make it weather proof and even if that is done, it is still a H&S nightmare if one has Joe Public wandering about the plant. The good citizen's of Grimsby are not going to stomach a vast increase in Council Tax and visitor numbers are highly unlikely to cover the costs in day to day running, never mind preservation and maintenance. Sadly there has been a lot of rubbish aired about this place over the years since it stopped production. Feasibly it would be possible to take one compressor unit and build a replica of one of the ice production 'lines' - housed in a purpose built building with 'touch screens' and other interactive interfaces, it would be possible to bring the process back into the 21st Century and show the tourist what went on. The question is, would they be bothered? What is undoubtably true, is that the plant as is, is a H&S nightmare as far as the 'tourist' is concerned. Sadly over my lifetime I have seen too many of these 'good intentions' ending up under the dozer, or lit up by the arsonist's match!
 
Thank you all.there was a lot more poo in the compressor hall.sadly nothing will happen here till like ds says it's burns or falls to the ground and would take millions to renovate it and it is not a viable option sadly I just wished the compressors could be saved
 
Fantastic report Mikey! I didn't dare going up on them dodgy floors by myself so it's great you managed it and got some great pics so I know what I missed out on haha! And you caught the urbex fox! There was a fox there when I went but it scampered off quickly so i wonder if that's the same one or related:glee:

I love this place too, I'm hoping that something good happens to it as its truly unique!

Thanks for the update Mikey really enjoyed it!
 
Hmm God knows what they will do with it.would cost millions upon millions.then to do what with it.i think the port authority would love to just demolish it.i hope that never happens it's such a beautiful building
 
Hi, this was on our local evening news just the other night, looks like the Heritage commission are going to save the it and surrounding area. Great images by the way.
 
I get a dryness in my throat just from looking at all the caked pigeon poop. Nice set.
 
Great explore and photos, Mikey. I reckon there's enough pigeon poo to build a cob-walled cottage with there, lol. So much interesting machinery and, at the risk of sounding girly, those valves are really cute! :tennis:
 
From 2017: "A classic case of why 'Listing' hardly ever saves old plant like this." "Oh, my dear, don't mention ice factories - they're 'TRADE'. We don't do trade at Heritage England; it's so working class".
 
Let's watch this space! The whole deep sea fishing industry wants properly recording and remembering = those brave fishermen who risked their lives every trip to give us our fish and two penny worth, deserve a proper memorial!
 

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