2013:
Here begins my back dating as request. In this report I worked hard on making a total derp look good! Was a reasonably new explorer and this was my first site in February 2009. Re-Reported in August of that year.
Derp Alert
2009 Original:
This site has been explored several times in the past, one occasion by me. The Farm has been mocked, laughed at and labelled as “just an old pig farmâ€Â.
This place was my first urbex, and I want to prove people who have labelled this fascinating place as “just some old farmâ€Â; wrong. So I am re-writing my report on British Oil and Cake Mills’ Experimental Pig and Poultry Development Farm.
It might not look much but it was my first urbex, so I went back with my A300 to re-doccument it.
In 1947 we were a country recovering from war, building up our food supplies so we could be a rich nation once again, with a high demand for food. Simply farming pigs and poultry would not do anymore, and we needed to produce meat at a much faster rate, so experimental procedures had to be put into place to ensure a good, healthy amount of food.
So during 1947, British Oil and Cake Mills, known as BOCM Ltd, opened up an experimental poultry farm in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire. “BOCM Stoke†as it was called, bred and fed Hens in various different conditions, similar to today’s “Intensive†and “Battery†conditions, which in my opinion are terrible and should be stopped, but enough of that for now.
Stoke was spread across a 14.4ha piece of land, which included a pig development section, where various different methods of breeding and feeding would take place, to ensure higher quantity and quality of bacon and pork meat.
Some of the methods and experiments can be seen in these two videos, the first being from 1953, the second from 1958.
https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=47468 - Piglet Feeding and Breeding
https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=197 - Pig Living Conditions
By 1961 the pig testing station was largely devoted to competitive trials with pig breeding:
Picture taken from the 1961 BOCM LTD annual report.
At this current time, the question of the UK's entry into the Common Market was still unknown. However it was, it had to be resolved; and the farmers were going to face increasingly challenging economical conditions in the future, meaning that they would have to specialise in a much greater range of livestock, than they had done in the past.
Meanwhile at the sites poultry development section, a ten week cycle begins, in one of BOCM Ltd's three huge 240foot 5000 bird broiler houses.
Picture taken from the 1961 BOCM LTD annual report.
During the same year, sales of BOCM's "Supermix" range were at an all time high, along with their new “Heavy Pigmix†product, developed with the help of T. Wall and Sons.
It also appears, that not only did BOCM Ltd study meat from chickens, it also carried out tests on the eggs, here one of BOCM Ltd’s scientists, can be seen colour testing, using the “Heimen Carver Rotor Chartâ€Â.
Taken from BOCM Ltds 1963 Annual Report
By 1964, there was an over-production of eggs annually, resulting in lower egg prices to the producer. Throughout England’s egg packing stations, 1,370 Million more eggs than in 1963 were reported.
More Testing at Stoke in 1964.
By 1976, Stoke was in full swing, and had reached its peak. It had also undergone a recent and extensive renovation. It had been hosting the Annual European Pig and Poultry Fair since 1965, and more and more local people got involved with this.
The site at this point was fully equipped and conducting important research and development work, aiming to improve the scientific performance of poultry feeds. The whole site at this point appeared to be going more in the direction of poultry, but still retained the pig section.
The poultry section was headed by Dr Jean Allen, was staffed by nine people. Dr Jean Allen reported directly to Professor Peter Wilson, at the time the chief agricultural adviser.
The farm had no turkeys, the research for these were carried out at the Midland Poultry Holdings Group.
The farm now had two main laying houses for hens, each holding 5500 birds and two broiler houses, with 3,500 animals in each, a slight cutback from the 1961 production rate. The pullet rearing house held 6,600 birds, this was used to supply the laying houses with birds at “point of layâ€Â.
In a laying trial, run by the now named “BOCM Silcockâ€Â, was recorded over a period of 56 weeks, but sadly the broiler hens, bred for food, now had only a life of 8 weeks.
Only two laying trials could be completed in one year, as there were two sheds, but 9 broiler trials could be carried out in one year, as these grew at the much faster 9 week period.
The scientific stuff was carried out, on a state of the art Ceres 2000 desktop computer at the Unilever Research labs, located elsewhere.
Ricahrd Fisher, pictured left, was the Unit Supervisor of the layers section. Here he is, weighing a Stoke Mandeville Hen. Pictured right is Stokes Roger Wesley who is checking the weight of a group of eggs, photographed at Stoke in 1976. Mary Miller, a part time helper at Stoke was not available for photographing.
BOCM Silcock, ensured that the birds were kept in only the very best conditions, although the pen sizes here were smaller than usual. Litter, lighting and fresh air; including temperature and humidty were carefully monitored, to insure the birds were kept in only the best environment.
If you had visited the 1977 fair at Stoke, you will have had an insight into the work, which is carried out 365 days of the year in the “secret†buildings in the background to Stoke Mandeville and Terrick.
Taken from a 1976 Newspaper.
This is a snippet from one of BOCM’s internal papers ('The Mill Stone', 'Feedback' and 'Link), showing the whole team in 1983, close to site closure.
The International Poultry fair, every year a success, was down to the efforts of the staff at BOCM. A BOCM Silcock stand, international reception and information kiosks, were all at the 2-day event in Stoke Mandeville yearly.
The fairs 18 year history, welcomed around 180,000 people, to view 3,000 different stands.
The Stoke site started to wind down by 1983, when the poultry fair moved to another site for the 1984 event. Processes slowed down by 1984, with the Research Centres final closing in winter 1985.
The site was lived on by owners until 2004, when it was sold to LandLink PLC, along with the neighbouring LongAcre farm, which had its own small poultry farm.
BOCM Silcock merged with another company in 1992 to become BOCM Pauls’.
Onto the photos!
August 2009:
Toilet Block
One of the old Broiler Houses
Possibly an old Staff Hut
I made a return visit as I had to go to work that evening. A tractor had appeared which wasn’t there last visit in March. The bonnet was open, and the engine felt warm, but no one was around
The remains of the BOCM admin and office building, burnt down in August 2007, along with apparently another broiler shed and another office section and lab.
The site is extremely decayed, you cant really tell what used to be what, and as I say, in the past, its been labelled as bland, which pictures of course show it is, but the report I have done above shows otherwise, It wasn’t just some “pig farmâ€Â, it was a research site, which has changed our ways of eating forever, but to very unfortunate consequences to animals, so in a way it’s a good job it has closed. It’s just a shame to see it rotting away, it’s a nice bit of land.
Apparently there used to be a social club, billiards room, tuck shop and a football and games section.
Here begins my back dating as request. In this report I worked hard on making a total derp look good! Was a reasonably new explorer and this was my first site in February 2009. Re-Reported in August of that year.
Derp Alert
2009 Original:
This site has been explored several times in the past, one occasion by me. The Farm has been mocked, laughed at and labelled as “just an old pig farmâ€Â.
This place was my first urbex, and I want to prove people who have labelled this fascinating place as “just some old farmâ€Â; wrong. So I am re-writing my report on British Oil and Cake Mills’ Experimental Pig and Poultry Development Farm.
It might not look much but it was my first urbex, so I went back with my A300 to re-doccument it.
In 1947 we were a country recovering from war, building up our food supplies so we could be a rich nation once again, with a high demand for food. Simply farming pigs and poultry would not do anymore, and we needed to produce meat at a much faster rate, so experimental procedures had to be put into place to ensure a good, healthy amount of food.
So during 1947, British Oil and Cake Mills, known as BOCM Ltd, opened up an experimental poultry farm in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire. “BOCM Stoke†as it was called, bred and fed Hens in various different conditions, similar to today’s “Intensive†and “Battery†conditions, which in my opinion are terrible and should be stopped, but enough of that for now.
Stoke was spread across a 14.4ha piece of land, which included a pig development section, where various different methods of breeding and feeding would take place, to ensure higher quantity and quality of bacon and pork meat.
Some of the methods and experiments can be seen in these two videos, the first being from 1953, the second from 1958.
https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=47468 - Piglet Feeding and Breeding
https://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=197 - Pig Living Conditions
By 1961 the pig testing station was largely devoted to competitive trials with pig breeding:
Picture taken from the 1961 BOCM LTD annual report.
At this current time, the question of the UK's entry into the Common Market was still unknown. However it was, it had to be resolved; and the farmers were going to face increasingly challenging economical conditions in the future, meaning that they would have to specialise in a much greater range of livestock, than they had done in the past.
Meanwhile at the sites poultry development section, a ten week cycle begins, in one of BOCM Ltd's three huge 240foot 5000 bird broiler houses.
Picture taken from the 1961 BOCM LTD annual report.
During the same year, sales of BOCM's "Supermix" range were at an all time high, along with their new “Heavy Pigmix†product, developed with the help of T. Wall and Sons.
It also appears, that not only did BOCM Ltd study meat from chickens, it also carried out tests on the eggs, here one of BOCM Ltd’s scientists, can be seen colour testing, using the “Heimen Carver Rotor Chartâ€Â.
Taken from BOCM Ltds 1963 Annual Report
By 1964, there was an over-production of eggs annually, resulting in lower egg prices to the producer. Throughout England’s egg packing stations, 1,370 Million more eggs than in 1963 were reported.
More Testing at Stoke in 1964.
By 1976, Stoke was in full swing, and had reached its peak. It had also undergone a recent and extensive renovation. It had been hosting the Annual European Pig and Poultry Fair since 1965, and more and more local people got involved with this.
The site at this point was fully equipped and conducting important research and development work, aiming to improve the scientific performance of poultry feeds. The whole site at this point appeared to be going more in the direction of poultry, but still retained the pig section.
The poultry section was headed by Dr Jean Allen, was staffed by nine people. Dr Jean Allen reported directly to Professor Peter Wilson, at the time the chief agricultural adviser.
The farm had no turkeys, the research for these were carried out at the Midland Poultry Holdings Group.
The farm now had two main laying houses for hens, each holding 5500 birds and two broiler houses, with 3,500 animals in each, a slight cutback from the 1961 production rate. The pullet rearing house held 6,600 birds, this was used to supply the laying houses with birds at “point of layâ€Â.
In a laying trial, run by the now named “BOCM Silcockâ€Â, was recorded over a period of 56 weeks, but sadly the broiler hens, bred for food, now had only a life of 8 weeks.
Only two laying trials could be completed in one year, as there were two sheds, but 9 broiler trials could be carried out in one year, as these grew at the much faster 9 week period.
The scientific stuff was carried out, on a state of the art Ceres 2000 desktop computer at the Unilever Research labs, located elsewhere.
Ricahrd Fisher, pictured left, was the Unit Supervisor of the layers section. Here he is, weighing a Stoke Mandeville Hen. Pictured right is Stokes Roger Wesley who is checking the weight of a group of eggs, photographed at Stoke in 1976. Mary Miller, a part time helper at Stoke was not available for photographing.
BOCM Silcock, ensured that the birds were kept in only the very best conditions, although the pen sizes here were smaller than usual. Litter, lighting and fresh air; including temperature and humidty were carefully monitored, to insure the birds were kept in only the best environment.
If you had visited the 1977 fair at Stoke, you will have had an insight into the work, which is carried out 365 days of the year in the “secret†buildings in the background to Stoke Mandeville and Terrick.
Taken from a 1976 Newspaper.
This is a snippet from one of BOCM’s internal papers ('The Mill Stone', 'Feedback' and 'Link), showing the whole team in 1983, close to site closure.
The International Poultry fair, every year a success, was down to the efforts of the staff at BOCM. A BOCM Silcock stand, international reception and information kiosks, were all at the 2-day event in Stoke Mandeville yearly.
The fairs 18 year history, welcomed around 180,000 people, to view 3,000 different stands.
The Stoke site started to wind down by 1983, when the poultry fair moved to another site for the 1984 event. Processes slowed down by 1984, with the Research Centres final closing in winter 1985.
The site was lived on by owners until 2004, when it was sold to LandLink PLC, along with the neighbouring LongAcre farm, which had its own small poultry farm.
BOCM Silcock merged with another company in 1992 to become BOCM Pauls’.
Onto the photos!
August 2009:
Toilet Block
One of the old Broiler Houses
Possibly an old Staff Hut
I made a return visit as I had to go to work that evening. A tractor had appeared which wasn’t there last visit in March. The bonnet was open, and the engine felt warm, but no one was around
The remains of the BOCM admin and office building, burnt down in August 2007, along with apparently another broiler shed and another office section and lab.
The site is extremely decayed, you cant really tell what used to be what, and as I say, in the past, its been labelled as bland, which pictures of course show it is, but the report I have done above shows otherwise, It wasn’t just some “pig farmâ€Â, it was a research site, which has changed our ways of eating forever, but to very unfortunate consequences to animals, so in a way it’s a good job it has closed. It’s just a shame to see it rotting away, it’s a nice bit of land.
Apparently there used to be a social club, billiards room, tuck shop and a football and games section.
