- Joined
- May 21, 2019
- Messages
- 297
- Reaction score
- 397
- Points
- 63
- Location
- Anglia
- Website
- www.flickr.com
Intro
This is probably one of the first writeups I have from a live location, which makes a change. Cement plants, in my opinion, are the top location for exploring so why not have a look to see things working?
The Site
The site it's self was Blue Circle's first green field cement works planned for construction in 1910 but later pushed back to 1929 primarily due to the war. The chalk around the site was perfect for dry processing but due to limitations it was chosen to process the chalk wet even though it was less efficient. Notably in early life due to the location the cement plant emissions were heavily controlled with instances of the kiln dust being recycled from the two Vickers Armstrong kilns (A1 and A2) . Later in 1935 and later 38 Kilns A3 and A4 were added to the works, similar to A1 and A2, dramatically increasing the size and output of the works. The construction of Kiln A5 caused a stir when announced due to a proposed second 120 meter chimney stack. To combat this electrostatic precipitators were used on the existing equipment and kiln 5 was later added in 1953 making it blue circles largest works at the time. The works at this time were clearly cramped and comparatively inefficient especially using 5 power hungry kilns. Plans were made and in 1970 Kilns A1 to A5 were shutdown and replaced by two dry process Polysius built kilns noted as B1 and B2. The work later changed ownership to Lafarge in 2001. Interestingly, like most kilns, these were initially powered by coal until 1981 when used tyres were also added as a fuel source. Later in 1985 was petcoke a fuel source for the kilns, then meat and bonemeal in 2001 (What the fuck), and from 2011 sewage sludge. The ownership has changed twice since 2013 when Hope Contruction Materials took over and later in 2017 by the Breedon group with the site now known commonly as Breedon Hope.
My own photo taken the morning after the explore.
The Visit
After an entertaining drive a long the winding roads we eventually arrived at the wrong place and then the right one. A quick walk through the woods and like all cement plants you're on site. There were two main targets here, the kilns and the ball mill. It instantly came clear we couldn't just walk in a door so a bit of climbing was in order.
Eventually we were creeping in a maze of conveyors.
A few minutes later of creeping along walkways we were in an area coked and deafened by dust.
The noise ahead was the unmistakable sound of hundreds of steel balls being span in a drum. It was the ball mill.
Out of the corner of my eye an orange figure walking along the floor. Just in the area to the bottom right of the image above. A short amount of hiding later we resumed. Now to spin these massive drums would be a small motor hall which was just behind...
Emerging around the corner to this beast was impressive and daunting.
And it had a friend.
With the risk of being caught still in our minds we left this small section and took a long route round to our next target. In most modern works the kilns have a large preheater tower which connects the exhausts and the raw material awaiting processing. That would make a good opportunity to get an overview of the site and some good photos. The sensible tactic would be to sneak around inside and take lesser used routes, or do we did and just run.
And with that we called it a night.
