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Even though this has been done countless times before, I needed to pay a visit myself so off I popped on Sunday, despite the gloomy weather. Here's a bit of the history of the place:
Founded by Edward Packard in 1843, ‘Edward Packard & Co. Limited’ was a multi-national company specialising in scientific instruments, pharmaceutical and horticultural chemicals and was originally based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Twenty years later his son, who’s name was also Edward, joined forces with him helping to develop the UK’s fertiliser industry. In 1919, the company purchased a fertiliser business founded in 1808 by James Fison of Thetford and by 1929 the name changed to ‘Packard & James Fison (Thetford) Ltd’. Despite having been well established for many years with a no doubt enviable production history, the company finally stopped trading under this name in 1982 when all fertiliser operations were sold to Norsk Hydro.
The factory in Stanford Le Hope, Essex began manufacturing ammonium nitrate in 1959 and was used in Fisons Compound Fertilisers, a household brand here in the UK. It continued production until the mid 1990’s and has been unoccupied since. There is still plenty of the original machinery and control circuit banks in the building but the basement level is flooded making it pretty inaccessible.
Again, apologies for the ‘mono-overload’ in the pictures but personally, I think it adds to the mood of the visit and the subject matter. Each to their own and all that!
Sorry for the amount of images but there's plenty of good subjects at this site... much like other derelict sites and I find it difficult being selective so like to include as many as possible.
Thanks for looking and feel free to comment/criticise etc...!
Founded by Edward Packard in 1843, ‘Edward Packard & Co. Limited’ was a multi-national company specialising in scientific instruments, pharmaceutical and horticultural chemicals and was originally based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Twenty years later his son, who’s name was also Edward, joined forces with him helping to develop the UK’s fertiliser industry. In 1919, the company purchased a fertiliser business founded in 1808 by James Fison of Thetford and by 1929 the name changed to ‘Packard & James Fison (Thetford) Ltd’. Despite having been well established for many years with a no doubt enviable production history, the company finally stopped trading under this name in 1982 when all fertiliser operations were sold to Norsk Hydro.
The factory in Stanford Le Hope, Essex began manufacturing ammonium nitrate in 1959 and was used in Fisons Compound Fertilisers, a household brand here in the UK. It continued production until the mid 1990’s and has been unoccupied since. There is still plenty of the original machinery and control circuit banks in the building but the basement level is flooded making it pretty inaccessible.
Again, apologies for the ‘mono-overload’ in the pictures but personally, I think it adds to the mood of the visit and the subject matter. Each to their own and all that!
Sorry for the amount of images but there's plenty of good subjects at this site... much like other derelict sites and I find it difficult being selective so like to include as many as possible.
Thanks for looking and feel free to comment/criticise etc...!
