- Joined
- Jul 30, 2012
- Messages
- 934
- Reaction score
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- Points
- 63
By crikey this is ACE!!!!
Everyone who has been down to Tone Mills, the fulling & dyehouse part of what was once the sprawling Fox Bros. woollen mill operation in Wellington that has found it's place in UK exploring folklore as being one of the best mills 'ever' knows that the looming spectre of the much larger Tonedale Mill, the main plant, sat tantalisingly close but more often than not efforts to explore it were thwarted by vigilant security with dogs who liked to run around the buildings, CCTV cameras dotted around the site, nosey neighbours and the repurposed areas to the south. However things have changed a little now and as such myself and OverArch capitalised. How long they will be like this for I do not know.
The pair of Autoconers on the top floor are awesome and instantly recognisable, however the engine room, that is something else entirely. It is, by far, the single best room I have stepped foot in anywhere for as long as I can remember. It is a perfect example of purely natural industrial decay that just so happens to house a steam turbine, massive crank and huge engine. I would quite happily go back just to spend a long time sat in that room, if whenever the redevelopment happens they decide to scrap the lot I will be very upset, it's museum-quality.
I was even happier to find the engine room on the verge of giving up looking for the way into it, and also after falling into a drain and then afterwards getting covered in coal dust which made the feeling all the more satisfying.
The engine room...a bit of a trouser accident might have been had when I pushed the door open.
Afterwards we paid a visit to Tone Mills down the road (my 3rd visit, OverArch's 1st), I got a few decent photos so might chuck up a separate post with those in soon.
Thanks for looking, more here https://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157653728622648
Everyone who has been down to Tone Mills, the fulling & dyehouse part of what was once the sprawling Fox Bros. woollen mill operation in Wellington that has found it's place in UK exploring folklore as being one of the best mills 'ever' knows that the looming spectre of the much larger Tonedale Mill, the main plant, sat tantalisingly close but more often than not efforts to explore it were thwarted by vigilant security with dogs who liked to run around the buildings, CCTV cameras dotted around the site, nosey neighbours and the repurposed areas to the south. However things have changed a little now and as such myself and OverArch capitalised. How long they will be like this for I do not know.
The pair of Autoconers on the top floor are awesome and instantly recognisable, however the engine room, that is something else entirely. It is, by far, the single best room I have stepped foot in anywhere for as long as I can remember. It is a perfect example of purely natural industrial decay that just so happens to house a steam turbine, massive crank and huge engine. I would quite happily go back just to spend a long time sat in that room, if whenever the redevelopment happens they decide to scrap the lot I will be very upset, it's museum-quality.
I was even happier to find the engine room on the verge of giving up looking for the way into it, and also after falling into a drain and then afterwards getting covered in coal dust which made the feeling all the more satisfying.
The engine room...a bit of a trouser accident might have been had when I pushed the door open.
Afterwards we paid a visit to Tone Mills down the road (my 3rd visit, OverArch's 1st), I got a few decent photos so might chuck up a separate post with those in soon.
Thanks for looking, more here https://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157653728622648
