After hearing about this place closing, I decided to meet a friend and head up towards Doncaster after the Drain Meet to give this a try. We were very surprised to find the site a hub of activity upon our arrival, turns out there's demolition work occurring on-site, rather strange to be happening on a Sunday though, and very quick since closure.
The History
Massive struggle to find much on it, so I've gone with a more generalised history of the land it's built on so there's actually something worth reading.
The site was originally home to a General Refractories Brickworks which was well established by 1937. The company also had factories in Sheffield, Worksop, King's Lynn and Middlesbrough and it owned Mayers Lane Mine, Bradfield Mine and Wharncliffe Chase Mine all of which produced Fireclay to serve the numerous Brickworks.
It was served by the railway which ran between Bawtry and Misson which opened in 1912. This line was originally conceived to provide access to the collieries situated around Tickhill for export from Grimsby.
It was never constructed as the coalfield was better served by the South Yorkshire Joint Railway. The Great Northern Railway applied to purchase the railway authorisation on 30 May 1907, with the transfer being granted in July 1908 for £2,300.
The GNR built an 8 mile branch line with work beginning in November 1911 at a cost of £30,000. It only ever saw freight services, with the only sites served on the line being some sidings for agriculture, two brickworks and a sandpit at the Bawtry end.
The line likely never saw through traffic, with the central section being lifted and sent to France during WW1 and around 3/4 of a mile of track near Misson being lifted by 1923. A stub remained at the Haxey end for wagon storage until 1950 when a derailment resulted in it's immediate closure.
The remaining line was axed under Beeching and lifted soon after, so was not used to serve the Carbon Works. A couple of brickwork buildings were retained and reused, but the rest of the site was levelled and new bespoke buildings constructed with the site opening in 1972.
The site remained open for 52 years, producing Carbon Cathode blocks and ramming pastes for the Aluminium Smelting Industry which was exported globally. The blocks were cast in Pit Kilns and then cut to order in the workshops.
Bawtry Carbon suddenly collapsed into adminstration on 31st January 2024 after efforts to sell it failed, with tough trading conditions due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic cited as the reason. It was not the first time the company had suffered financial woes, with it being saved from administration in 2019 by the private equity firm Enact.
The site closed in February with the loss of 105 jobs. The site was sold surprisingly quickly, being purchased by Watling Real Estate for an undisclosed sum on behalf of a private buyer. Demolition work had begun by mid April, with a building already levelled, and asbestos roofing removal taking place by the time of our visit.
The Explore
We were hoping for a relatively hassle free explore being a Sunday, but the guys doing asbestos removal scuppered that plan. No drone shots of the site unfortunately, didn't want to reveal our presence before heading in, and sending it up after was definitely a bad idea with the strong winds, I'd imagine the workers would have been inclined to smash it up if it went down... More on that later though.
Gained access to site and immediately headed towards the rear so as to avoid the workers.
Quick Exterior Shot -
Wet Machining Room
We were greeted with a room full of various cutting machines, which I would assume would have been used to shape and finish carbon blocks from the Pit Kilns.
Saw Blade -
Control Panel -
Everything was coated in a layer of graphite dust, so wiping control panels and gauges was a must for some detail shots.
Gauges -
It sounded like a scissor lift was approaching whilst my friend was in the little control room for the largest machine in the room, so I darted up the stairs to get out of sight. Luckily they never came into this area, although they certainly have been through the building as there were tyre marks everywhere.
Very difficult to light up here due to the need to remain undetected, so not really sure what I was looking at. There's a control panel on the 2nd level which controlled a machine that I'm assuming ground up raw materials.
The lower part was fed ground up material from above by a hopper system. Heading further up, you can peer into the bowels of the machine above the hopper which contains the grinding mechanism.
Had a glance outside from a catwalk, the view wasn't too bad, you can see where clay would have been removed for the Brickworks that predate the site. Was also able to spy the position of the nearest workers.
Headed back down and checked out the little control room. Clear signs of the sudden closure here, with food and drinks in the fridge that had not long gone out of date.
A Staff Farewell -
Unfortunately we couldn't get a closer look at the machine due to the door being sealed shut by an interlock system. The 2nd key was present, but it was jammed in the control panel.
Dry Machining Room/Pit Kilns
We moved on to the pit kiln area, again aiming to keep to the rear of the building to start with. This area is dominated by a large cutting machine and it's associated conveyor belt.
Headed into the office/stores section alongside the machinery which had paperwork, snacks, spares, all sorts dotted around.
Cathode Block Parameters -
Stumbled across a small canteen to the rear of the kilns, complete with more food and drink, and some old wage slips. Bit of a strange place for them as they were years old, would have expected to find ones that old in a locker room.
On to the Pit Kilns, and the large gantry crane used to lift blocks out of them.
Was quite surprised to see some what would appear to be unfinished blocks in a couple of the kilns. Sudden collapse or not, you'd expect orders to have been completed considering we found some paperwork that had explicit instructions not to start work on any blocks without their associated order number, a sign of financial struggles for sure.
Pit Kilns -
Gantry Crane -
I did try to climb to the top for a decent shot of the room from height, but the uppermost ladder section was locked off and I didn't fancy attempting to negotiate a way around as every surface was absolutely caked in graphite dust.
Control Cab -
Made our way outside to see where we could get to without being seen. The building immediately in front of the kilns building has almost been razed to the ground, with only a small multi floor section remaining with no way of accessing it. A large portion of the conveyor out of the next building along has also been removed. A map we found later suggests this building handled raw materials, but lacks any other detail.
Raw Materials Building (Conveyor)
We headed across to this building next, heading inside to find it pitch black with a choice of ladders or a staircase to ascend to the higher levels. We took the stairs as there was a collapsed floor section near one of the ladders.
Various conveyors and machinery up here, although I have absolutely no idea what any of it was for. There was a Mikro Pulsaire Dust Collector which had managed to accumulate a large amount of dust on its exterior, I don't think that's how it's supposed to work...
There was also a box full of bouncy balls which seemed odd at first, but they would be a good way to dislodge dust in hard to reach parts of the machinery I suppose. Either that, or workers needed entertainment 😂
Made my way outside to the top of the conveyor. I was going to climb the ladder to the roof, but I clocked a car that had been concealed on ground level by a pile of rubble with a clear view of the building, so thought better of the idea. Messed around trying to send a few balls down the remains of the conveyor, then moved onwards.
We made our way into another building that is labelled simply as raw materials the same as the previous one, getting ever closer to where the workers were. We timed our visit really well as they had stopped work, so it was a question of if it was a half day or if they were on a lunch break at this point.
We found an office space with first aid records, porn on the walls and some awesome looking lightbulbs, with one of the workers vans parked 20m away. Safe to say we didn't hang around in there too long.
Lightbulb -
Graphite Grades -
Went through a door that took us back into the room we started in, so here's a shot from that end.
We checked the coast was clear and slipped outside, quickly ducking into a small room that contained the sprinkler system.
Valve Gear -
Maintenance Department
Darted across to the paint/oil stores next, not too much to see bar tanks for various oils and hydraulic fluids, and some cans of paint, some of which were very dated.
Unfortunately at this point, the workers decided to reappear. We discussed whether to sneak back out or stroll past them and out of the wide open front gates. We decided to go out the way we came in, although not before a quick look in the very stripped out Switchrooms.
We encountered a very talkative local on the way out, ending up discussing the history of the site, the sudden closure and the fact that it's built on the site of a former brickworks. Also discussed the odd timings of the demolition work, and how the workers were ripping down all the asbestos with no protections whatsoever, no PPE, just lobbing it into a skip.
Left the local and thought we'd try our luck and strolled in through the front gate, moving quickly over to the buildings we hadn't already reached. We were most certainly seen, but nobody really bothered us initially.
Chemical Carbon Storage/Packing Building
Headed inside another large building, checking out a small office like section first of all. It looked like the remains of the lab, with test samples and equipment dotted around.
Test Samples -
No Idea what this is -
The main part of this building was filled with some smaller machinery along with a large series of hoppers the height of the building, and some pallets of either raw materials or for despatch, not sure which as the packing area for despatch is next door in a room that had workmen in, but that area looks to have been completely emptied.
Hoppers -
A view of the room -
Monolithic Control Panel -
At this point, 'Secca' rolled up in a Secca car that looked like it had been plucked out of a scrapyard, and a guy on a scissor lift came from the other end. Very young lad in the car, asked us what we were doing and then to leave, which we agreed to do, no drama.
Walk around the corner towards the exit and the workers in other room clocked us. Shouted after us and threw something in our general direction, then came out after us with one wielding a crowbar 🤣 demanded to know what we were doing, told him we had just spoken to 'secca' and he started going off on one about metal thieves breaking into the place at night and stealing stuff. Calmed down a bit when we said we were just explorers taking photos, as if the cameras didn't make it obvious enough.
Not really sure why the demolition company workers would care that passionately about some metal fairies.
Safe to say we didn't bother hanging around any longer, left through the gate and headed back to the car. I did debate the drone, but the wind was not favourable, and I don't think I'd have been getting it back if it went down.
July 24 Update
I thought I'd swing by for a quick look on my way down to London from Hull to check on demolition progress and hopefully get some drone shots.
Demolition work has progressed significantly, most of the smaller buildings are now levelled, with the larger remaining ones consisting of bare shells. Only the Carbon Plant remains mostly intact. Surprisingly the same access point was still there, so I went down for a quick look.
There's lots of pallets of bricks and other building materials being stored on site, and only one cutting machine remains in the Wet Machining Department in a partially dismantled state. Didn't bother with the drone as it started to rain.
The History
Massive struggle to find much on it, so I've gone with a more generalised history of the land it's built on so there's actually something worth reading.
The site was originally home to a General Refractories Brickworks which was well established by 1937. The company also had factories in Sheffield, Worksop, King's Lynn and Middlesbrough and it owned Mayers Lane Mine, Bradfield Mine and Wharncliffe Chase Mine all of which produced Fireclay to serve the numerous Brickworks.
It was served by the railway which ran between Bawtry and Misson which opened in 1912. This line was originally conceived to provide access to the collieries situated around Tickhill for export from Grimsby.
It was never constructed as the coalfield was better served by the South Yorkshire Joint Railway. The Great Northern Railway applied to purchase the railway authorisation on 30 May 1907, with the transfer being granted in July 1908 for £2,300.
The GNR built an 8 mile branch line with work beginning in November 1911 at a cost of £30,000. It only ever saw freight services, with the only sites served on the line being some sidings for agriculture, two brickworks and a sandpit at the Bawtry end.
The line likely never saw through traffic, with the central section being lifted and sent to France during WW1 and around 3/4 of a mile of track near Misson being lifted by 1923. A stub remained at the Haxey end for wagon storage until 1950 when a derailment resulted in it's immediate closure.
The remaining line was axed under Beeching and lifted soon after, so was not used to serve the Carbon Works. A couple of brickwork buildings were retained and reused, but the rest of the site was levelled and new bespoke buildings constructed with the site opening in 1972.
The site remained open for 52 years, producing Carbon Cathode blocks and ramming pastes for the Aluminium Smelting Industry which was exported globally. The blocks were cast in Pit Kilns and then cut to order in the workshops.
Bawtry Carbon suddenly collapsed into adminstration on 31st January 2024 after efforts to sell it failed, with tough trading conditions due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic cited as the reason. It was not the first time the company had suffered financial woes, with it being saved from administration in 2019 by the private equity firm Enact.
The site closed in February with the loss of 105 jobs. The site was sold surprisingly quickly, being purchased by Watling Real Estate for an undisclosed sum on behalf of a private buyer. Demolition work had begun by mid April, with a building already levelled, and asbestos roofing removal taking place by the time of our visit.
The Explore
We were hoping for a relatively hassle free explore being a Sunday, but the guys doing asbestos removal scuppered that plan. No drone shots of the site unfortunately, didn't want to reveal our presence before heading in, and sending it up after was definitely a bad idea with the strong winds, I'd imagine the workers would have been inclined to smash it up if it went down... More on that later though.
Gained access to site and immediately headed towards the rear so as to avoid the workers.
Quick Exterior Shot -
Wet Machining Room
We were greeted with a room full of various cutting machines, which I would assume would have been used to shape and finish carbon blocks from the Pit Kilns.
Control Panel -
Everything was coated in a layer of graphite dust, so wiping control panels and gauges was a must for some detail shots.
Gauges -
It sounded like a scissor lift was approaching whilst my friend was in the little control room for the largest machine in the room, so I darted up the stairs to get out of sight. Luckily they never came into this area, although they certainly have been through the building as there were tyre marks everywhere.
Very difficult to light up here due to the need to remain undetected, so not really sure what I was looking at. There's a control panel on the 2nd level which controlled a machine that I'm assuming ground up raw materials.
The lower part was fed ground up material from above by a hopper system. Heading further up, you can peer into the bowels of the machine above the hopper which contains the grinding mechanism.
Had a glance outside from a catwalk, the view wasn't too bad, you can see where clay would have been removed for the Brickworks that predate the site. Was also able to spy the position of the nearest workers.
Headed back down and checked out the little control room. Clear signs of the sudden closure here, with food and drinks in the fridge that had not long gone out of date.
A Staff Farewell -
Unfortunately we couldn't get a closer look at the machine due to the door being sealed shut by an interlock system. The 2nd key was present, but it was jammed in the control panel.
Dry Machining Room/Pit Kilns
We moved on to the pit kiln area, again aiming to keep to the rear of the building to start with. This area is dominated by a large cutting machine and it's associated conveyor belt.
Cathode Block Parameters -
Stumbled across a small canteen to the rear of the kilns, complete with more food and drink, and some old wage slips. Bit of a strange place for them as they were years old, would have expected to find ones that old in a locker room.
On to the Pit Kilns, and the large gantry crane used to lift blocks out of them.
Was quite surprised to see some what would appear to be unfinished blocks in a couple of the kilns. Sudden collapse or not, you'd expect orders to have been completed considering we found some paperwork that had explicit instructions not to start work on any blocks without their associated order number, a sign of financial struggles for sure.
Pit Kilns -
Control Cab -
Made our way outside to see where we could get to without being seen. The building immediately in front of the kilns building has almost been razed to the ground, with only a small multi floor section remaining with no way of accessing it. A large portion of the conveyor out of the next building along has also been removed. A map we found later suggests this building handled raw materials, but lacks any other detail.
Raw Materials Building (Conveyor)
We headed across to this building next, heading inside to find it pitch black with a choice of ladders or a staircase to ascend to the higher levels. We took the stairs as there was a collapsed floor section near one of the ladders.
Various conveyors and machinery up here, although I have absolutely no idea what any of it was for. There was a Mikro Pulsaire Dust Collector which had managed to accumulate a large amount of dust on its exterior, I don't think that's how it's supposed to work...
Made my way outside to the top of the conveyor. I was going to climb the ladder to the roof, but I clocked a car that had been concealed on ground level by a pile of rubble with a clear view of the building, so thought better of the idea. Messed around trying to send a few balls down the remains of the conveyor, then moved onwards.
We made our way into another building that is labelled simply as raw materials the same as the previous one, getting ever closer to where the workers were. We timed our visit really well as they had stopped work, so it was a question of if it was a half day or if they were on a lunch break at this point.
We found an office space with first aid records, porn on the walls and some awesome looking lightbulbs, with one of the workers vans parked 20m away. Safe to say we didn't hang around in there too long.
Lightbulb -
Went through a door that took us back into the room we started in, so here's a shot from that end.
Valve Gear -
Maintenance Department
Darted across to the paint/oil stores next, not too much to see bar tanks for various oils and hydraulic fluids, and some cans of paint, some of which were very dated.
Unfortunately at this point, the workers decided to reappear. We discussed whether to sneak back out or stroll past them and out of the wide open front gates. We decided to go out the way we came in, although not before a quick look in the very stripped out Switchrooms.
We encountered a very talkative local on the way out, ending up discussing the history of the site, the sudden closure and the fact that it's built on the site of a former brickworks. Also discussed the odd timings of the demolition work, and how the workers were ripping down all the asbestos with no protections whatsoever, no PPE, just lobbing it into a skip.
Left the local and thought we'd try our luck and strolled in through the front gate, moving quickly over to the buildings we hadn't already reached. We were most certainly seen, but nobody really bothered us initially.
Chemical Carbon Storage/Packing Building
Headed inside another large building, checking out a small office like section first of all. It looked like the remains of the lab, with test samples and equipment dotted around.
Test Samples -
No Idea what this is -
The main part of this building was filled with some smaller machinery along with a large series of hoppers the height of the building, and some pallets of either raw materials or for despatch, not sure which as the packing area for despatch is next door in a room that had workmen in, but that area looks to have been completely emptied.
Hoppers -
A view of the room -
Monolithic Control Panel -
At this point, 'Secca' rolled up in a Secca car that looked like it had been plucked out of a scrapyard, and a guy on a scissor lift came from the other end. Very young lad in the car, asked us what we were doing and then to leave, which we agreed to do, no drama.
Walk around the corner towards the exit and the workers in other room clocked us. Shouted after us and threw something in our general direction, then came out after us with one wielding a crowbar 🤣 demanded to know what we were doing, told him we had just spoken to 'secca' and he started going off on one about metal thieves breaking into the place at night and stealing stuff. Calmed down a bit when we said we were just explorers taking photos, as if the cameras didn't make it obvious enough.
Not really sure why the demolition company workers would care that passionately about some metal fairies.
Safe to say we didn't bother hanging around any longer, left through the gate and headed back to the car. I did debate the drone, but the wind was not favourable, and I don't think I'd have been getting it back if it went down.
July 24 Update
I thought I'd swing by for a quick look on my way down to London from Hull to check on demolition progress and hopefully get some drone shots.
Demolition work has progressed significantly, most of the smaller buildings are now levelled, with the larger remaining ones consisting of bare shells. Only the Carbon Plant remains mostly intact. Surprisingly the same access point was still there, so I went down for a quick look.
There's lots of pallets of bricks and other building materials being stored on site, and only one cutting machine remains in the Wet Machining Department in a partially dismantled state. Didn't bother with the drone as it started to rain.
