Firstly, despite being called 'Blackpool' China Clay Quarry & Refinery, it is in fact nowhere near Blackpool. This is in Cornwall.
Closed in November 2007 and left derelict since, the site is now in the process of being demolished, so only just caught this in time. Sadly, the main building had already gone, all that remained of that is a large pile of broken concrete, with an excavator sat on top. Luckily, some of the smaller buildings (all be it stripped of their asbestos roofs) and all of the settling tanks remain, so still an interesting explore, however, I would have liked to have seen inside the main refinery building. Unsure what is to become of the site - I had read there was an application in place to use it for landfill, but I don't know if this has been approved or not.
The site is spread over a huge area, mostly now occupied my a massive lake, left in the pit from which the china clay was extracted. There are many settling tanks spread around the site, some clearly out of use for decades, others which appear to be more recent, these are huge! A number of pump houses, sub-stations and smaller plant rooms remain, tho these are largely stripped of equipment, some items do remain. It does appear that the scrappers have done the rounds as most of the cable has vanished, even from the overhead lines.
I'm unsure as to when this particular pit or refinery opened, there seems to be very little information about it online, I couldn't even find any pictures anyone else had taken - so enjoy!
NOTE: Pictures were taken on both my DSLR and phone. It was starting to get dark before having finished exploring, so some pictures are better quality than others and due to the 2 devices, probably not in order - sorry about that!
Pump room, minus it's roof
Felled lighting tower - presumably to keep the kids from climbing it. loads of these around the site
A view over one of the larger settling tanks, to the highest point on the site. The wind turbine is the only thing here that is still operational.
Electrical substation & switchgear
From the highest point on the site, looking over the upper level of settling tanks
Note the spoil heap to the RHS of the wind turbine. These give this part of Cornwall it's alternative name 'The Cornish Alps'
A long redundant mixing tank
Some kind of centrifugal seperator
A look over the site from the high point - this is a tiny fraction of the refinery workings, it;s absolutely huge!
Another felled lighting mast - loads of these around, all ripped down, presumably to stop anyone climbing and then falling from them
The pit from which the china clay, processed at this site was extracted - believed to be destined for landfill!
Former main refinery building complex - sadly already demolished
Older, smaller refinerey building, stripped of it's asbestos roof, awaiting the wrecking ball.
Smaller refinery building - awaiting demolition
Danger of..... ....EVERYTHING!
Back when stuff was built to last!
Smaller refinery building complex
Remains of equipment within the smaller refinery building
Remains of equipment within the smaller refinery building
Electrical switchgear
Now devoid of it's asbestos roof, this building's days are numbered!
Some of the older tanks, further down the site
The only building still largely intact - this seemed to be storing several boats - possibly used for maintaining the pumps which still run to maintain the water level in the partially flooded quarry.
Older tanks, right at the bottom of the site
Electrical equipment in an inaccessible pump room - had to point the camera through a high up window, along with a torch to get a look inside
Nature reclaims everything. The Rhododendrons are slowly swallowing up this downed lighting tower
The relay and breaker box for one of the huge lighting masts
One of the many settling tanks
A huge air vessel, ripped from it's pad (on which I'm standing) to give the demo crew access to the building behind
Electrical switchgear in one of the pump rooms. Note the welded mesh over the windows. Every single door and window in the place had this stuff bolted over it, so access to a lot of the interior simply wasn't possible, unless low enough to climb in through the missing roof.
Closed in November 2007 and left derelict since, the site is now in the process of being demolished, so only just caught this in time. Sadly, the main building had already gone, all that remained of that is a large pile of broken concrete, with an excavator sat on top. Luckily, some of the smaller buildings (all be it stripped of their asbestos roofs) and all of the settling tanks remain, so still an interesting explore, however, I would have liked to have seen inside the main refinery building. Unsure what is to become of the site - I had read there was an application in place to use it for landfill, but I don't know if this has been approved or not.
The site is spread over a huge area, mostly now occupied my a massive lake, left in the pit from which the china clay was extracted. There are many settling tanks spread around the site, some clearly out of use for decades, others which appear to be more recent, these are huge! A number of pump houses, sub-stations and smaller plant rooms remain, tho these are largely stripped of equipment, some items do remain. It does appear that the scrappers have done the rounds as most of the cable has vanished, even from the overhead lines.
I'm unsure as to when this particular pit or refinery opened, there seems to be very little information about it online, I couldn't even find any pictures anyone else had taken - so enjoy!
NOTE: Pictures were taken on both my DSLR and phone. It was starting to get dark before having finished exploring, so some pictures are better quality than others and due to the 2 devices, probably not in order - sorry about that!
Pump room, minus it's roof
Felled lighting tower - presumably to keep the kids from climbing it. loads of these around the site
A view over one of the larger settling tanks, to the highest point on the site. The wind turbine is the only thing here that is still operational.
Electrical substation & switchgear
From the highest point on the site, looking over the upper level of settling tanks
Note the spoil heap to the RHS of the wind turbine. These give this part of Cornwall it's alternative name 'The Cornish Alps'
A long redundant mixing tank
Some kind of centrifugal seperator
A look over the site from the high point - this is a tiny fraction of the refinery workings, it;s absolutely huge!
Another felled lighting mast - loads of these around, all ripped down, presumably to stop anyone climbing and then falling from them
The pit from which the china clay, processed at this site was extracted - believed to be destined for landfill!
Former main refinery building complex - sadly already demolished
Older, smaller refinerey building, stripped of it's asbestos roof, awaiting the wrecking ball.
Smaller refinery building - awaiting demolition
Danger of..... ....EVERYTHING!
Back when stuff was built to last!
Smaller refinery building complex
Remains of equipment within the smaller refinery building
Remains of equipment within the smaller refinery building
Electrical switchgear
Now devoid of it's asbestos roof, this building's days are numbered!
Some of the older tanks, further down the site
The only building still largely intact - this seemed to be storing several boats - possibly used for maintaining the pumps which still run to maintain the water level in the partially flooded quarry.
Older tanks, right at the bottom of the site
Electrical equipment in an inaccessible pump room - had to point the camera through a high up window, along with a torch to get a look inside
Nature reclaims everything. The Rhododendrons are slowly swallowing up this downed lighting tower
The relay and breaker box for one of the huge lighting masts
One of the many settling tanks
A huge air vessel, ripped from it's pad (on which I'm standing) to give the demo crew access to the building behind
Electrical switchgear in one of the pump rooms. Note the welded mesh over the windows. Every single door and window in the place had this stuff bolted over it, so access to a lot of the interior simply wasn't possible, unless low enough to climb in through the missing roof.
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