The Lincolnshire Beet Sugar Company
This place was unheard of for me until very recently when a very well produced report popped up here and instantly had me on a plan to pay a quick visit.
A Bit of History
Without trying to use history from previous reports of this site I couldn't find much online. Literally nothing, the only link which contained anything was via an image but the link was dead and lead me onto some random webpage containing nothing to do with this location. Eventually I found a few snippets which allowed me to stick something together.
The site was purchased in 1927 for around £6,000, constructed by the Dyer Co and Sir RobertMcAlpine&Sons with the Dyer Co taking control of the factory's design, opening as the Lincolnshire Beet Sugar Company.
The structure's purpose was to process sugar beet. The process was undertaken by slicing up the sugar beet, adding it to hot water to extract the sugar itself before the remaining syrup is filtered, mixed with smaller sugar crystals and then dried in an instrument similar to that of a cement kiln.
The raw beet was first delivered by rail from local farms with about 40 wagons arriving each day from areas such as Boston (Lincs), the railway also acted as a means to transport employees to the site in the mornings. In 1936 the site became part of the British Sugar Corporation Ltd (Later known as British Sugar Ltd in 1982) The site's railway access was cut off around 1970 following the closure of the station and line leading to the plant the diesel shunting locomotive located on the works, having previously replaced a smaller steam locomotive, was moved to the Nene Valley Railway in 1975. The site survived this closure and continued on before being sold to the Associated British Foods Company in 1990. By 2001 the majority of the plant was due for closure with some areas remaining in use such as for packaging. Since then it sat derelict and remained forgotten until demolition work began around 2019.
The main source for this info: https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/hudswell-clarke-works-no-1604-no-4-0-6-0st/
The Visit
With the country starting to return to normality after lockdown, due to work, it had been a while since I'd last got out. First on the list was this. Initially having no clue how to do this place a good walk around as well as some patience got us inside.
Due to the nature of the building's current state I have missed the ground floor of this explore to avoid exposure from being spotted by security teams and such.
Walking up we are greeted by numerous switched and a little control panel.
Around there corner where a series of machines which I believe are beet slicers?
Little control panel behind them
Washing machines?
Moving upstairs was a maze of pipes and I assume boilers?
Next up was the laboratory.
A locker with something to say.
The glass blocks on one side provided some brilliant lighting.
With the morning continuing on it was best to start getting things done a little quicker so that workers didn't turn up before our departure. I packed the tripod away and grabbed a few areas of interest on the way out handheld.
Thankfully we had sped up on getting things done as quite a few people turned up the moment just as I had clambered out of the building.
That should be everything I have, apologies if it isn't the most comprehensive report possible.
This place was unheard of for me until very recently when a very well produced report popped up here and instantly had me on a plan to pay a quick visit.
A Bit of History
Without trying to use history from previous reports of this site I couldn't find much online. Literally nothing, the only link which contained anything was via an image but the link was dead and lead me onto some random webpage containing nothing to do with this location. Eventually I found a few snippets which allowed me to stick something together.
The site was purchased in 1927 for around £6,000, constructed by the Dyer Co and Sir RobertMcAlpine&Sons with the Dyer Co taking control of the factory's design, opening as the Lincolnshire Beet Sugar Company.
The structure's purpose was to process sugar beet. The process was undertaken by slicing up the sugar beet, adding it to hot water to extract the sugar itself before the remaining syrup is filtered, mixed with smaller sugar crystals and then dried in an instrument similar to that of a cement kiln.
The raw beet was first delivered by rail from local farms with about 40 wagons arriving each day from areas such as Boston (Lincs), the railway also acted as a means to transport employees to the site in the mornings. In 1936 the site became part of the British Sugar Corporation Ltd (Later known as British Sugar Ltd in 1982) The site's railway access was cut off around 1970 following the closure of the station and line leading to the plant the diesel shunting locomotive located on the works, having previously replaced a smaller steam locomotive, was moved to the Nene Valley Railway in 1975. The site survived this closure and continued on before being sold to the Associated British Foods Company in 1990. By 2001 the majority of the plant was due for closure with some areas remaining in use such as for packaging. Since then it sat derelict and remained forgotten until demolition work began around 2019.
The main source for this info: https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/hudswell-clarke-works-no-1604-no-4-0-6-0st/
The Visit
With the country starting to return to normality after lockdown, due to work, it had been a while since I'd last got out. First on the list was this. Initially having no clue how to do this place a good walk around as well as some patience got us inside.
Due to the nature of the building's current state I have missed the ground floor of this explore to avoid exposure from being spotted by security teams and such.
Walking up we are greeted by numerous switched and a little control panel.
Around there corner where a series of machines which I believe are beet slicers?
Little control panel behind them
Washing machines?
Moving upstairs was a maze of pipes and I assume boilers?
Next up was the laboratory.
A locker with something to say.
The glass blocks on one side provided some brilliant lighting.
With the morning continuing on it was best to start getting things done a little quicker so that workers didn't turn up before our departure. I packed the tripod away and grabbed a few areas of interest on the way out handheld.
Thankfully we had sped up on getting things done as quite a few people turned up the moment just as I had clambered out of the building.
That should be everything I have, apologies if it isn't the most comprehensive report possible.
