This is a place I had visited back in 2014, although the explore was limited at the time. This was due to part of it at the front still being in use. The boiler houses located here were locked up at the time, this was frustrating as I could see through the skylight and see the boilers below. But it was still nice wandering around the glass houses and little buildings dotted about, there is something about derelict greenhouses what I find appealing, when they are ornate or large. I made another visit a few years later and still no joy. I know some more people went several tears after that but never bothered as i thought it would be the same. But Dan and Jake went earlier in the year and told me about it and confirmed the whole site is derelict now. So I went back to finish the bits I had not seen, I am glad I did now as the three boiler houses and the big front building was well worth it. The building at the front was really nice with a water tower incorporated into the building. One room was an old woodwork shop.you could still see power points with labels on like ’saw’ and ‘planer’. Below the water tower is an old attic, this was really nice with old papers and books and other nice oddities in it to take photos of. It’s not surprising the place is shut, a big new distributer road running next to it. And with all these new roads it’s being very, very heavily developed now. The site is surrounded by fencing with the developers signs all over it and the housing is right up to it now. I made my first visit solo and was very relaxed. I went back with my mate a few months ago, but one boiler house was all tented up with an asbestos caravan outside. And some clearing of overgrowth had started, so I can imagine development is starting in earnest, it’s a big site to leave empty for to long.
The nursery began operating in the 1900s and operated as a nursery and an apple orchard. The boiler houses were added in the fifties, along with a toilet block and and the front buildings. The orchards during picking time drafted in extra workers, some of these come from Little Plumstead hospital and Thorpe St Andrews hospital which both sat a short distance away on either side of the nursery. Cheap imported fruit from abroad like many other fruits saw the eventual decline of the orchard. The nursery started to turn down and in the end just occupied the front part until 2021 when they finally vacated the site. The three boiler houses each had an oil tank next to them, this was to run the boilers which were then used to heat the greenhouses. With the clearance happening you could see the all the pipe work running in the ground to to the various greenhouses and the pipes feeding the boilers from the tanks. My mate who I work with all the time is a proper plantsman and his dad had greenhouses in the back garden and said when he was teenager they built an underground boiler house which ran in the exact same way as these ones but on a smaller scale. He was quite interested in me telling him about this place, as that was his upbringing. We were looking at a lot of things we recognised and stuff we have used over time in my pics.
Some more detailed info here from someone who I have always respected as a local historian.
Starting off with the approach up to the main building.
Up in the old attic is lots old books. And lots of old newspapers. Found one dating from 1939.
Heading to this old building which was a pig sty. The pens are still all there with feeding bowls in the walls. They had been used for storing pots and other things used in the nursery.
A lovely hoist in the loft section.
Going of tangent a bit but this last room was filled on the walls with old advertising boards for Caleys chocolate. Caleys chocolate was a local firm started in 1863 by a chemist called Albert Jarmen Caley. He stated making mineral water in his basement in the shop he owned. Because the water was seasonal he decided to make chocolate for the winter months. Manufacturing of chocolate began in 1886, a year later they started making Christmas crackers as well. The company expanded so much that they opened a huge factory on the chapel field site in the heart of Norwich city centre. The company employed 700 people on its opening. Caleys used local farmers to source there milk for chocolate making Caleys chocolate renowned for it's quality. The valet family produced chocolate for troops on the front line in world war one and it got the name Caleys marching chocolate. The valet family sold the company in 1918 to the African and Easter Trade Company. And in 1932 John Mackintosh acquired the company for £138,000. In 1937 the first rolls came off the line in Norwich and proved so popular they were producing two tons and hour. The factory was bomber in the second world war and rebuilt. The water side of the company was sold off around 1953 not long after the rebuild. Munchies and caramac were produced at the factory from the late fifties. And at its height 4000 staff worked at Norwich and Halifax. Mackintoshes merged with Rowntrees in 1969, and in the seventies and eighties the Norwich branch was producing 40 million Easter eggs a year during the seventies and eighties. Then in 1986 Nestlé acquired Rowntree Mackintosh and Yorkie bars were being made in Norwich. But sadly with Nestlé acquiring the factory was the downfall for it. They closed the factory in 1996 and moved all work up to York and keeping the Mackintosh's factory based there. The factory laid derelict till 2003 when it was finally demolished and a new large shopping mall was built there. Several ex managers from the factory bought the Caleys brand from Nestlé and started producing Caleys chocolate again from 1997. But sadly as is always the case it was bought out by another company and production moved out of Norwich.
I like seeing small details like this and be able to diverse into a very important local industry what had a devastating effect when it closed. But only if I knew what I know now, it would have made a fantastic explore as the place was huge. A friend works for a specialist company and helped move toms of machinery out of here but said loads was left inside.
The old Caleys factory and the modern factory dominating the city centre.
The nursery began operating in the 1900s and operated as a nursery and an apple orchard. The boiler houses were added in the fifties, along with a toilet block and and the front buildings. The orchards during picking time drafted in extra workers, some of these come from Little Plumstead hospital and Thorpe St Andrews hospital which both sat a short distance away on either side of the nursery. Cheap imported fruit from abroad like many other fruits saw the eventual decline of the orchard. The nursery started to turn down and in the end just occupied the front part until 2021 when they finally vacated the site. The three boiler houses each had an oil tank next to them, this was to run the boilers which were then used to heat the greenhouses. With the clearance happening you could see the all the pipe work running in the ground to to the various greenhouses and the pipes feeding the boilers from the tanks. My mate who I work with all the time is a proper plantsman and his dad had greenhouses in the back garden and said when he was teenager they built an underground boiler house which ran in the exact same way as these ones but on a smaller scale. He was quite interested in me telling him about this place, as that was his upbringing. We were looking at a lot of things we recognised and stuff we have used over time in my pics.
Some more detailed info here from someone who I have always respected as a local historian.
Starting off with the approach up to the main building.
Up in the old attic is lots old books. And lots of old newspapers. Found one dating from 1939.
Heading to this old building which was a pig sty. The pens are still all there with feeding bowls in the walls. They had been used for storing pots and other things used in the nursery.
A lovely hoist in the loft section.
Going of tangent a bit but this last room was filled on the walls with old advertising boards for Caleys chocolate. Caleys chocolate was a local firm started in 1863 by a chemist called Albert Jarmen Caley. He stated making mineral water in his basement in the shop he owned. Because the water was seasonal he decided to make chocolate for the winter months. Manufacturing of chocolate began in 1886, a year later they started making Christmas crackers as well. The company expanded so much that they opened a huge factory on the chapel field site in the heart of Norwich city centre. The company employed 700 people on its opening. Caleys used local farmers to source there milk for chocolate making Caleys chocolate renowned for it's quality. The valet family produced chocolate for troops on the front line in world war one and it got the name Caleys marching chocolate. The valet family sold the company in 1918 to the African and Easter Trade Company. And in 1932 John Mackintosh acquired the company for £138,000. In 1937 the first rolls came off the line in Norwich and proved so popular they were producing two tons and hour. The factory was bomber in the second world war and rebuilt. The water side of the company was sold off around 1953 not long after the rebuild. Munchies and caramac were produced at the factory from the late fifties. And at its height 4000 staff worked at Norwich and Halifax. Mackintoshes merged with Rowntrees in 1969, and in the seventies and eighties the Norwich branch was producing 40 million Easter eggs a year during the seventies and eighties. Then in 1986 Nestlé acquired Rowntree Mackintosh and Yorkie bars were being made in Norwich. But sadly with Nestlé acquiring the factory was the downfall for it. They closed the factory in 1996 and moved all work up to York and keeping the Mackintosh's factory based there. The factory laid derelict till 2003 when it was finally demolished and a new large shopping mall was built there. Several ex managers from the factory bought the Caleys brand from Nestlé and started producing Caleys chocolate again from 1997. But sadly as is always the case it was bought out by another company and production moved out of Norwich.
I like seeing small details like this and be able to diverse into a very important local industry what had a devastating effect when it closed. But only if I knew what I know now, it would have made a fantastic explore as the place was huge. A friend works for a specialist company and helped move toms of machinery out of here but said loads was left inside.
The old Caleys factory and the modern factory dominating the city centre.
