JD Norman Industries
JD Norman Lydney was a leading manufacturer of semi-finished, chilled grey iron camshaft castings primarily for automotive, industrial, and motorcycle engine applications. Prior to closure the Company served a blue-chip customer base including Ford (through Linamar), Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo.
The fully equipped manufacturing facility extended to a total of 64,000 sq ft on a site of 16.35 acres. The self-contained foundry building extends to 42,500 sq ft with the balance of the accommodation comprising a finishing shop and administrative offices. The greensand foundry was constructed in 1991 at a cost of £11.5M and has benefitted from upgrade programmes in recent years. Capacity existed to produce approximately 5 million chilled iron camshafts per annum. The large box size provides flexibility to cast a wide range of engine, transmission, and driveline products. Secondary operations at the plant include fettling, end facing, and deep-hole drilling.
Alistair and I were planning a day trip down to South Wales and fancied finding something new to check on the way back up. Upon scouring Google Earth for any potential spots, we decided to check JD Norman’s on the way back up North. Satellite imagery suggested it was worth a look and the fact a foundry sat on site made it even more worth it. A couple of images shown below hinted at what the foundry may be like, and our imagination left us to wonder what else was within the complex.
When we arrived at the site, we could instantly see that the foundry was a shell with half of the roof and walls missing as all the machinery moved out. However, the finishing shop and admin buildings still stood so we continued to find a way inside. By no means was the explore ground-breaking but had some okay bits left behind. The admin block in particular reminded us of Tetrosyl. Although inside there were many admin workers still around, the knowledge we gained from holding LBEs hand meant we didn't get spotted. We successfully ran around and avoided PIRs and shot hand-held.
Firstly, a few more externals.
We started inside the main offices which set the tone for the rest of the explore.
At one end of this block was what was mean to be the labs and lab offices, but they were no longer. The room shown below didn’t appear to be anything like a labs office so maybe the blueprints we saw were misleading or for prior site arrangements. Next door to these areas was also the boiler house, which was again, stripped.
More offices back over on the other side of the administrative section.
The canteen sat in the middle of all of this and was also mainly stripped of any chairs and tables.
After seeing signs of a medical room we made our way through more corridors and offices before coming to the main lobby and entrance ways.
Main lobby.
The medical room.
We then wandered over to the finishing shop which held little to no remains of production equipment but was a nice change to the modern block we explored prior.
All in all, a nice relaxing way to end a full day.
Thanks for looking!
JD Norman Lydney was a leading manufacturer of semi-finished, chilled grey iron camshaft castings primarily for automotive, industrial, and motorcycle engine applications. Prior to closure the Company served a blue-chip customer base including Ford (through Linamar), Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo.
The fully equipped manufacturing facility extended to a total of 64,000 sq ft on a site of 16.35 acres. The self-contained foundry building extends to 42,500 sq ft with the balance of the accommodation comprising a finishing shop and administrative offices. The greensand foundry was constructed in 1991 at a cost of £11.5M and has benefitted from upgrade programmes in recent years. Capacity existed to produce approximately 5 million chilled iron camshafts per annum. The large box size provides flexibility to cast a wide range of engine, transmission, and driveline products. Secondary operations at the plant include fettling, end facing, and deep-hole drilling.
Alistair and I were planning a day trip down to South Wales and fancied finding something new to check on the way back up. Upon scouring Google Earth for any potential spots, we decided to check JD Norman’s on the way back up North. Satellite imagery suggested it was worth a look and the fact a foundry sat on site made it even more worth it. A couple of images shown below hinted at what the foundry may be like, and our imagination left us to wonder what else was within the complex.
When we arrived at the site, we could instantly see that the foundry was a shell with half of the roof and walls missing as all the machinery moved out. However, the finishing shop and admin buildings still stood so we continued to find a way inside. By no means was the explore ground-breaking but had some okay bits left behind. The admin block in particular reminded us of Tetrosyl. Although inside there were many admin workers still around, the knowledge we gained from holding LBEs hand meant we didn't get spotted. We successfully ran around and avoided PIRs and shot hand-held.
Firstly, a few more externals.
We started inside the main offices which set the tone for the rest of the explore.
At one end of this block was what was mean to be the labs and lab offices, but they were no longer. The room shown below didn’t appear to be anything like a labs office so maybe the blueprints we saw were misleading or for prior site arrangements. Next door to these areas was also the boiler house, which was again, stripped.
More offices back over on the other side of the administrative section.
The canteen sat in the middle of all of this and was also mainly stripped of any chairs and tables.
After seeing signs of a medical room we made our way through more corridors and offices before coming to the main lobby and entrance ways.
Main lobby.
The medical room.
We then wandered over to the finishing shop which held little to no remains of production equipment but was a nice change to the modern block we explored prior.
All in all, a nice relaxing way to end a full day.
Thanks for looking!
plenty of pigeon 
