History
The Millennium Mills is a derelict turn of the 20th century flour mill in West Silvertown on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock, between the Thames Barrier and the ExCel exhibition centre alongside the newly built Britannia village, in Newham, London, England.[2] The Mills are currently undergoing a major renovation as part of a £3.5billion redevelopment of Silvertown.
Along with Millennium Mills, there remains a small section of the now destroyed Rank Hovis Premier Mill and a restored grade II listed grain silo, labelled the 'D’ silo. Described by the Evening Standard in 2009 as a "decaying industrial anachronism standing defiant and alone in the surrounding subtopia",[3] the Millennium Mills has become a well-loved icon of post-industrial Britain and has made its way into many aspects of popular culture, being used as a backdrop in films and television shows such as Ashes to Ashes, London's Burning and Derek Jarman's The Last of England. Millennium Mills is also a destination for Urban Explorers despite high security, dangers of structural weakness, ten-storey drops and asbestos, and there are many reports and internal photos of the site.
Explore
I've been wanting to get in this site for the last couple of years but I always seemed to turn up when security was about or when contractors were on site. I thought I'd missed my chance when I heard that it was being redeveloped but luckily security seems to have been more lax in the last few months. A mix of that and going ridiculously early in the morning to avoid any unwanted meetings.
The first time I got into the site I only ventured to the weird boat thing that is moored up
The next time I got into the site was towards the end of one of the cold snaps London had in late March
After this I didn't have a chance to go back for a few weeks. I still hadn't found any access to the main building and I wasn't brave enough to try climbing silo D. I've actually been doing a lot of bouldering this year so that lack of braveness disappeared a bit the next time I was on site...
On this visit I ventured towards the main building and started some mad climb up this scaffolding but quickly decided that this was potentially unsafe
So the days rolled on and I was getting frustrated at not being able to get into the main factory. Let's roll forward to pre sunrise on June 11th. I had planned to have one more attempt the day before but had forgotten to set my alarm properly and knew that I wanted to try and catch sunrise from the roof so I postponed my visit.
This time I set my alarm properly. Cycled through the Rotherhithe tunnel and locked my bike at Limehouse as I couldn't be bothered to deal with taking my bike any further. Got a bus to Canning Town and walked towards the site. It was already starting to get a little light. I got onto the site and there wasn't any secca. I ventured up to the main building and was pleasantly surprised. Someone had left a gift before long I was making my way up the stairs in near pitch black
Thanks for reading!
The Millennium Mills is a derelict turn of the 20th century flour mill in West Silvertown on the south side of the Royal Victoria Dock, between the Thames Barrier and the ExCel exhibition centre alongside the newly built Britannia village, in Newham, London, England.[2] The Mills are currently undergoing a major renovation as part of a £3.5billion redevelopment of Silvertown.
Along with Millennium Mills, there remains a small section of the now destroyed Rank Hovis Premier Mill and a restored grade II listed grain silo, labelled the 'D’ silo. Described by the Evening Standard in 2009 as a "decaying industrial anachronism standing defiant and alone in the surrounding subtopia",[3] the Millennium Mills has become a well-loved icon of post-industrial Britain and has made its way into many aspects of popular culture, being used as a backdrop in films and television shows such as Ashes to Ashes, London's Burning and Derek Jarman's The Last of England. Millennium Mills is also a destination for Urban Explorers despite high security, dangers of structural weakness, ten-storey drops and asbestos, and there are many reports and internal photos of the site.
Explore
I've been wanting to get in this site for the last couple of years but I always seemed to turn up when security was about or when contractors were on site. I thought I'd missed my chance when I heard that it was being redeveloped but luckily security seems to have been more lax in the last few months. A mix of that and going ridiculously early in the morning to avoid any unwanted meetings.
The first time I got into the site I only ventured to the weird boat thing that is moored up
After this I didn't have a chance to go back for a few weeks. I still hadn't found any access to the main building and I wasn't brave enough to try climbing silo D. I've actually been doing a lot of bouldering this year so that lack of braveness disappeared a bit the next time I was on site...
On this visit I ventured towards the main building and started some mad climb up this scaffolding but quickly decided that this was potentially unsafe
So the days rolled on and I was getting frustrated at not being able to get into the main factory. Let's roll forward to pre sunrise on June 11th. I had planned to have one more attempt the day before but had forgotten to set my alarm properly and knew that I wanted to try and catch sunrise from the roof so I postponed my visit.
This time I set my alarm properly. Cycled through the Rotherhithe tunnel and locked my bike at Limehouse as I couldn't be bothered to deal with taking my bike any further. Got a bus to Canning Town and walked towards the site. It was already starting to get a little light. I got onto the site and there wasn't any secca. I ventured up to the main building and was pleasantly surprised. Someone had left a gift before long I was making my way up the stairs in near pitch black
Thanks for reading!
