Standish Street Mill and Vyking Mill
Another one of ours and @UrbandonedTeam 's recent hunt for spots. This time we were blessed to visit in the daylight.
The above photograph shows Standish Street Mill (the largest building on the right side of the road and Vyking Mill the smaller one squashed between its companion and a former tavern).
The main building out of the two covered in this report is Standish St Mill.
A man by the name of John Goodair had built a cotton mill on the north side of Standish Street by 1811. Messrs Lightoller & Co, were the named owners at the time the original mill was destroyed by fire in February 1829. The fire was reported to have commenced in one of the spinning rooms, and resulted in the destruction of all the machinery in the mill. The mill was later rebuilt around 1843. To this day the mill remains the same in structure; a large rectangular factory block, with two reservoirs of unequal size to the rear.
The mill comprises a five-storey (plus attic) block and is nine bays long. The main block is joined by a three-storey block, with loading doors in the gable end at ground, first and second floor levels. At the opposite end, the main block is abutted by a short, four-storey structure, which was possibly erected as a house for a beam engine. However by 1898, the mill was occupied by The Standish Street Spinning Co Ltd, cotton. By 1923, The Standish Street Spinning Co Ltd appear to have made some attempt to diversify into weaving, as the mill was noted to house 3,000 ring spindles and 170 looms. The Standish Street Spinning Co Ltd is listed in a trade directory for 1940.
Vyking mill on the other hand has very little history to be found. Judging by the bricks used in construction this building was built around the early 1900s. The building had a rear extension that was either added further down the line or renovated over the years as it differs massively from the front of the mill.
Outside of both mills you'll find the recent occupiers logo for Haslam Printers. Haslam Printers was founded in 1949 by Mr Herbert Haslam and is a family run business to this day. It is unclear as to when the printing company vacated the site and a date didn't make any local news. Since both buildings became vacant, plans have been approved by the council to part demolish the two mills to make way for apartments. The proposal which was approved will see the wings of the building taken down, but the main part of the structure – including the chimney – retained. Three new floors will be constructed to replace what is demolished but shall re-embody the original design and style of the mill.
View up Standish Street looking at both mills.
Better view of Vyking Mill.
It was the boards that were recently added to Standish St Mill that finally got me interested in having a look what was left behind the walls of both buildings. Having driven past both mills possibly over a hundred times I knew it was vacant beforehand but never really thought much of it. It wasn't until me and UT had a recent burst of determination to find some new stuff that I thought to give it a go. After a haircut I dropped UT a call to see what time we were leaving to do some night time exploring. It was only then that I turned around to check it out while still on the phone. A little fence hop led me straight on site but I was not alone. A couple of homeless men were disturbed by my phone call that I hadn't originally seen. They were nice guys and weren't bothered by my interest. I'm sure my encounter made for an interesting listen on the other end of the phone!
After finding the access point another spontaneous mooch had been planned. I swiftly made it home to collect my exploring stuff and UT and head back.
Inside Standish St Mill:
We began the explore in the smaller two story part of Standish St. This area held the boardroom for Haslam Printers, the offices and an array of draft prints and receipts for various company orders, including Bentley, Rolls Royce and a Rita Ora concert.
The printing drafts etc. I can assure you each one was full to the brim with paperwork.
Below this little attic space was the boardroom. Slightly tampered with but everything remained in some some way, shape or form.
Corridor that led to the boardroom with some dated decor.
The entrance to the offices was positioned to the right of the above corridor and had a classic wooden look.
Close-by we found the main office. Water had found its way into the roof and onto the drop ceiling which collapsed leaving the rest of the room to slowly decay. Some vandalism had occurred but nothing major. The light coming in from the ceiling was just enough to get a well lit shot.
It was pretty full of more drafts and client receipts and that's without rummaging through the filing cabinets.
A separate connecting office.
We began making our way towards the main 4 storey section of the mill and stopped off to check the boiler room to find the little machine nestled in there.
The lower floor was covered in darkness due to the boards but a few interesting things that had been left could be found.
This machine lay here looking sorry for itself. We really couldn't work out what it was so anyone does please let us know. It was rather hard to shoot as well.
We then journeyed upwards to find some rather old but bare weaving rooms. Newer printing equipment and other remains were dotted about each floor.
A nice old sliding door.
At this point we had yet to make the most interesting discovery. We walked back towards the far end of the mill and up into a small two storey section. Haslam Printers most likely changed this area to suit the company production but I could be wrong. We found a darkroom with a very old vintage Hunter Penrose industrial process camera installed on its tracks. It was surrounded by ideas, drafts, blueprints, you name it. From the state of the room, you'd imagine that the printing company didn't use this room but due to the nature of their work it would make sense that they did. If so, using a camera like this to create imagery for prints would be pretty niche.
I had never heard of Hunter Penrose until this explore so afterwards I did a little research to try and find the exact camera elsewhere which proved harder than it sounds. The best example I could find was this one shown below which was 3 metres X 2 metres and is situated at Salts Mill. It was designed for huge (24 inches square) plates/negatives and when/if moved outside a transit van is required to be setup as a darkroom. The one at Salts Mill has recently been restored and adapted to take an array of smaller negatives resulting in images composed of 20 separate prints. I'm hoping someone in here knows a little more about them to inform us on whether this is as special we think it is. From looking round they don't seem to show up often (but I could be wrong) and smaller cameras from Hunter Penrose are rather expensive and most seem to be classed as vintage.
The set of old Empire ARC Lighting unit also from Hunter Penrose still hung (barely) with some detailing on them about the line voltage etc.
Here is an advertisement for the lamps which dates to 1933.
Other equipment (photography related I'd assume) could be found partly submerged in paperwork. I'm even more clueless on what these bits were used for.
This piece of equipment seems to have the word "PREFECT" written across the top?
However I was familiar with this slightly newer looking thing sat outside the dark room!
An EasyMount laminator was just next to it too. It most likely would still work if the place had power.
To be continued...
Another one of ours and @UrbandonedTeam 's recent hunt for spots. This time we were blessed to visit in the daylight.
The above photograph shows Standish Street Mill (the largest building on the right side of the road and Vyking Mill the smaller one squashed between its companion and a former tavern).
The main building out of the two covered in this report is Standish St Mill.
A man by the name of John Goodair had built a cotton mill on the north side of Standish Street by 1811. Messrs Lightoller & Co, were the named owners at the time the original mill was destroyed by fire in February 1829. The fire was reported to have commenced in one of the spinning rooms, and resulted in the destruction of all the machinery in the mill. The mill was later rebuilt around 1843. To this day the mill remains the same in structure; a large rectangular factory block, with two reservoirs of unequal size to the rear.
The mill comprises a five-storey (plus attic) block and is nine bays long. The main block is joined by a three-storey block, with loading doors in the gable end at ground, first and second floor levels. At the opposite end, the main block is abutted by a short, four-storey structure, which was possibly erected as a house for a beam engine. However by 1898, the mill was occupied by The Standish Street Spinning Co Ltd, cotton. By 1923, The Standish Street Spinning Co Ltd appear to have made some attempt to diversify into weaving, as the mill was noted to house 3,000 ring spindles and 170 looms. The Standish Street Spinning Co Ltd is listed in a trade directory for 1940.
Vyking mill on the other hand has very little history to be found. Judging by the bricks used in construction this building was built around the early 1900s. The building had a rear extension that was either added further down the line or renovated over the years as it differs massively from the front of the mill.
Outside of both mills you'll find the recent occupiers logo for Haslam Printers. Haslam Printers was founded in 1949 by Mr Herbert Haslam and is a family run business to this day. It is unclear as to when the printing company vacated the site and a date didn't make any local news. Since both buildings became vacant, plans have been approved by the council to part demolish the two mills to make way for apartments. The proposal which was approved will see the wings of the building taken down, but the main part of the structure – including the chimney – retained. Three new floors will be constructed to replace what is demolished but shall re-embody the original design and style of the mill.
View up Standish Street looking at both mills.
Better view of Vyking Mill.
It was the boards that were recently added to Standish St Mill that finally got me interested in having a look what was left behind the walls of both buildings. Having driven past both mills possibly over a hundred times I knew it was vacant beforehand but never really thought much of it. It wasn't until me and UT had a recent burst of determination to find some new stuff that I thought to give it a go. After a haircut I dropped UT a call to see what time we were leaving to do some night time exploring. It was only then that I turned around to check it out while still on the phone. A little fence hop led me straight on site but I was not alone. A couple of homeless men were disturbed by my phone call that I hadn't originally seen. They were nice guys and weren't bothered by my interest. I'm sure my encounter made for an interesting listen on the other end of the phone!
After finding the access point another spontaneous mooch had been planned. I swiftly made it home to collect my exploring stuff and UT and head back.
Inside Standish St Mill:
We began the explore in the smaller two story part of Standish St. This area held the boardroom for Haslam Printers, the offices and an array of draft prints and receipts for various company orders, including Bentley, Rolls Royce and a Rita Ora concert.
The printing drafts etc. I can assure you each one was full to the brim with paperwork.
Below this little attic space was the boardroom. Slightly tampered with but everything remained in some some way, shape or form.
Corridor that led to the boardroom with some dated decor.
The entrance to the offices was positioned to the right of the above corridor and had a classic wooden look.
Close-by we found the main office. Water had found its way into the roof and onto the drop ceiling which collapsed leaving the rest of the room to slowly decay. Some vandalism had occurred but nothing major. The light coming in from the ceiling was just enough to get a well lit shot.
It was pretty full of more drafts and client receipts and that's without rummaging through the filing cabinets.
A separate connecting office.
We began making our way towards the main 4 storey section of the mill and stopped off to check the boiler room to find the little machine nestled in there.
The lower floor was covered in darkness due to the boards but a few interesting things that had been left could be found.
This machine lay here looking sorry for itself. We really couldn't work out what it was so anyone does please let us know. It was rather hard to shoot as well.
We then journeyed upwards to find some rather old but bare weaving rooms. Newer printing equipment and other remains were dotted about each floor.
A nice old sliding door.
At this point we had yet to make the most interesting discovery. We walked back towards the far end of the mill and up into a small two storey section. Haslam Printers most likely changed this area to suit the company production but I could be wrong. We found a darkroom with a very old vintage Hunter Penrose industrial process camera installed on its tracks. It was surrounded by ideas, drafts, blueprints, you name it. From the state of the room, you'd imagine that the printing company didn't use this room but due to the nature of their work it would make sense that they did. If so, using a camera like this to create imagery for prints would be pretty niche.
I had never heard of Hunter Penrose until this explore so afterwards I did a little research to try and find the exact camera elsewhere which proved harder than it sounds. The best example I could find was this one shown below which was 3 metres X 2 metres and is situated at Salts Mill. It was designed for huge (24 inches square) plates/negatives and when/if moved outside a transit van is required to be setup as a darkroom. The one at Salts Mill has recently been restored and adapted to take an array of smaller negatives resulting in images composed of 20 separate prints. I'm hoping someone in here knows a little more about them to inform us on whether this is as special we think it is. From looking round they don't seem to show up often (but I could be wrong) and smaller cameras from Hunter Penrose are rather expensive and most seem to be classed as vintage.
The set of old Empire ARC Lighting unit also from Hunter Penrose still hung (barely) with some detailing on them about the line voltage etc.
Here is an advertisement for the lamps which dates to 1933.
Other equipment (photography related I'd assume) could be found partly submerged in paperwork. I'm even more clueless on what these bits were used for.
This piece of equipment seems to have the word "PREFECT" written across the top?
However I was familiar with this slightly newer looking thing sat outside the dark room!
An EasyMount laminator was just next to it too. It most likely would still work if the place had power.
To be continued...
