I have admired this building for as long as I have been exploring in Leicester, and it was finally cracked by the Leicester guys this week (Nice work fellas)
The company had more than one factory in Leicester, you may remember one of the others from my previous reports, with its distinctive chimney with "WOLSEY" spelt in glazed bricks. The chimney and a small tower is now all that remains of that site.
Now this one too is earmarked for demolition. It is a pity, as it has a handsome facade, which has a ceramic head of Cardinal Wolsey on the front, which is a bit of a local landmark. I am very surprised it is coming down tbh.
The inside of the works, or what you could get in was very stripped. It seems Wolsey vacated a few years ago and the works had been carved up into units. Only a few knitting machines had survived. Annoyingly, a large section of the works was not explorable because a tunnel joining two buildings was breeze blocked off
The works boasts a fine brick water tower with iron tank... and having conqured most of the water towers in the city I set out to add this one to my list.
The ladder was ridiculous. It was so un-erganomic it hurts. It was as if someone had said "put a ladder up that tower" and whoever erected it had not put an ounce of thought as to how the climber would get off the ladder and into the tank. I am a size 30" waste and I could not get through the handrails without turning to one side and balancing on one knee, not pleasant at that height!
The water tank had at one time had a wooden top, but this was long rotted through, so I had to stand in the tank to take my photos! The struggle was worth it though for cracking views over the city.
The company had more than one factory in Leicester, you may remember one of the others from my previous reports, with its distinctive chimney with "WOLSEY" spelt in glazed bricks. The chimney and a small tower is now all that remains of that site.
Now this one too is earmarked for demolition. It is a pity, as it has a handsome facade, which has a ceramic head of Cardinal Wolsey on the front, which is a bit of a local landmark. I am very surprised it is coming down tbh.
The inside of the works, or what you could get in was very stripped. It seems Wolsey vacated a few years ago and the works had been carved up into units. Only a few knitting machines had survived. Annoyingly, a large section of the works was not explorable because a tunnel joining two buildings was breeze blocked off
The works boasts a fine brick water tower with iron tank... and having conqured most of the water towers in the city I set out to add this one to my list.
The ladder was ridiculous. It was so un-erganomic it hurts. It was as if someone had said "put a ladder up that tower" and whoever erected it had not put an ounce of thought as to how the climber would get off the ladder and into the tank. I am a size 30" waste and I could not get through the handrails without turning to one side and balancing on one knee, not pleasant at that height!
The water tank had at one time had a wooden top, but this was long rotted through, so I had to stand in the tank to take my photos! The struggle was worth it though for cracking views over the city.