- Joined
- May 21, 2019
- Messages
- 297
- Reaction score
- 397
- Points
- 63
- Location
- Anglia
- Website
- www.flickr.com
Introduction
This location was completely unknown to me until a very well written report appeared on the 28DaysLater forum ( Found here: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/british-sugar-bardney-lincolnshire-august-2020.124764/ ) which enticed me to pay a quick visit.
A bit of history
Without trying to use history from previous urban exploration reports of this site I couldn't find anything. Literally nothing, the only link which contained anything was via an image but the link was dead and lead me onto some random webpage containing nothing to do with this location. Eventually I found a few snippets which allowed me to stick something together.
The site was purchased in 1927 for around £6,000, constructed by the Dyer Co and Sir RobertMcAlpine&Sons with the Dyer Co taking control of the factory's design, opening as the Lincolnshire Beet Sugar Company.
The structure's purpose was to process sugar beet. The process was undertaken by slicing up the sugar beet, adding it to hot water to extract the sugar itself before the remaining syrup is filtered, mixed with smaller sugar crystals and then dried in an instrument similar to that of a cement kiln. The raw beet was first delivered by rail from local farms with about 40 wagons arriving each day from areas such as Boston (Lincs), the railway also acted as a means to transport employees to the site in the mornings. In 1936 the site became part of the British Sugar Corporation Ltd (Later known as British Sugar Ltd in 1982) The site's railway access was cut off around 1970 following the closure of the station and line leading to the plant with their diesel shunting locomotive, having previously replaced a smaller steam locomotive, moving to the nene valley railway in 1975. The site survived this closure and continued on before being sold to the Associated British Foods Company in 1990. By 2001 the majority of the plant was due for closure with some areas remaining in use such as for packaging. Since then it sat derelict and remained forgotten until demolition work began around 2019.
Sources:
preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com
en.wikipedia.org
Arriving here with no idea on how to get in we initially thought this was going to be a wasted journey but after some wandering and waiting we had a way in, right next to a small security cabin....
The building is obviously in a state of dismantlement from the outside.
We skipped the ground floor in a bid not to get spotted albeit there wasn't much to see there.
We were greeted by a long line of switched and controls instantly getting things off to a good start.
Around the corner I spotted a few colorful machines which I am lead to believe are beet slicers.
I managed to find an image of these from their days in use.
A little control panel behind them.
Moving on, washing machines?
From now on I'm not sure what this stuff is. Apart from a lot of pipework.
The Laboratory.
Ear Plug dispenser.
For these remaining images I had packed my tripod away and photographed these handheld.
With the time ticking on in the day we left before anyone started for work.
This location was completely unknown to me until a very well written report appeared on the 28DaysLater forum ( Found here: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/british-sugar-bardney-lincolnshire-august-2020.124764/ ) which enticed me to pay a quick visit.
A bit of history
Without trying to use history from previous urban exploration reports of this site I couldn't find anything. Literally nothing, the only link which contained anything was via an image but the link was dead and lead me onto some random webpage containing nothing to do with this location. Eventually I found a few snippets which allowed me to stick something together.
The site was purchased in 1927 for around £6,000, constructed by the Dyer Co and Sir RobertMcAlpine&Sons with the Dyer Co taking control of the factory's design, opening as the Lincolnshire Beet Sugar Company.
The structure's purpose was to process sugar beet. The process was undertaken by slicing up the sugar beet, adding it to hot water to extract the sugar itself before the remaining syrup is filtered, mixed with smaller sugar crystals and then dried in an instrument similar to that of a cement kiln. The raw beet was first delivered by rail from local farms with about 40 wagons arriving each day from areas such as Boston (Lincs), the railway also acted as a means to transport employees to the site in the mornings. In 1936 the site became part of the British Sugar Corporation Ltd (Later known as British Sugar Ltd in 1982) The site's railway access was cut off around 1970 following the closure of the station and line leading to the plant with their diesel shunting locomotive, having previously replaced a smaller steam locomotive, moving to the nene valley railway in 1975. The site survived this closure and continued on before being sold to the Associated British Foods Company in 1990. By 2001 the majority of the plant was due for closure with some areas remaining in use such as for packaging. Since then it sat derelict and remained forgotten until demolition work began around 2019.
Sources:
Hudswell Clarke Works No 1604 No 4 0-6-0ST
This locomotive was built in 1928 by Hudswell Clarke at a cost of £1,560 following the placing of an order by the Dyer Company. It spent all of its working life at the Bardney sugar beet factory in…
preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com
Bardney railway station - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Arriving here with no idea on how to get in we initially thought this was going to be a wasted journey but after some wandering and waiting we had a way in, right next to a small security cabin....
The building is obviously in a state of dismantlement from the outside.
We skipped the ground floor in a bid not to get spotted albeit there wasn't much to see there.
We were greeted by a long line of switched and controls instantly getting things off to a good start.
Around the corner I spotted a few colorful machines which I am lead to believe are beet slicers.
I managed to find an image of these from their days in use.
A little control panel behind them.
Moving on, washing machines?
From now on I'm not sure what this stuff is. Apart from a lot of pipework.
The Laboratory.
Ear Plug dispenser.
For these remaining images I had packed my tripod away and photographed these handheld.
With the time ticking on in the day we left before anyone started for work.
