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Castmaster Roll, Sheffield - September 2015 | Oblivion State Urban Exploration

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Castmaster Roll, Sheffield - September 2015

WildBoyz

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History

Castmaster Roll, which has operated for over one hundred years, is a former foundry and manufacturing firm located in Sheffield. It was originally known as Davy Roll, the producer of gas lamps, but was renamed in 2003 after it was taken over by Mel Farrar. Castmaster specialised in rollmaking and later became a specialist producer of rolls for the steel industry; for rod, bar, light and medium sections and billet, narrow strip and tube mill applications. Rolls were also produced for the non-ferrous and food processing industries. The company were proud to have supplied Reeling and Roller Straightening in a comprehensive range of steel, adamite, iron and special alloy grades, up to a maximum roll size of 1,150mm diameter by 4,300mm long, with a delivered weight of 12,000 kilos.

By December 2014, administrators were forced to admit that the historic Sheffield foundry was in severe financial difficulty; they warned that the company would fall into administration in 2015. True to their word, Castmaster Roll was dissolved in the early months of 2015, with the loss of 78 jobs. It was revealed, in February 2015, that the firm owed more than £500,000 to creditors; over 140 local and national companies are still owed money in the wake of the collapse of the company and it remains uncertain whether any money will be returned to unsecure creditors. Many people were stunned that the company, which had been successful for many years, had managed to get into this position. Everyone in steel and manufacturing industry across Sheffield were even more shocked when Castmaster Roll was finally forced to close its doors forever. Castmaster Roll was one of the last remaining European suppliers of rolls in the UK

Our Version of Events

This little piece of Sheffield’s formerly booming steel industry only just recently came to my attention, despite having passed it on several occasions this year. It seems that even though the lights were on and the building appeared to be fully functioning, it has deceived everyone temporarily; it has been, for a little while now, abandoned. Regrettably, I was a little late for this one, as demolition has already begun – presumably to redevelop the area into industrial units, or as a base for another company – and some of its key features have been removed. However, there was still fun to be had and I feel that it was well worth a wander over. Although the machine shop has been entirely stripped and the foundry is slowly disappearing, the medical room, air-raid shelter, offices and washhouses are still in excellent condition, so there is certainly still plenty to see.

*A special thanks is owed to ACID-REFLUX for this one; cheers for the heads up and being a detailed source of info.

Castmaster Roll

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The Foundry

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High Voltage Areas

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The Machine Shop

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WildBoyz

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The Offices

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The First Aid Room

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The Washrooms

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The Air Raid Shelter

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hamtagger

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Thats a cracking report, some nice industrial goodness there :)

:comp

 

-Raz-

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Good stuff mate quite like the first one :D

 

skeleton key

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I really do like the look of this location as has loads of nice industrial to offer.

Great to see and for sharing (y)

 

WildBoyz

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I really do like the look of this location as has loads of nice industrial to offer.Great to see and for sharing (y)
Cheers mate. Glad I managed to see it in time.

 

Session9

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Wow, that's a cracker. Nice set of snaps too (y) x 2

 

ACID-REFLUX

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Nice ones matey, some cracking pics, glad you had fun in there & nice to see some different shots compared to the rest of us (y)

Seems like the Demo" crew have been quite busy looking at these in more depth. Adds to the pics as well lol

 
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WildBoyz

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Nice ones matey, some cracking pics, glad you had fun in there & nice to see some different shots compared to the rest of us (y) Seems like the Demo" crew have been quite busy looking at these in more depth. Adds to the pics as well lol
Yeah, it felt like there was some freshly demo'd stuff in there. Thanks mate (y)

 

The_Raw

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Looks a great site, the air raid shelter is the icing on the cake for me (y)

 

WildBoyz

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Looks a great site, the air raid shelter is the icing on the cake for me (y)
Same here, that and the medical room.

 

The Lone Shadow

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Gotta love Sheffield for all the decent industrial explores that crop up every now and again. I've never heard of this one before, but it looks awesome.

 
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