Grimsby Ice Factory
Visited with @EOA and @eastyham after our first stop was a failure and without a back up plan we were struggling so up to Grimsby it was. Good choice. Cracking place this. Old as fook, plenty of decay, rot, growth, shonky floors and endless amounts of pigeon poop.
I walked across the bridge of doom but couldn’t really go much further as the floors and stairs are collapsing in the other building. It didn’t look too interesting anyway to be honest.
Grabbed some old pictures off google so ive wanged them in here too because I think its proper mint when you can compare times gone by with the derps of today.
History
The Factory was opened on the 7th of October 1901 as a joint venture between the Grimsby Ice Company and the Grimsby Co-operative Ice Company. The Grimsby Ice Company was initially founded in 1863 by local fishermen to import ice from Norway to help them preserve the fish that they caught, by 1900 however it was obvious that they would have to begin to source ice from elsewhere as the for ice, what made matters worse was that the Norwegians began to charge more for exporting their ice and the supply of ice was unreliable... Hence the need for an ice factory at home.
The Original Refrigeration Plant on site where 4 steam powered Pontifex horizontal double-acting ammonia compressors which would operate at 50rpm. These where powered by vertical, triple-expansion steam engines, the steam for these engines where generated from six 30ft long Lancashire boilers.
A few changes where made between opening and 1931, changes such as the superheating of the Lancashire boilers and the purchase of a few more bits of kit from the Linde British Refrigerating Company however the majority of the facility stayed the same... Until 1931 when a modernization program under the direction of F A Fleming MBE, who was the General manger at the ice factory at the time was put into place. The program included the installation of four J&E Hall Compressors and Metropolitan Vickers Electrical equipment, replacing the Old Pontifex Compressors and Steam Engines. The specification for the new plant demanded an output of 1,100 tons of ice per day under ordinary working conditions, and by utilising the existing tanks without increasing the number of cans. The use of steam was to be entirely dispensed with and means to be provided for heating the thawing water without the use of electrical heaters. Much as today, this had to be achieved with equipment of the greatest efficiency.
Sadly the high demands for ice where short lived, episodes such as the cod wars and the general decline in the British fishing industry led to several units been shut down by 1976, and in 1990 the factory closed it's doors and shut down. Today it is owned by Associated British Ports and is left derelict, although preservationists have tried to save the building, their efforts have sadly so far been in vain. Even though the place makes a great opportunity for us explorers I would like to think it would be saved eventually as the factory is now a unique survivor of a now otherwise extinct industry, that said, I do have my doubts...
Pics
I’ll start off with one from the depths of google. Two blokes looking rather proud next to one of the compressors. Not a clue of the date but it looks fairly clean and new. I didn’t take these pictures with the intention of getting them at similar angles and what not it was purely coincidence, but has worked ok ish.
Looking at the same machine now
A couple of control panels that were next to the above compressor
Another oldie
and the same machine now
Looking down on the compressor hall
and from the same walkway 1930ish?
Moving onto other parts of the factory there was a room with these bins filling the whole floor. These were filled with water from the hoses at the end seen here
Frozen. Then moved along on these cranes
dumped at the end like this (this isn’t Grimsby)
Then slid into the crusher
So yeah. Unusual. I doubt I will ever explore another Ice factory so that’s pretty cool.
Some more shots of the place.
I’ll finish on a picture of the old steam powered compressors.
Visited with @EOA and @eastyham after our first stop was a failure and without a back up plan we were struggling so up to Grimsby it was. Good choice. Cracking place this. Old as fook, plenty of decay, rot, growth, shonky floors and endless amounts of pigeon poop.
I walked across the bridge of doom but couldn’t really go much further as the floors and stairs are collapsing in the other building. It didn’t look too interesting anyway to be honest.
Grabbed some old pictures off google so ive wanged them in here too because I think its proper mint when you can compare times gone by with the derps of today.
History
The Factory was opened on the 7th of October 1901 as a joint venture between the Grimsby Ice Company and the Grimsby Co-operative Ice Company. The Grimsby Ice Company was initially founded in 1863 by local fishermen to import ice from Norway to help them preserve the fish that they caught, by 1900 however it was obvious that they would have to begin to source ice from elsewhere as the for ice, what made matters worse was that the Norwegians began to charge more for exporting their ice and the supply of ice was unreliable... Hence the need for an ice factory at home.
The Original Refrigeration Plant on site where 4 steam powered Pontifex horizontal double-acting ammonia compressors which would operate at 50rpm. These where powered by vertical, triple-expansion steam engines, the steam for these engines where generated from six 30ft long Lancashire boilers.
A few changes where made between opening and 1931, changes such as the superheating of the Lancashire boilers and the purchase of a few more bits of kit from the Linde British Refrigerating Company however the majority of the facility stayed the same... Until 1931 when a modernization program under the direction of F A Fleming MBE, who was the General manger at the ice factory at the time was put into place. The program included the installation of four J&E Hall Compressors and Metropolitan Vickers Electrical equipment, replacing the Old Pontifex Compressors and Steam Engines. The specification for the new plant demanded an output of 1,100 tons of ice per day under ordinary working conditions, and by utilising the existing tanks without increasing the number of cans. The use of steam was to be entirely dispensed with and means to be provided for heating the thawing water without the use of electrical heaters. Much as today, this had to be achieved with equipment of the greatest efficiency.
Sadly the high demands for ice where short lived, episodes such as the cod wars and the general decline in the British fishing industry led to several units been shut down by 1976, and in 1990 the factory closed it's doors and shut down. Today it is owned by Associated British Ports and is left derelict, although preservationists have tried to save the building, their efforts have sadly so far been in vain. Even though the place makes a great opportunity for us explorers I would like to think it would be saved eventually as the factory is now a unique survivor of a now otherwise extinct industry, that said, I do have my doubts...
Pics
I’ll start off with one from the depths of google. Two blokes looking rather proud next to one of the compressors. Not a clue of the date but it looks fairly clean and new. I didn’t take these pictures with the intention of getting them at similar angles and what not it was purely coincidence, but has worked ok ish.
Looking at the same machine now
A couple of control panels that were next to the above compressor
Another oldie
and the same machine now
Looking down on the compressor hall
and from the same walkway 1930ish?
Moving onto other parts of the factory there was a room with these bins filling the whole floor. These were filled with water from the hoses at the end seen here
Frozen. Then moved along on these cranes
dumped at the end like this (this isn’t Grimsby)
Then slid into the crusher
So yeah. Unusual. I doubt I will ever explore another Ice factory so that’s pretty cool.
Some more shots of the place.
I’ll finish on a picture of the old steam powered compressors.
