free hit counter
Wallerscote Island Soda Ash Works, Northwich - June 2015 | Oblivion State Urban Exploration

Post a thread

Post a thread in one of the forums

Browse the forums

Browse threads and contribute to reports

Contact Staff

Contact the team

Wallerscote Island Soda Ash Works, Northwich - June 2015

macc_explore

Oblivion State Member
OS Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2015
Messages
89
Reaction score
181
Points
43
The Visit

An impromtu Sunday evening explore took us to Wallerscote as its quite close by and wanted to see it for a while, access was quite good fun with a nice bit of barbed wire climbing. Inside the place is huge but now only used by lots of pigeons it seems.. We missed an encounter with secca by mere minutes as well :)

The History

Founded by a couple of chaps named John Brunner and Ludwig Mond in 1973 they began producing soda ash about a year later. They used brine solution, ammonia and limestone to produce sodium carbonate in pure form. I understand that at its peak the factory produced 200,000 tons of soda ash a year meaning that the Brunner Mond company became the largest producer of the product in the country and the worlds largest alkali exporter. Wallerscote island Works was completed in 1926. the construction consists of silos and huge metal sheds although all were integral parts of the original structure. The company later became part of ICI which is now owned by Tata. Sodium Carbonate is a widely used in industry for casting and glassmaking. It is commonly used in chemistry as a base and an electrolyte. It is also used domestically in detergents, dyes and toothpaste as well as tasty sherbet sweets!

18862857599_d7c6b67df0_b.jpg


19043436072_e2ec45d6f1_b.jpg


18428182723_27ffaa9e4a_b.jpg


18428105053_ec936a1f2b_b.jpg


19022467966_f70d35dc81_b.jpg


19043119002_1c31aeb94f_b.jpg


19048545075_2e800d9e76_b.jpg


 
Last edited by a moderator:

The_Raw

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Dec 16, 2013
Messages
3,931
Reaction score
2,186
Points
113
I always fancy this every time I see it, will get my ass up there soon.... Cheers for sharing (y)

 

jones-y-gog

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Apr 30, 2013
Messages
1,743
Reaction score
849
Points
113
Location
Leodis
Nice one macc, indeed it is a fun access with challenges aplenty lol

 
Top