History
The Former Bayer CropScience site is located on the outskirts of Hauxton. Since the 1940s the site was used for the production of agrochemicals including pesticides and herbicides. The majority of the site was demolished in 2010, having been sold off for development purposes.
It wasn't smooth sailing though. The effect that the decades of production had on the ground and water table was was immense and led to claims by some that this was one of the 'most polluted sites in Britain'. Various reports flew around about the contamination issues for the site and the health risks that they could potentially cause. Clearly this was all put to bed because the main site is now a maze of identical new build homes and a frankly enormous care home.
All that now remains is the waste water plant and recreational facilities on the other side of the road. The water treatment plant was still operational until 2012 as part of the remediation works to clean up the site but has sat empty since. Demolition work has started at some point but it is unclear how far this has progressed.
The explore
Visited on a particularly pleasant Sunday morning with the good lady wife. A nice relaxed explore with especially easy access and a little different to the places we have been before, which was great. The only movement we saw whilst we were on site were a couple of rabbits and a small deer, it really was lovely. There is some great graffiti here and some not so great, of course. All in all, a really nice Sunday mooch.
Pictures
The first structure you encounter is the former squash court. It has absolutely no attempted security and so is totally trashed. Not hugely interesting but not without its charm either.
Struggled to get a decent angle on this as the area around was thick with brambles.
Then onwards into the treatment facility.
Some of the former samples, presumably cleared from the adjacent building.
I thought this was very cool!
The usual lonely chair shot...
Another of the better quality bits of graffiti.
That's one way to put it...
Well, good job we didn't see this as we were entering - would of course have put us off entirely.
And that's that for today folks, hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.
The Former Bayer CropScience site is located on the outskirts of Hauxton. Since the 1940s the site was used for the production of agrochemicals including pesticides and herbicides. The majority of the site was demolished in 2010, having been sold off for development purposes.
It wasn't smooth sailing though. The effect that the decades of production had on the ground and water table was was immense and led to claims by some that this was one of the 'most polluted sites in Britain'. Various reports flew around about the contamination issues for the site and the health risks that they could potentially cause. Clearly this was all put to bed because the main site is now a maze of identical new build homes and a frankly enormous care home.
All that now remains is the waste water plant and recreational facilities on the other side of the road. The water treatment plant was still operational until 2012 as part of the remediation works to clean up the site but has sat empty since. Demolition work has started at some point but it is unclear how far this has progressed.
The explore
Visited on a particularly pleasant Sunday morning with the good lady wife. A nice relaxed explore with especially easy access and a little different to the places we have been before, which was great. The only movement we saw whilst we were on site were a couple of rabbits and a small deer, it really was lovely. There is some great graffiti here and some not so great, of course. All in all, a really nice Sunday mooch.
Pictures
The first structure you encounter is the former squash court. It has absolutely no attempted security and so is totally trashed. Not hugely interesting but not without its charm either.
Struggled to get a decent angle on this as the area around was thick with brambles.
Then onwards into the treatment facility.
Some of the former samples, presumably cleared from the adjacent building.
I thought this was very cool!
The usual lonely chair shot...
Another of the better quality bits of graffiti.
That's one way to put it...
Well, good job we didn't see this as we were entering - would of course have put us off entirely.
And that's that for today folks, hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.
I use to do a fair bit of work here in the past.
