Report - Foster Bros. Mill, Gloucester July '12

mookster · Jul 22, 2012

Second part of an awesome mini road-trip in glorious summer sunshine.

History stolen from host's report....

The original premises built in 1862 comprised a six storey warehouse adjoining the canal with a two storey extension behind containing the mill machinery. A gabled wooden structure supported by pillars projected over the quay, and an elevator was installed to lift seeds from the quay. In the mill, linseed and cotton seed were crushed, heated and then pressed to extract the oil, and the residual slabs of cake were sold as cattle food. The building was designed by Evesham architect George Hunt and built by local contractors William Eassie & Co

A major expansion of the premises was carried out in 1891-93. A new mill was set up in a long single storey building to the south of the existing warehouse, the original mill was replaced by an extension to the warehouse, and a detached boiler house and a tank house were built to the east. A 400hp Hicks Hargreaves steam engine powered eight sets of oil-seed crushing machinery with an output capacity of 600 tons per week.
Unfortunately, while these developments were underway, part of the quay wall in front of the warehouse moved outwards, and as this threatened the stability of the pillars and the projecting elevator housing above, these were pulled down. In due course the wall was repaired and a new (but less elegant) structure was built on pillars to house the elevator.

Nice relaxed little explore this, on the way out bumped into a couple of urbexers-in-the-making with camera gear who said they'd spotted us wandering the grounds from the pavement while eyeing up a way in, good luck to them if they're reading this as they mentioned the site

The lighting inside is not conducive to shooting lots of photos, I didn't take nearly as many as I would have liked. I did like the place though so can always go back, need to do the other building on site too which appeared freshly sealed up.