Visited with Dave and Dweeb over Christmas. Special thanks to @slayaaaa for tipping us off that they had moved out of this part a few months previously.
Sankeys is a name all British industry lovers will know. They seem to have made everything from tanks to phone box kiosks over the years but nowadays the Hadley Castle factory produces steel wheels for the likes of JCB. Joseph Sankey started the company in Bilston back in 1854 making tea trays, it expanded massively over the years finding a foothold in the fledgling motor industry when it patented the first pressed and welded steel motor wheels. The company established this factory at Hadley Castle in 1910 and became a subsidiary of GKN in 1920 after merging with industrial giant Guest Keen and Nettlefolds. Recently the company invested in a new automated line for producing heavy duty steel wheels and as part of that restructuring it appears these buildings have been vacated and sold off for housing.
I dragged my feet a bit with going and checking this one out. Telford is one of those places thats far enough from home to be a bit more than a casual trip but close enough to home that you feel theres a good chance that you will just happen to be there before too long. I find those kind of places are the worst for me missing out on things!! Luckily with there being next to nothing to occupy our time in Birmingham right now we eventually made the effort to go over and have a look.
Got to be honest the place was a bit of a disappointment.. The kind of place that looks far better from the outside then when you get in you find its just a bit empty. It made for an enjoyable hour or two none the less. Approaching the site you immediately come to couple of sets of epic GKN gates and peer though to see a sprawling 1940/50s era factory building but thats about as good as it gets. Hopping the fence we initially found our self in the more modern building but realising there was little to see in there we wasted no time trying to cross to the older section. We almost ran into a security patrol and it became clear we were going to have to go the hard way between the two buildings. Not to worry tho, after a bit of climbing we were in the other side and spent maybe an hour or so mooching around seeing what the place had to offer.. Annoyingly it was almost amazing, there was a few signs and a clock or two but just not really enough to fill such a vast place and security were an annoyance that prevented it having the kind of 'care free derp' mooching experience that i quite like.
Maybe you can go there and make a youtube video or something
Sankeys is a name all British industry lovers will know. They seem to have made everything from tanks to phone box kiosks over the years but nowadays the Hadley Castle factory produces steel wheels for the likes of JCB. Joseph Sankey started the company in Bilston back in 1854 making tea trays, it expanded massively over the years finding a foothold in the fledgling motor industry when it patented the first pressed and welded steel motor wheels. The company established this factory at Hadley Castle in 1910 and became a subsidiary of GKN in 1920 after merging with industrial giant Guest Keen and Nettlefolds. Recently the company invested in a new automated line for producing heavy duty steel wheels and as part of that restructuring it appears these buildings have been vacated and sold off for housing.
I dragged my feet a bit with going and checking this one out. Telford is one of those places thats far enough from home to be a bit more than a casual trip but close enough to home that you feel theres a good chance that you will just happen to be there before too long. I find those kind of places are the worst for me missing out on things!! Luckily with there being next to nothing to occupy our time in Birmingham right now we eventually made the effort to go over and have a look.
Got to be honest the place was a bit of a disappointment.. The kind of place that looks far better from the outside then when you get in you find its just a bit empty. It made for an enjoyable hour or two none the less. Approaching the site you immediately come to couple of sets of epic GKN gates and peer though to see a sprawling 1940/50s era factory building but thats about as good as it gets. Hopping the fence we initially found our self in the more modern building but realising there was little to see in there we wasted no time trying to cross to the older section. We almost ran into a security patrol and it became clear we were going to have to go the hard way between the two buildings. Not to worry tho, after a bit of climbing we were in the other side and spent maybe an hour or so mooching around seeing what the place had to offer.. Annoyingly it was almost amazing, there was a few signs and a clock or two but just not really enough to fill such a vast place and security were an annoyance that prevented it having the kind of 'care free derp' mooching experience that i quite like.
Maybe you can go there and make a youtube video or something
