Report - Hartford mill oldham, august 2015

[Lancashire lad]

HISTORY
Built 1907 by the Hartford Mill (Oldham)Co Ltd. Extended 1920 and 1924. Closed 1959 and used by Littlewoods as a mail order warehouse until 1992. Architect was F W Dixon, there were 120,000 spindles and power was provided by a very impressive 1500 hp Urmson & Thompson engine THIS SEEMS TO BE ALL THE HISTORY I CAN FIND APART FROM THE FACT THAT IT CONTINUED TO PRODUCE COTTON INTO THE 60S NOT THE FIFTIES AS ITS BEEN SAID .

THE REPORT
Initially we wernt here for Hartford mill we came for Durban mill me @LancashireExplorations, @godgp78 and @CrazyNinjaSquirrel the demolition is due to start this week but alas it was full of active cctv all the access was sealed up and there wer secca floating about , so Hartford mill what a piece of crap ive never been so uneasy about an explore as I was in here.
Every step I took I expected to be my last :the floors are collapsing the cracks in the walls that run from the ground right to the top, four floors up and the countless fires no doubt making the structure unstable.
Anyway we pressed on got the piks we wanted and made a quick exit round the back to get the chimney and wheel house for the nice tiles, missed the engine house but I guess ill never get to see it now as this too was earmarked for demo this week and im not surprised , god does it need it.

on with the piks....

 

[The Lone Ranger]

Nicely done

Presume you reached between your legs and found no balls as the epic roof shots seem to be missing

 

[Idle Hands]

I was here myself recently and the floors felt pretty solid to me. And being on the roof is the best part of it!

 

[Lancashire lad]

Nicely done

Presume you reached between your legs and found no balls as the epic roof shots seem to be missing

no pal they seem to have shriveled up inside and still wont come back out lol

 

[The Lone Ranger]

Now if it had been a Yorkshire lad; they have balls

It is a bit daunting, but there is also a back door to the roof.

 

[Lancashire lad]

the stair case to the roof was burned out and this is what it looks like anyway @The Lone Ranger

 

[Idle Hands]

That ropey looking iron staircase going up from the wheel house goes right to the roof... you do need long legs and monkey like agility at the top though

 

[Lancashire lad]

That ropey looking iron staircase going up from the wheel house goes right to the roof... you do need long legs and monkey like agility at the top though

no good for me then 5ft 4 and a fag paper lol really wanted the engine house tho but cant get down to it and there was nothing to use to climb the wall with

 

[The Lone Ranger]

Access does change, surprised you couldn't manufacture a stairway to the boiler room from all the detritus kicking around near it. Presume the diagonal steel beam still leads to the roof?

 

[Lancashire lad]

Access does change, surprised you couldn't manufacture a stairway to the boiler room from all the detritus kicking around near it. Presume the diagonal steel beam still leads to the roof?

yeh it was still there up to the roof pal but I didn't want to risk it to be honest haha I didn't have the minerals

 

[The Lone Ranger]

Me too, I don't like heights either

 

[goingunder]

Ahh no way, I've passed this place hundreds of times on the way in to Oldham - never really considered it because of how wrecked it looks when passing by. Looks like a decent explore though now, might have to pay a visit, s'only 5 minutes away.

 

[Lancashire lad]

Ahh no way, I've passed this place hundreds of times on the way in to Oldham - never really considered it because of how wrecked it looks when passing by. Looks like a decent explore though now, might have to pay a visit, s'only 5 minutes away.

better be quick pal, there was a chap putting notices up saying demo starts this week

 

[host]

Hmmm i'm a bit confused here. Is Hartford up for demo ? also you say you missed the engine house, the very large empty tiled building is whats left of it…best pay may last respects this week then.

 

[The Lone Ranger]

Coming down very soon by all accounts, as is bits of W H Shaws if they don't get burnt down in the mean time.

OMBC saving their heritage or possibly another brown envelope from Wiggetts Construction