History
The factory was established by John Needham in 1846. In its heyday in the 1930s the factory manufactured covers for almost all parts of Britain and other countries, and employed thousands of workers. The plant closed in 1979.
They made a lot of manhole covers turns out, which are used all over the UK if I remember right, which I think is really cool!
Explore
This was quite wacky as to be fair, I had NO hope that this would be here, and that if it was, it would be completely graffed and ruined, it was more of a quick ‘let’s pop out and see what’s there’
I read the report back from 2011 from Alley: Report - - Secret Stockport - Mersey Paradise | Noteworthy Reports and I was very interested in her photos about the buildings on the ‘North Bank’, especially as no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t find anything on them! And you’d think there’d be at least something for what looked like quite a nice warehouse space with a solid crane inside
Digging around a bit more I found a report from FreshFingers too, more recent being 2013 but still being a long while ago, with a single photo of the same hall from the side: Report - - Rubber Dinghy Rapids – Stockport Aug 2013 | Underground Sites , which also included a name, Needhams Foundry.
Did some more digging through old OS maps from 1950 didn’t show much, so instead I went on the Stockport council image archive, with a Carrington Street site showing up, I won’t include many photos of it but I recognised the outside buildings immediately, as the 330 runs outside of it, a bus I take quite often
Some more digging got me this photo
I recognised it instantly, with it being on the Goyt, next to Carrington Bridge, I also recognised the little extension on the back right, being the same one in Alley’s, check it out! When going on google earth and finding some group shots on the bank to the left, it confirmed it
I probably put too much effort into finding it, and there may have been an easier way but I’m quite proud of digging about to find something that hasn’t been reported on since 2013
The site above is full of buildings but most of them are very much in use, renovated as shoddily as possible, with some buildings being brand new and some being very ruined, even one of the garages has the original EOT, shown in google earth funnily enough!
I especially love how this is the building pretty much above where the abandoned section was, never would’ve thought it to be fair. I couldn’t access any of the upper floors however so God knows if anything is left of the offices with stairs being sealed off or floors destroyed, maybe worth passing by one day hoping the gate to the rest of it is surprisingly unlocked but oh well
Anyway I’m yapping, I’m a bit too excited with how I found it so I’ll actually get to the explore.
Getting down to the riverbanks was a bitch, it was all wayyyy to public for my liking and a bit too slippery, as I decided that the best day to do it was on a storm (smart I know), and when we were down it was nothing but an army of brambles
But walking along the buildings with all the ruined walkways was so surreal to me, especially seeing some windows all smashed and destroyed, and others intact with lights on inside
It was fascinating seeing all the destroyed walkways with framework still there, and some of the windows either intact or wrecked, it was stunning to me with how it was both renovated where it’s needed, and the rest was left to rot
Eventually we found where we needed. Initially we thought this was something else, as the photo of the extension in Alley’s report was further along it, but the ground was cleared outside of a fell tree, with active garages right on top. If we tried to get by it and accidentally snapped it, we’d get heard and seen in seconds so we decided to save it for another day, as there isn’t a guarantee that section is even disused
Besides, we got what we came for
And after a tight squeeze, we were in!
Now I’ll apologise straight up, the photos here will be shocking and I’ve done what I can. This idiot has no working torches outside of a very small one, meaning the photos will be very dark and will rely on either flash or the natural lighting. I did what I could!
Now I know I didn’t find the holy grail, but the satisfaction I got here was immense. I looked about for this place for a good while since I found it on that report and I’ve always wanted to see if it was even still there, so getting in first try without a guarantee it’s standing was very satisfying for me, and I loved the decay in here, it was almost rewarding
The vines covering the netted window covers was stunning too, I loved how lush and overgrown it all was
What has definitely changed since the report is the integrity of the place, a huge chunk of the upper floor had caved in, leaving a massive hole in the roof, exposing it all to the elements. It doesn’t look like there’s long left before the rest of it goes, to heartbreaking
Paint peel and old placements, maybe a clock here?
I really wish I got more photos of the crane, I love gantry cranes in places like this, I don’t know what it is but it adds so much to the photos I can get
Leccy
I love the cast-iron signs in parts of here, the peel surrounding it too, it was all just lovely
It was a lot bigger than expected too, as such shown there, wish I climbed up to the crane!
A very rusty boiler, any clue if it’s of any interest? I know some people here love their boilers and engines, could be worth a closer look at!
And for one more shot to show how dark it all actually was
Anyway that’s this one done. It’s probably not the most interesting but considering how long I’ve been trying to find it, I’m glad I did and I’m glad I got a report up for it. As I said, I found no way to the next floors as every entrance was very well sealed, so maybe back another day with some more energy to try get myself up somewhere?
And besides, it was much better than Deanprint, thought there would be interesting but it’s definitely trashed, either that or we set the standard on an explore a bit too high in the day
That one’s done for me though, hope you enjoyed it 😁
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