This one was a shit show. Third explore on the Sheffield trip with the missus.
History
British Acheson Electrodes Limited (BAEL) was a Sheffield-based carbon and graphite company, specialised in large electrodes, founded in 1915. The company was taken over in the 1970s by the company Union Carbide, which took a plot on the industrial estate in Sheffield. The company specialised in carbon electrodes for steel production, and graphite rods for nuclear reactors.
The company recession was very unfortunate, with Union Carbide gaining infamy from a plant explosion in India, 1984, where thousands of people were exposed to a chemical fallout, with several thousand deaths occurring as result. Graphite production fell apart too, with the UK no longer producing AGR reactors. The site was shut down when overseas factories were more profitable than the declining Sheffield site. The site was used for airsoft in the late 2000s before large demolition occurred, with very little of the original factory remaining, and most of the site being in use.
Explore
This is a STORY so skip ahead if you’re not bothered. Using google maps and a map JaffaTB was kind enough to make for me, I was able to figure out what was in use and abandoned. I approached through the road running alongside the site, going through the woods to find a building we didn’t take a picture of, which REEKED of gas, already a bad start, especially with a lot of cameras pointing our way.
We then moved further up the road and tried a new entrance, where we found that all the original demolition waste was very much gone, replaced by in-use construction vehicles, pictured below. Very frightening.
Already a bad start, as it was a pain getting through nature to get on site, so we weren’t ready to back out, and moved up towards our target building, only to find the yard is being used to store buses. Not good either, especially when multiple drivers spot us, and stare at us for at least half an hour.
View around the corner of our hiding spot, we were very close!
Now at this point, we find that the main entrances are both fenced, and neither of use wouldn’t want to seem extra suspicious, hopping fences where it isn’t warranted. We hang around and decided to go along the road between the site and the active office block, when a van and a HGB decide to pull in, so it was a sprint to get back to the spot before we are seen. Not only that, but multiple cameras had already seen us at this point. Anyone watching must’ve had a laugh. More scares as HGVs pull in and out, along with buses finally leaving, when we decided to make our bolt for the open gate about 40 meters from our spot.
The site itself is interesting inside, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t entirely worth the effort, especially considering climbing up to the huge cranes was an insane risk and did not look easy, especially with its height, so I backed away from the idea.
Even leaving, we decided to make our way out through the main gate, only to waltz on past security sat in his car, who luckily didn’t care less. A very sweaty and shaken walk back to the bus stop, which we made by only a minute. All around a mess!
Anyway I’ll shush now, here’s the photos.
No, we didn’t try the water tower, as we were beat. Worth going again? Nope. Cool photos? Yep. That’s all, folks.
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