Intro
Personally, the only thing that interested me on this site was the silos, Its the first thing you see and this kind of industry doesn't interest me as much as older examples of the category, forgive me if I'm wrong but everyone seems to have lurked about the bottom floor and "hall" of sorts where most of the material is stored and seem to have overlooked the silos? I'm sure it's been done but I personally had a bit of fun wandering around the top so though it'd be worth a report of it's own as I found a few interesting things.
Forgive the poor photos/report, I was not in a fully awake state at the time...
History
Not as interesting but here's a little snippet stolen shamelessy from, I think, BrianL's report.
"Founded by a couple of chaps named John Brunner and Ludwig Mond in 1973 they began producing soda ash about a year later. They used brine solution, ammonia and limestone to produce sodium carbonate in pure form. I understand that at its peak the factory produced 200,000 tons of soda ash a year meaning that the Brunner Mond company became the largest producer of the product in the country and the worlds largest alkali exporter. Wallerscote island Works was completed in 1926. the construction consists of silos and huge metal sheds although all were integral parts of the original structure. The company later became part of ICI which is now owned by Tata. Sodium Carbonate is a widely used in industry for casting and glassmaking. It is commonly used in chemistry as a base and an electrolyte. It is also used domestically in detergents, dyes and toothpaste as well as tasty sherbet sweets!Founded by a couple of chaps named John Brunner and Ludwig Mond in 1973 they began producing soda ash about a year later. They used brine solution, ammonia and limestone to produce sodium carbonate in pure form. I understand that at its peak the factory produced 200,000 tons of soda ash a year meaning that the Brunner Mond company became the largest producer of the product in the country and the worlds largest alkali exporter. Wallerscote island Works was completed in 1926. the construction consists of silos and huge metal sheds although all were integral parts of the original structure. The company later became part of ICI which is now owned by Tata. Sodium Carbonate is a widely used in industry for casting and glassmaking. It is commonly used in chemistry as a base and an electrolyte. It is also used domestically in detergents, dyes and toothpaste as well as tasty sherbet sweets!"
My visit
So yeah, wasn't really sure what I was visiting that weekend as I hadn't planned it (Thanks guys! You know who you are) But we rocked up here and I'd never seen the place online before or anywhere to be honest, turned a corner and 5 fat silos filled the frame, had a nice bit of fun climbing in, got a little bored round the bottom so thought I'd get some "roof" views and a bit of fresh air so split off from the group and went for a climb. Once at the top, I could hear some machinery and so naturally worked my way towards the source and found myself in a building of sorts.
Again, I'm sure I'm not the first but it's clear there's more from this and it's sister site (Good job Speed and co.
) so have some of this.
Pictures
Silooo
"GET OFF ME SILO"
Spiral
Heading inside
Belts
Matterson crane
Erm, Enjoy?
Personally, the only thing that interested me on this site was the silos, Its the first thing you see and this kind of industry doesn't interest me as much as older examples of the category, forgive me if I'm wrong but everyone seems to have lurked about the bottom floor and "hall" of sorts where most of the material is stored and seem to have overlooked the silos? I'm sure it's been done but I personally had a bit of fun wandering around the top so though it'd be worth a report of it's own as I found a few interesting things.
Forgive the poor photos/report, I was not in a fully awake state at the time...
History
Not as interesting but here's a little snippet stolen shamelessy from, I think, BrianL's report.
"Founded by a couple of chaps named John Brunner and Ludwig Mond in 1973 they began producing soda ash about a year later. They used brine solution, ammonia and limestone to produce sodium carbonate in pure form. I understand that at its peak the factory produced 200,000 tons of soda ash a year meaning that the Brunner Mond company became the largest producer of the product in the country and the worlds largest alkali exporter. Wallerscote island Works was completed in 1926. the construction consists of silos and huge metal sheds although all were integral parts of the original structure. The company later became part of ICI which is now owned by Tata. Sodium Carbonate is a widely used in industry for casting and glassmaking. It is commonly used in chemistry as a base and an electrolyte. It is also used domestically in detergents, dyes and toothpaste as well as tasty sherbet sweets!Founded by a couple of chaps named John Brunner and Ludwig Mond in 1973 they began producing soda ash about a year later. They used brine solution, ammonia and limestone to produce sodium carbonate in pure form. I understand that at its peak the factory produced 200,000 tons of soda ash a year meaning that the Brunner Mond company became the largest producer of the product in the country and the worlds largest alkali exporter. Wallerscote island Works was completed in 1926. the construction consists of silos and huge metal sheds although all were integral parts of the original structure. The company later became part of ICI which is now owned by Tata. Sodium Carbonate is a widely used in industry for casting and glassmaking. It is commonly used in chemistry as a base and an electrolyte. It is also used domestically in detergents, dyes and toothpaste as well as tasty sherbet sweets!"
My visit
So yeah, wasn't really sure what I was visiting that weekend as I hadn't planned it (Thanks guys! You know who you are
) But we rocked up here and I'd never seen the place online before or anywhere to be honest, turned a corner and 5 fat silos filled the frame, had a nice bit of fun climbing in, got a little bored round the bottom so thought I'd get some "roof" views and a bit of fresh air so split off from the group and went for a climb. Once at the top, I could hear some machinery and so naturally worked my way towards the source and found myself in a building of sorts.Again, I'm sure I'm not the first but it's clear there's more from this and it's sister site (Good job Speed and co.
) so have some of this.Pictures
Silooo
"GET OFF ME SILO"
Spiral
Heading inside
Belts
Matterson crane
Erm, Enjoy?
Cheers 
:
