Report - Burmah Castrol office block (Cheshire, Sept, 2017)

[urbanchemist]

Thanks to Xleqxisfp for the lead on this place (Jul 2017 post). Its a disused office block with some outbuildings (53.272698, -2.856062) stuck in the middle of the oil and gas plants in Ellesmere port. The outbuildings (A, B, C in the satellite image below) are actually more interesting than the main block but I think they will have to be covered in a separate post. I still don’t know what this thing is called - Burmah-Castrol seem to have been the last inhabitants. Anyway, although slightly apprehensive about poking around in one the largest refineries in the UK I got in undetected (I hope) and spent half the day pottering about. The offices themselves are all stripped and not of much interest but there are still some interesting things to see. The pictures go round the exterior and then up to the top.

This explore had a bit of a post-apocalyptic vibe, what with the encroaching vegetation, the noise, the flares and the sulphurous stench of nearby factories - might be a fun one to do at night.

 

[pigeonboy]

Great site and report! Wish i wasnt on the other side of the UK

 

[Speed]

Bloody nice find that. Infact I think I spotted it before but thought it wasn't worth it.. Wrong!

 

[host]

Really nice report mate, seems well worth a visit..

 

[urbanchemist]

Great site and report! Wish i wasnt on the other side of the UK

Bloody nice find that. Infact I think I spotted it before but thought it wasn't worth it.. Wrong!

Really nice report mate, seems well worth a visit..

Er, thanks.

BTW, I've just noticed that Yorrick has done some detective work and this place is now billed as Castrol Burmah Offices and Telephone Exchange on the locations map, which makes sense of all the telecoms stuff. There is also more photographic material than I was expecting in the main building although maybe that's normal for an oil company (?)

 

[Yorrick]

A few hits on that planning website map that map you mentioned mate.
One confirmed what you said vis Castrol Burmah offices.
One said there was a canteen to the West, others mentioned storage of chemicals.
It’s clear from the aerial pics that a fair bit has been demolished and a lot more is still in use.
Another record from 1981 just mentioned Telephone Exchange with a square just South of this and no other details and that seems to gel with those gorgeous operator’s desks.

 

[Xleqxisfp]

Nice to see someone finally got in there Nice report

 

[The Kwan]

Looks proper Bo mate, that exchange is nice!

 

[Neil Worrall]

I used to work in that newer building - Burmah Admin - I joined the mail room staff there in 1974 and then the accounts department a couple years later - great pics! to remind me of some fantastic memories. The refinery closed down around 1982 and they sold parts of it off (I had moved into Castrol Stanlow works the year before, which also eventually closed)- there were a few buildings around the admin - the canteen, the training building that housed Central Purchasing Dept for a short time, the other side of the admin was the Library and Communications - I don't remember if there was a lab in that building too.

 

[urbanchemist]

Many thanks for the info - its all peaceful and overgrown now but must have been a busy place in its heyday. A few more shots since no one seems to have shown the mailroom:

 

[Neil Worrall]

Thanks for that - looks a bit different from when I worked in the mail room- we didn't have those shelves back then - big loading dock off the back and a few steps down to get on my bike to deliver/collect mail around the refinery and collect the daily tank dip records to the accounts department. The newer building was modeled I understand, on the HQ office in Swindon - I moved to the Swindon office in 1985 - lots of changes since then after BP acquired Burmah Castrol. I spent 36 plus years with that company, even getting to work for them in Miami FL -

 

[Neil Worrall]

taking another look at the extra pics you posted- it might be the stationery room that was attached to mail room with those shelves would make sense. There used to be a stable door with a shelf and a door bell to the side where the office staff would come and ask for stationery with a signed requisition, also part of the same area was a print room, with a banda copier and photocopiers. The office staff were not allowed to make their own copies, they had to come to the window to be served and we would take the item into the print room for copying. Part of the role of the mail room clerks was to use the address-o-graph to stamp time cards and wage packet with the hourly paid refinery( Burmah) and the lube plant (Castrol) staff. Also a great shot you have of one of the snack bars- we used to get a 10 minute break morning and afternoon and a lady from the canteen used to come and make tea/coffee. The giant water urn would also be the place where we kept our toasted "butties" on - collected from the canteen early and then left on top to keep warm until it was break time - sausage egg bacon and black pudding all on a toasted sandwich..... I can still taste them now! 40 plus years later .

 

[urbanchemist]

taking another look at the extra pics you posted- it might be the stationery room that was attached to mail room with those shelves would make sense. There used to be a stable door with a shelf and a door bell to the side where the office staff would come and ask for stationery with a signed requisition, also part of the same area was a print room, with a banda copier and photocopiers. The office staff were not allowed to make their own copies, they had to come to the window to be served and we would take the item into the print room for copying. Part of the role of the mail room clerks was to use the address-o-graph to stamp time cards and wage packet with the hourly paid refinery( Burmah) and the lube plant (Castrol) staff. Also a great shot you have of one of the snack bars- we used to get a 10 minute break morning and afternoon and a lady from the canteen used to come and make tea/coffee. The giant water urn would also be the place where we kept our toasted "butties" on - collected from the canteen early and then left on top to keep warm until it was break time - sausage egg bacon and black pudding all on a toasted sandwich..... I can still taste them now! 40 plus years later .

I've just relinked the pictures from this place and replaced a few since I no longer had all the originals. The loading dock off the back you mentioned may now be shown in the third one down. As far as I remeber what I called the mail room with all the shelves is actually high up in the building, near what seems to be a dark-room for processing photos.