Ambergate Wireworks & Oakhurst House Nov 2015

mookster · Nov 8, 2015

Continuing the run of success after Hardys & Hansons and a deliciously massive all day breakfast in a local cafe for £4.50 me and my companion headed to Ambergate to have a wander around the old Wireworks. I was slightly surprised by the amount of traffic the place gets from normal people walking their dogs through the grounds as it's located on a public bridleway but after a bit of a slippery slide we were in. There isn't a whole lot to the place as it's been empty for decades but there is some seriously nice graffiti around the place, including a few brilliant Colorati pieces.

A bit of history stolen from another post

In 1867 Richard Johnson and his nephew opened a wireworks spanning the river Derwent near to Ambergate, (it seems they also had a factory in Manchester). Products from the Johnson factory were once household names, and their company lorries carried the slogan “A wise buyer buys Johnsons wire” catchy eh! During its heyday it employed over 500 people and the business specialised in telegraph wire and suspension cables. The company produced the telegraph wires used under the English channel during WW2. In 1990 the Bridon company took over production which lasted until 1996 when all wire production ceased, it was latterly used as a storage and distrubution centre and some parts are still live.

The house, 'Oakhurst' nearby was originally built by the Hurt family in 1846, however when the Johnson family bought it they enlarged the property. It changed purpose a number of times, (one reference seems to be that it was used by the army during WW2, but I might be wrong on this), it was also a retreat for the local diocese and finally became flats during the 1970's, which ultimately led to its demise when the owning company folded in the 80s.

The light was beautiful in here and I loved the greenery growing up through parts of the floor. All in all worth stopping by if you are in the area.

Onto Oakhurst House, I can remember looking at photos of the outside here years ago when I was just an armchair explorer thinking to myself 'I'd love to see that'...and now I have