# Fox's factory, Wellington



## tinplaterodent (Jan 21, 2009)

I came across this site yesterday, its a very old abandoned Textile Mill in Wellington. Here'sa little history of the place;

The 12.6 acre former woollen textile mill complex is a brownfield site featuring a range of Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings. Established in 1790 by the Fox family, Tonedale Mill was the largest integrated mill in the South West, producing woollen and worsted fabrics. It became a site of national importance during the Boer War when the Tonedale dyers developed the ‘khaki’ dye - given the royal seal of approval by the then Prince of Wales in 1900 – which led to the end of British soldiers’ ‘redcoats’.

At its peak, Tonedale Mill employed some 4,500 people and exported fabrics around the world. It also provided livelihoods for other related trades on the site, including bookbinders, basket weavers, stonemasons and metalworkers.

From the 1950s, manufacturing at Britain’s mills went into decline. The deafening noise of the power looms housed in Tonedale’s weaving sheds was heard no more once production on the site ceased by the end of the 1990s, although the firm of Fox Brothers and Company Ltd still exists and operates in a nearby location to this day.

It was in the process of being converted into flats, apartments & houses but all work has stopped, there are no buidlers, vehicles or equipment there, probably due to the credit crunch

Anyway, I spent about 30mins taking pics

I am trying to insert pics but can't at the moment, not sure if its my pc (more than likely) but heres a link to my web site where I a few uploaded

www.photomouth.co.uk






















More to follow


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## mr_bones (Jan 21, 2009)

Hello 'tinplaterodent' - welcome to derelictplaces and thanks for sharing this.

Unfortunately the 'image upload' feature was removed from this site in favour of hosting photos elsewhere. You will find a guide to this in the 'FAQ' section of the forum.


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## tinplaterodent (Jan 22, 2009)

*uploading pics*

thanks for that, now sorted


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## Foxylady (Jan 22, 2009)

Excellent photos, tinplaterodent. That's an interesting site and well worth a mooch around by the look of it. Do you have any more pics?
Good stuff, and welcome to DP.


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 22, 2009)

Welcome to DP matey 

Great first Report. Some good pics there. That old chimney and those buildings are great. Thanks very much for sharing.

Lb :jimlad:


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## tinplaterodent (Jan 22, 2009)

*More pics*

Thanks fellow explorers, I've more pics that Im going to upload here but I have more on my flicker pages-www.photomouth.co.uk

I went back down there today during my lunch time & the cherubs had locked the gates (how rude), I wasn't suitably dressed to climb fences so was restricted to distant shots. I took my old olympus with me & attached a spyhole to the lens so i've got some funky fisheye shots. watch this space.


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## Neosea (Jan 22, 2009)

Nice explore, cool photos - Thanks


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## ukmayhem (Jan 23, 2009)

great pics mate brought back memories of when i worked in witney and had to go to there old mill everyday which had been converted into flats already. The lay out of teh buildings is incredibly simular to Witneys old mill

Heres some pics of it today 





















a couple of pictures from when it burnt down in 1905


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## chase779 (Jan 23, 2009)

Nice, looks almost completely stripped though


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## tinplaterodent (Jan 23, 2009)

*Fox's factory*

Unfortunatley it is more or less, they were converting it to flats & apartments but all appears to have stopped, there are bits of old machinery still pics will follow


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## tinplaterodent (Jan 23, 2009)

*Outdoor Pics Fox's factory*





















I'll try & get some interior shots uploaded tonight
the fisheye shots were taken with a £1.50ish door spyhole attached to my crappy Olympus bargin

Here is probably the only interior shot of the factory I got & then I was outside looking through & chain fence, as you can see all the equpiment & machinery has been removed but some lights are hanging down and the hall looks quite large


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