# Ravenhead Glass, St Helens (April 2011)



## BassBooster (Apr 11, 2011)

This was my very first explore, and the experience was a lot better than I'd expected!  Remembering that the Ravenhead Glass factory (closed since 2001) was being demolished, I went past after an approximate 2 year gap, to see if there was anything left. Very surprised to see that some buildings remained, I instantly thought of exploring the place. Being alone, and unprepared, I realised it could be a very dangerous thing to do. But having taken a picture of an old house a few hours earlier, at least I had my proper camera with me! After building up a lot of courage and locating a suitable entry, I finally got into the site. I must say I was very nervous and paranoid that people may see me in there, and I didn't realise that my camera was on the wrong setting to start off with. So please excuse the blurred first pics, especially the interior shots. Beware, I took LOADS of pictures! Enjoy!

*Some history of this site*:

Ravenhead Glass was a glassworks near Ravenhead Colliery, Lancashire, North West England. It was founded in 1850 by Frances Dixon and John Merson after a move from their earlier (1842) factory at Thatto Heath near St Helens. In 1852, this factory was sold to the Pilkington Brothers and Frances Dixon then acquired a 13-acre (53,000 m2) site at Ravenhead, building a new gas-powered glassworks.

In 1913 the company merged with five other glass manufacturers, forming UGB (United Glass Bottle Manufacturers Limited).

Until 1931 these companies were primarily bottle makers but they branched out into domestic tableware in the 1930s making bowls, jugs and drinking glasses, many of these showing Art Deco influences.

From 1947, Alexander Hardie Williamson 1907-1994) was employed as consultant designer and during the 27 years he was with the company, he created over 1700 designs. Some of these were produced in their millions for public houses and restaurants and included the Paris goblet, the Dimple beer mug and the Babycham-style Champagne glass. He also designed a range of tableware, the Kilner jar and a collectable range of decorated tumblers.

In 1972, when Hardie Williamson retired, Ravenhead appointed two freelance designers; Annette Meech (who designed the Rosy Tumblers, Apollo and Solar range) and John Clappison (who designed Barmasters, Elegance, White Fire, Topaz, Icelantic, Olympiad etc. and also refined and developed Hardie Williamson’s Siesta range)

Following a downturn in the company's fortunes (and various changes of ownership) in the late 1980s, it went into administration in 2001 and the factory closed.


*Now on with the pics*...







This was my first pic of the inside, at this point I didn't think it was going to be a very good explore.















Some humour!















1980s TV!















Definitely the most interesting building.










The end of my first visit - I came back for better shots just over an hour later!











Nice find!





Pitch black down there, so I didn't venture in! The light was the camera flash.





This says 'Vent-Axia', which to me states it's something to do with hand drying.





A book dated 1907-8.










Nice old sticker.










It was absolutely pitch black here. I had to use the light on my phone to navigate! The flash is good on my camera!










It was pitch black in here, I couldn't see a thing! There was open manholes scattered around too. Too dangerous to go in!










Absolutely pitch black, flash only!





Due to the extreme darkness I didn't open that door!










I didn't open that door either. It was in total darkness!










I had a fantastic time exploring the remaining bits of the site on my own. The largest building was MASSIVE, and parts of it were quite eerie. There are loads of areas still unexplored by me, including all of the upper floor, due to total darkness!

I hope you enjoyed looking at the pics!


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## noney82 (Apr 11, 2011)

great pictures thanks for sharing, vent axia is a controller for fans that will extract air or suck clean air in


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## BassBooster (Apr 11, 2011)

noney82 said:


> great pictures thanks for sharing, vent axia is a controller for fans that will extract air or suck clean air in


Thanks for the info, my mistake!  Vent-Axia make hand dryers too.


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