# Stormy Limeworks, Pyle, Apr. '11



## The Archivist (May 3, 2011)

Spotted this from the motorway coming out of Port Talbot and had to go back for a look. 
The history is far from clear, but it seems likely that it was established after 1850 to feed the iron and steel works nearby where it was added to the iron ore before entering the blast furnace in order to separate off the slag. There is very little on the internet about this, and a Google search of the name reveals almost nothing. The operator on closing is not known, although bags for Lafarge Blue Circle Cement were found on site which could place closure at around 2001-2. 

A car was parked outside but I'd come too far to turn away, so I walked up the road to the quarry not knowing what to expect - hopefully it was just some dog walkers. I turned the corner into the yard and froze as I heard voices from the nearest building. Steeling myself for a hurried apology or a quick dash back to the car I walked on and saw no fewer than five burly twenty-something men emerging from the shed. Fortunately a brief exchange established that they weren't in fact going to beat me senseless and/or rob me but had come to doss around the old limeworks and climb the tower (which apparently counts as entertainment in the County Borough of Neath Port Talbot) they seemed fairly jolly, but even so I didn't feel like staying any longer than necessary. 






The works shed was a mess of rusty steel and contained among other things a flatbed truck, a Ferguson tractor and an unidentified saloon car.





A pair of tunnel kilns - I'd venture that these might have been used for brickmaking or limestone drying as this type of kiln is not normally used for limeburning.





Inside a kiln





An almost buried battery of flare kilns. I only noticed this after standing on top, just feet from the unguarded shafts, oops. 





Digger





Limestone in





Switchgear





Pulveriser





Works production end





Conveyors





Conveyor





Atkinson diesel conveyor motor





Rotary kiln





Rotary kiln





To give an idea of scale (I am 6' 1")





Rotary kiln

Thanks for reading.


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## Snips86x (May 3, 2011)

I love the second to last images. Can be so hard to portray the size objects found on sites like this. Nicely Done!


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## TK421 (May 3, 2011)

Nice one, not seen a report from this place before. I like the 'pulverising machine' plate


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## dangerous dave (May 3, 2011)

wow this is an old school explore not seen this for years


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## KingLewis92 (May 3, 2011)

The Scale Of Some Of Them!
If They Did Not Weigh So Much I Bet Them Metal Thief's Would Have Had Them Way Back!


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## Munchh (May 4, 2011)

aaah mechanical porn, love it Archivist, nicely photographed too


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## Foxylady (May 6, 2011)

The Archivist said:


> A pair of tunnel kilns - I'd venture that these might have been used for brickmaking or limestone drying as this type of kiln is not normally used for limeburning.


Ah, there were (and still are some) lime kilns like this along the coast here in Lyme Bay, all of which were used for lime burning. The resultant lime was used by farmers to spread on their fields.

I almost missed seeing this report...what a fantastic site. A great mixture of old and older and a stack of great remains.


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