# Oakwood Mill - Stalybridge [December 2014](Picture Heavy)



## Kinky (Dec 7, 2014)

Quick , quick! Gather round , gather round! It's time to hear (or rather read) about my tales of adventure!

I thought id start off by bringing you all around a lovely lit fire as i can still feel the cold from the other day at this place and would like to make it cosy for you all in here.

The day started a little bit later than expected trying to get to Oakwood as being the clever clogs i and my friend were managed to take EVERY wrong path to get NEAR the place to then finally stumble upon it after getting dirty looks from some cyclists. 

My very first impression when getting to the mill was of two minds.
1)WOW What a lovely building this must of been/still is.
2)What amazing security fences (considering of a 5/6ft tall spikey fence most of the bars were ripped off haha)

I looked around the outside of the building in awe of how such as beautiful old mill was still standing despite how close and easily this could be targetted by vandals (which to be fair there is really alot of graffiti in here or obviouslly deliberate fires!)

Im not to sure of the history of the mill too much and there doesnt seem to be any proper information i can find on wikipedia (FFS i know the crutch of so many people) and the only person i could probably talk to wasnt available for it so i have had to extract it from another forums archived report(im sorry!)


*History:*
Oakwood Mill is on the edge of the village of Millbrook, between Stalybridge and Mossley, and about 4 miles from Ashton under Lyme. The mill; which is part of a conservation area, and is a Grade II Listed Building is becoming increasingly dilapidated; there are (were) hopes that the mill buildings can be preserved and converted for residential use. (looking at the current structural state of the mill I very much doubt it could be preserved).

The 3 story mill was built as a specialised spinning mill for the Staley Mill Company between1851and 1887, they sold it off and all machinery for £13,000 in 1937. During the second world was the mill was used to keep Italian prisoners.

Centrally is the clock tower which is dated 1857, a new engine house was built in 1908, which has white glazed bricks internally.
History from the end of the war is a bit sketchy, it ended life being used for various light-industrial purposes, probably closing in the late 80’s or early 90’s.

Link to Archived report with history.

As i was exploring there were some lovely bits of archetecture , pipes, tiles , beams, openings for light to creep in and was really just an epic mix match of diffirent "feel" in a small area , some of it felt like a small decayed house, Others more clinical or production based, others vast and void of anything but the supporting pillars, other areas with immense doorways. I was saddened slightly to realise that a rather large part of the building has been knocked down and currently alot of it is hard to get into regardless (I am determined to get ontop of one of what seems like the main staircase as the colours in the sky lately are beautiful around sunset and you will be able to see for miles!)

I kinda guess ive done too much talking at this point so i shall slap some images down and a little treat at the end for those feeling the need a little guilty HDR pleasure(depsite how i havent quite got it down yet...)

*I forgot!*
I completely forgot to mention, these pictures were all taken with my epic new Nikon D3200 , all pictures were using the 18~55mm DX lens that comes with it , although im not sure if a few have crept in from the 55~200mm lens! :O​



*Oakwood Mill​*




the room im looking into here was the very first room we got into and it still has the vents , but for how long i have no idea as the wooden rafters above looked rather sketchy!





this is just stood ontop of the red brickwork you see in the first picture, the light creeping into this room as the sun set was amazing!





A quick look at the wall and opening i had to come through. crazy to think there was 3 floor here and now , nothing!





Cant beat a lovely chimney tower can you 





I think its time to venture back into what seems like the Delivery/Loading area?




















A few nice shots of this area as i really loved how it was central to the mill and has wonderful varnished /tiled walls, decay, nature and all sorts of stuff happening in such a small area.





This is from atop where one of the fallen beams lay but hidden in a small bit of wall, i had gotten rather daring with the climbing and trying to be all Artsy Farsty with the new camera 

That's about it so far while i sort through the many many pictures i took as i kind of went a bit mental on the cameras first proper outting. I will hopefully be adding a lot more images to the main non edited folder these photos are located in on my photobucket so for those interested in seeing more check the clicky thing below!

Go on , Click me, you know you want to!​
*HDR Naughtiness...​*




















*Full HDR Album here*​


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## flyboys90 (Dec 7, 2014)

Cracking photos also the HDR album was brill.The roof trusses and the central window frames should really be rescued they are such nice features.


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## Kinky (Dec 7, 2014)

I've got loads of un uploaded photos just trying to get through all this stupid stuff of my camera RAW files not accepted on photoshop even though updated the camera raw plugin thing for it . There's some magnificent detailing all over this place and hoping to go back quite a few times as there's so much to explore and look at , just so hope the clock tower is still accessible up to the top as the sky lately is brilliant pinks, purples, oranges and all epic clouds too would look amazing with some of the "frames" you can get with the buildings structures.


Thank you aswell for the compliments on the photos  still getting used to the camera and was helping a friend learn features on my Pentax X-5 at same time haha


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## HughieD (Dec 7, 2014)

Fascinating report. Not normally a fan of HDR but they really work on your pix at the end. Thanks for sharing.


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## Kinky (Dec 7, 2014)

Thank you for the kind words  , hopefully have more from this location in both Albums linked in the report and some from diffirent areas of the mill as couldnt get into the main multistorey building but will be attempting it soon with some mad mancunian monkey action


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## Urbexbandoned (Dec 7, 2014)

Loving the HDR, shame about the place though. Thanks for the warm fire


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## Kinky (Dec 7, 2014)

Urbexbandoned said:


> Loving the HDR, shame about the place though. Thanks for the warm fire





Thanks and it really is a shame , it only really dawned on me earlier how massive not just this mill but the area in general was for industrial work load , Urbanx's link in another thread to railways sorta made the click go off on my head when I saw the old railway routes , always like to think mills like this aren't built but restructured stones due to how a lot of its pieced together I don't get how they can be left to rot


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## UrbanX (Dec 8, 2014)

Nicely done! Liking that the HDR isn't overcooked! 
Great report, thanks for sharing!


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## Kinky (Dec 8, 2014)

Thanks  still trying to learn the HDR stuff but seems to be going well from just clicking stuff and trial/error style haha


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## mockingbird (Dec 9, 2014)

Rather enjoyed that, good effort and good selection of photos cheers!


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## Kinky (Dec 9, 2014)

Thanks mocking bird  got plenty more to sort through at some point.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Dec 9, 2014)

Kinky said:


> I don't get how they can be left to rot



Sadly the 'rot' set in long before the original owners of this building walked away from it. Failing businesses cannot afford to maintain these huge mill complexes - any profit left after paying out share holders etc went to maintain the equipment producing the saleable goods, not the structure housing the company. Subsequent landlords/owners will have only paid a token maintenance bill - profit being the motive here. No concern to them if the occupying business had to catch the drips from the leaky roof in buckets. My wife has the records of her old family business in Castleford Mills Armley - interesting to see how the maintenance money was so dependant on the fortunes of the Company


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## peanuts (Dec 11, 2014)

unfortunatly this whole area is under threat with this mill the former LNWR warehouse and the buildings left from the former heyrod power station all schedualed to go or be "preserved " as part of a a housing project with planning permision granted for 129 houses on the old railwayline the warehouse to be converted to 29 flats and the mill area to be converted into a pub/resteraunt and visitors center for the tame valley linea park that will run through the site . the power station will become 9 large detached executive houses this was last renewed in may 2014 whilst the developers await an upturn in the market . which is a bloody shame as its a great area for wildlife fishing walking cycling etc for locals. its one of our favourite palces for photography being litterealy at the bottom of our garden the whole are is an absoloutly riddled with bits and pieces from the railway the mills and the power station with tunnels bits of conveyers an engine shed fuel point all to be found in roughly a two square mile area a good dya out exploring and an easy stroll along the old railway or canal line from stalybridge center get it in before it all goes folks


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## Judderman62 (Dec 11, 2014)

last time I went there I had feral youths lobbing masonry at me !!!


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## Mr beady (Dec 12, 2014)

Nice, but did you not get in to the main mill ?


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## Kinky (Dec 12, 2014)

peanuts said:


> unfortunatly this whole area is under threat with this mill the former LNWR warehouse and the buildings left from the former heyrod power station all schedualed to go or be "preserved " as part of a a housing project with planning permision granted for 129 houses on the old railwayline the warehouse to be converted to 29 flats and the mill area to be converted into a pub/resteraunt and visitors center for the tame valley linea park that will run through the site . the power station will become 9 large detached executive houses this was last renewed in may 2014 whilst the developers await an upturn in the market . which is a bloody shame as its a great area for wildlife fishing walking cycling etc for locals. its one of our favourite palces for photography being litterealy at the bottom of our garden the whole are is an absoloutly riddled with bits and pieces from the railway the mills and the power station with tunnels bits of conveyers an engine shed fuel point all to be found in roughly a two square mile area a good dya out exploring and an easy stroll along the old railway or canal line from stalybridge center get it in before it all goes folks



i had no idea they were looking at redevelopring the area  its such a beautiful little spot thats weird in its own cool way i wll definately have to keep going as long as possible !



Mr beady said:


> Nice, but did you not get in to the main mill ?


I could of gotten into the main bit of the mill but the weather/time wasnt on our side, it was already late when we got there and before we set off the site it was pretty dark anyway. hopefully going up again soonish to get into the main bit of the mill as the clocktower looks fantastic for some shots of the local area, hopefully get some nice panoramics with my new tripod 




Judderman62 said:


> last time I went there I had feral youths lobbing masonry at me !!!


Trashton/Shameside for ya


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## Judderman62 (Dec 12, 2014)

Oi I live close to Tameside ..cheeky young man


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## Kinky (Dec 12, 2014)

i live smack bang in the middle of it all so i cant really say anything but its funny at times seeing the muppets about


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