# Donisthorpe threads, zips & linings



## Mr Sam (Jan 6, 2008)

a day out with Goldie87 and The BLue Fox (not sure if he's on here)

welll then after yet another failed visit at the bus depot and a look round another site thats been stripped we aimed somewhere new, i had a quick recce last night and decided it was well boarded but we went back in daylight and walked straight in....

the clock on the oldest part states 1739 and i think the site was todo with knitwhere and so on but one bit mentioned zips and fasteners anyway lots of retro cool 70's offices several lifts massive open plan factory floor areas no end of staircases enough plenty of toilets roofs the lot, sure Goldie will give your correct info and history 







yesterday evning on a solo recce............well it looked secure to me 





The Blue Fox does a battery change in ground floor kitchens/labs





H&S warning explorers about the dangers of urbex





some random productivity chart or orders chart or whatever, cold fingers meant we only half finished





uh oh EMERGANCY





dunno if this was some sort of ICE or just to shout at the workers





as you can see above all the stud walling and office fittings its a grand old oak framed building





that was standing a matter of weeks ago so dont know how long this one will last





canteen





know your colours by numbers!





this is the dead retro way to cool for school offices on a top floor, all tinted glass gave a great glow non of which my camera really picked up





caught them in the ladies 





roof time, The Blue Fox found the key to the lift motor room bu the lock was jammed solid 





Goldie87 appears from the hatch a bit sheepish with god knows how many dog walkers giving us odd looks





NOT OURS





company logo

hey now this is cool!!!





now you see him





now you dont 

sorry, simple things please simple minds





loading bay

now then this is the old part with a small tower and the clocks on the outside i come up with a masterplan and find a ladder.....





im guessing near on 10foot climb on some random peice of creaky steel framework we found





and the hatch to the tower........





only to find it boarded up





you can see the mini tower thing up there, going to try and find our way to the clock workings next time


well after weeks of groaning about nothing todo in Leicester..........i think weve done ourselves proud :thumb


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Sam,

Looks like it was a good explore 
Like the style of this place. Lovely set of pics!
Lb

P.s. -loving the "descretly" parked car!!!


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 6, 2008)

P.p.s. -nice bit of improvisation with getting up into the tower -shame it was boarded up


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## Mr Sam (Jan 6, 2008)

i thought not to look suspicious taking pics of a boarded up building id take shots of my 'classic ford' right in front of it


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## Reaperman (Jan 6, 2008)

Love the Dictophone, Its class!

Surely theres some shoe makers to look at in Leicester?

Didnt Doc Martins have an abandoned factory there?


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## Mr Sam (Jan 6, 2008)

weve done the 'national shoe machinery' if you look around for that 

affraid these days its all turned to flats and apartments 5/10 years ago we would of been out day and night exploring

industrial leicester is slowly dissapearing


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## Goldie87 (Jan 6, 2008)

This is Friars Mills which was operated by Donisthorpe's. They mainly manufactured threads. I've got the history somewhere but can't find it at the moment! 
Some of my pics...





Oldest part of the site, taken last year


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## Mr Sam (Jan 6, 2008)

cool to see the chimney in place, gotta check out that generator house next time too


LOL at the last one


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## Foxylady (Jan 6, 2008)

Excellent report guys. 
Love the roof space and the shop floors. Great looking mill building too.

Cheers


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## Richard Davies (Jan 6, 2008)

A great selection, I notced that the 2nd green on the chart isn't called light green. I guess they just used the colour codes to avoid confusion.


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## King Al (Jan 7, 2008)

Great explore guys, that place looks like a good explore, love the veiw of the cranes from the roof


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## RobM (Jan 7, 2008)

Looks an interesting place, 
am I right in thinking it is Bath Lane?

and any security?

Does it have easy access to the mill floor area with all the steel work


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## krela (Jan 7, 2008)

RobM said:


> Looks an interesting place,
> am I right in thinking it is Bath Lane?
> 
> and any security?
> ...



Can we keep talk of access and security to private messages please


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## Mr Sam (Jan 7, 2008)

10 foot fence tipped with razor wire a crawl under some more wire and armed guards around every corner


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## sheep2405 (Jan 7, 2008)

krela said:


> Can we keep talk of access and security to private messages please



I dont think anyone else can see you posts.....lol....thats not good dude since your Owner/Admin.


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## krela (Jan 7, 2008)

sheep2405 said:


> I dont think anyone else can see you posts.....lol....thats not good dude since your Owner/Admin.



Eh? If you can see them so can everyone else


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## Goldie87 (Jan 7, 2008)

Mr Sam said:


> 10 foot fence tipped with razor wire a crawl under some more wire and armed guards around every corner



lmao you sure thats not the bus depot your talking about mr sam? 




krela said:


> Can we keep talk of access and security to private messages please



Thanks for that krela  
We have waited a long time to get in this place it would be a shame to lose it!


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## Mr Sam (Jan 7, 2008)

oh yeah sorry thats the bus depot under the wire and in the trenches........well maybe not wire but we were in the trenches


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## Goldie87 (Jan 7, 2008)

Mr Sam said:


> oh yeah sorry thats the bus depot under the wire and in the trenches........well maybe not wire but we were in the trenches



Ah how cool was that, my legs still hurt though from trying to walk around crouched down!


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## Kezza (Jan 14, 2008)

looks like a good day i missed again owell. i will definatly come next time.


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## Goldie87 (Jan 25, 2008)

*Right i said i had some history somewhere and i've found it at last!*

The origins of the firm 'Messrs Donisthorpe' are obscure. Tradition has it that the firm was involved in worsted spinning as early as 1739 - but the earliest surviving record is of Alfred Russel Donisthorpe who was spinning at Friars Mill, on the banks of the river soar, in 1866. Alfred's father, Frederick Donisthorpe, was a dyer and trimmer and it was through a loan to his son that the mill - built probably in the 16th century as a dwelling house - came into family ownership. 
The principal market for worsted yarn at this time was Leicester's thriving hosiery industry. Framework knitting had undergone a protracted mechanisation process, dogged by political unrest, but by 1850 the industry was increasingly being conducted in new factories, whose abundant capacities generated a healthy demand for worsted thread. Alfred diversified his business into other areas too. Contemporary trade directories list a number of companies operating from the mill including, in 1877, A. Donisthorpe & Nephew (described as wool combers, wool staplers, merchants and brokers) and F. Donisthorpe & Son (wool spinners). 
By all accounts, Alfred Russel Donisthorpe was a colorful fellow. It's reported he possessed only two patterns of day suit - either black and white check or brown and white check - and that when ordering from his tailor would memorably insist 'the left leg must be turned up and the right leg turned down'. At the height of his career he was a very wealthy man and took great pleasure in a lavish lifestyle (always in rented properties). His shooting parties at Coleorton Hall, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, were legendary and he was in the habit of ordering wine from London at the rate of ten dozen bottles a time. Nothing pleased him more than emulating the life of landed gentry, and happily, with his undoubted success in business, he was able to afford it. 
When he died in 1906, the family business was floated as a limited liability company and his son, Frederick Russel Donisthrpe took over as Managing Director and Chairman. In 1921, Donisthorpe acquired W.M. Storey's business in York Road. This was an important departure for the firm since it allowed diversification (into sewing cotton) just as other worsted spinners were beginning a period of decline. On the wool side, by the 1930's the company had become exclusively suppliers to wholesalers of machine knittings and mendings, etc, with a single valued retail customer in the form of F.W. Woolworth. 
The Second World War wrought many horrors in Leicester - but miraculously, the mil survived unscathed. Wol rationing followed and caused the firm real problems. It was soon clear that new markets must be found, and new products. Synthetic fibres were already making serious inroads into the traditional industries supplied by Donisthorpe. Dyeing, sewing threads and hand knitting became the firm's chief concerns. 
In 1988 it became part of the French textile group DMC and prospered to become the second largest sewing thread manufacturer in the UK. The company maintained its history of diversification and a distributor of products such as linings and zip fasteners, meeting the changing needs of its customers. 
In 2001 the company became part of the Amann Group. With effect from 1st January 2005, the company changed its name to Amann-Donisthorpe UK Limited. The new name will coincide with the company's long awaited move to a new site on Sheene Road, on the Gorse Hill Industrial Estate of Beaumont Leys in Leicester, just three miles from its old site in Bath Lane. The new Amann-Donisthorpe site will operate as the head office of the Amann Group's international operations in the UK, Eire and Morocco.


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## King Al (Jan 25, 2008)

Well I am glad they moved and didn't get closed down thats the best kind of derelict building, I think of these as guilt free explores


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## Lightbuoy (Jan 25, 2008)

Excellent history to go with your pics 

Liking the first shot -can't beat a good reflection (and glazed brickwork of course!)

Lb


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## waynezbitz1 (Feb 27, 2009)

i know this is an old thread, but id thought id bring it back up before its gone and forgotten.

i had a phone call this evening from a freind of mine and he tells me that all this is now in the prosess of being demolished, im going to go down that way tomorow and see for myself and hopefully get some pics.


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## Goldie87 (Feb 28, 2009)

Pretty much all gone now mate, apart from the old friars mill and cottages


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## killergibbo (Mar 6, 2009)

does anyone have any info on the shoe factory on western road thats just been closed down in jan!!!

thing is i live on bedi island so its a 1 min walk for me to there....

can somethat knows something message me with the info i wud be really greatful guys cheers


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## MD (Mar 6, 2009)

still being used last week
i think i read they are taking a few people on 
only a hand full to run some parts. it was in the mercury


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