# unused blue circle quarry, plymouth



## orangesrule (Jan 23, 2011)

'Blue Circle bought the site in 1958. At its peak it produced 300,000 tonnes of cement a year and exported to Spain, Portugal and Ireland.

By 1995 the future looked rosy after a £6million refurbishment. The life of the quarry was extended for 25 years.

Four years later, in May 1999, Blue Circle closed the factory with the loss of 123 jobs.'

About 10 years ago the massive processing buildings where demolished, leaving a pretty desolate site. the site was then bought by a couple housing companys to build 1700 houses and it looks like work stopped before it began. there looks like materials some to build a demo house as well as around 20 portacabins/chacons, most of which have been heavily vandalised, some however are still locked up, with materials in no doubt.

anyway got a couple snaps, need to go back!

right, looked at getting in here a couple weeks ago. - this is my first so or urbexing trip

Proved harder to get in than i thought...ended up putting my removable cast (my hand had a plate put in it 6 weeks ago) in my rucksack, climbing a 40ft high cliff, crawling under razor wire, then finally having to get through a hedge with a wire fence in it....

anyway had a nice afternoon, and luckily found a safer means of exit.

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climbed up the right hand side bit *[B)]

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going to climb this when my hand is better, i did try but my hand didn't like it and my rucksack was getting caught on the ladder surround.
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Absolutley poo'd myself when looking round these, they are fairly near the main entrance, when i heard foot steps, managed to hide out of sight until i saw it was a dog walker, phew
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GRP chimney stack anyone?
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Dunoo what this is? blast shelter maybe?
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maybe too many picts :/ crit welcomed

i would like to go back with a tripod and get some shots for some hdr's (i know they can be frowned upon, but meh)


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## Exploretime (Jan 23, 2011)

9.




Isnt that one of these? : [ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=14322[/ame]


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## RichardB (Jan 23, 2011)

Dumptyboy said:


> Isnt that one of these? : http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=14322



That's what I was going to say.  I imagine it was used as a blast shelter here though. It would be like standing inside a church bell if anything did hit it.

Nice first report. I like the first picture best, it leads into the site nicely.


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## orangesrule (Jan 23, 2011)

wow, thats pretty interesting, only 200 where made, and most where scraped, even though its been highly modified and is in a poor state, its seemingly a rare find. class


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## rectory-rat (Jan 23, 2011)

Nice place, great first report! 

-RR


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## Foxylady (Jan 23, 2011)

orangesrule said:


> ...climbing a 40ft high cliff, crawling under razor wire, then finally having to get through a hedge with a wire fence in it...


lol. The hazards of rurexing. 
Nice looking quarry and pics. Amazing to find the Alan Williams Turret as well. Nice one, Orangesrule...and welcome to DP.


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## Zotez (Jan 23, 2011)

Thats a pretty cool site - not as loaded full of stuff as other sites but it made for some nice photographs.


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## borntobemild (Jan 23, 2011)

nice photos - my kind of place


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## nelly (Jan 23, 2011)

Top notch determination!!!!


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## slick63 (Feb 9, 2011)

Nice pics, I used to live just across the fields from the quarry, can remember it in its heyday. I think the quarry grew quite significantly in size in the early 80s as it swallowed up a lot of the woods which ran around one edge.
My uncle used to drive one of the massive dumptrucks in the quarry and I can remember my cousin and I nipping down there and hitching a ride for about an hour back in the `70s. Management didn`t bat an eyelid. Couldn`t see kids being allowed to ride in the trucks nowadays which is a shame as it was a fascinating look at adult working life for young lads at the time.


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