# Browns of Wem, August 2019



## mookster (Aug 28, 2019)

Browns of Wem is a manufacturer of pre-fab buildings located near the Shropshire town of, you guessed it, Wem. The company is very much still an ongoing active one, however they have a couple of interesting things abandoned next to their facility.

The first of the few buildings is an old maintenance shed, which I'm only partially sure was definitely owned by them - it had stuff from their factory inside it, however part of it looked more like a general mechanics place than a dedicated factory-related building. It is surrounded by old Browns of Wem trailers though so who knows. Inside is a lovely decayed dirty workshop filled with rusty machinery and other mechanical things - one of my favourite sort of places to shoot. It's been disused for some considerable time and the roof is currently being held up by two large planks of wood.



































































The other empty part is one of their 1960s Cedar Bungalows, an old show home which is rammed full of all sorts of brilliant old tat to poke around at. It's all fairly random, with one room absolutely stuffed full of paperwork, another room with a multitude of fire hoses in it and another room with a whole bunch of outdated electronics, among many other things. It was absolutely stiflingly hot in this building as the only ventilation came from the small way in and out, so although I could have sat for a good hour or so rummaging through things the oppressive heat made me bail out pretty quickly.



















































Thanks for looking ​


----------



## Sabtr (Aug 28, 2019)

Oh blimey. One of those places where the contents are keeping the sides there!
Looks fascinating in there mookster. One of those places I would spend weeks inside.
With the machinery I think the cast iron thing with 3 wheels is a large old bandsaw? The more modern upright thing looks like part of an industrial mixer? Might be way off with that though.

The business: Looks like a fascinating history of their origins comprised of old ledgers and images. 
The bungalow in the photo - was that for residential use? If so, do any still stand today? 

Fascinating report. Love stuff like this.


----------



## mookster (Aug 28, 2019)

Sausage said:


> Oh blimey. One of those places where the contents are keeping the sides there!
> Looks fascinating in there mookster. One of those places I would spend weeks inside.
> With the machinery I think the cast iron thing with 3 wheels is a large old bandsaw? The more modern upright thing looks like part of an industrial mixer? Might be way off with that though.
> 
> ...



At least one of the Cedar Bungalows still stands as that is what that building all that stuff is inside is contained within 

They were residential units which could be used as easy holiday lets for places, at a guess. Sort of the same size as a small static caravan.


----------



## ocelot397 (Aug 28, 2019)

Wem is also a nice place to live!


----------



## smiler (Aug 29, 2019)

Nice One Mook, Loved it, Thanks


----------



## Dirus_Strictus (Aug 29, 2019)

A good old band saw and the grey machine is a more modern radial drill/milling machine - the table has gone walkies however.


----------



## Sam Haltin (Sep 1, 2019)

A few good antique machinery left there and I'm amazed they left all the ledgers and records.


----------



## Dirus_Strictus (Sep 1, 2019)

The 'non factory' looking images are in fact pictures of the firms Motor Transport section - the delivery trucks would have been maintained and prepared for MOT etc in that area. No doubt all the trucks ran up a very large annual mileage, so servicing and record keeping would have been a major requirement. Sorting old records can be a right pain and I can understand why; on a still occupied and working site, they have just been left. Would think that they are all kept on disc now. Sorted, shredded and burnt many tons of the bloody things during my working days as the old firm slowly edged into the computer age!


----------

