- Joined
- Jan 6, 2013
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1. The History
The site, known as Storr’s Bridge Works, was last occupied by Hepworth Refractories, a former brick factory located, in the Loxley valley, north-east of Sheffield. It also home to Carblox in the 70s, part of the Marshalls group, who made carbon blocks of different sizes for steel furnaces.
The site has been an area for industry since the 17th century. Initially home to Loxley Steel works, the Green Wheel Steel works and two rolling mills – the Green Wheel and Olive rolling mills, the valley was totally decimated by the Great Flood of 1864. Now only the mill pond areas remain. The area has been a source of ganister (a type of sandstone which was prevalent in the Loxley area) since Victorian times. It was a key material in the manufacture of ‘hollow refractories’ - bricks that were used to line the walls of furnaces in the production of steel. Mining and the production of refractory bricks began in the late 1800s. In the 1930s there were a total of three firms in the Loxley Valley (Dysons, Thomas Marshall’s and Thomas Wragg and Sons) producing hollow refractories and, between them, they supplied 95% of all the hollow refractories produced in Great Britain.
When war broke out in 1939, the industry became vital to the war effort, and if the Germans had bombed the Loxley Valley successfully, the war would have been over very quickly. As a consequence, there was a gun site on Wood Lane, Stannington, which shot down several Luftwaffe planes during the Sheffield Blitz.
View of the River Loxley at Storrs Bridge Works in the 1960s:
River Loxley at Storrs Bridge Works, Loxley nr Sheffield (1960s).
Hepworth’s closed in the 1990s and the site fell into abandonment. However, in 2006 the site was bought by Bovis Homes with a view to building 500 new homes on the site. That was then defeated by local opposition, who objected on the grounds that the local area’s infrastructure could not support this level of development. During this period, Bovis beefed up the security on the site with a solar-powered CCTV and a speaker system along with a resident guard. In 2018 URBED were appointed by landowners Patrick Properties Ltd to help prepare a scheme that is “not a bog standard housing development” as this is more likely to get past Sheffield City Councils planning requirements.
2. The Explore
Can’t really explain why it’s taken me so long to explore this place. For quite a while it did have live secca on site but they’ve now gone. It has got a number of reports on here but they dried up circa 2010. A few more have been appearing recently. Currently it’s an easy in and there is quite a lot to see, albeit a bit on the derpy side. On the plus side though in the last few years a number of nice pieces of graff have appeared. Really enjoyed my wander round here and got a reasonable set of pictures.
3. The Pictures
One of the first things you notice is this old chimney:
img4599
In we go:
Loxley 01
img4529
img4594
img4595
Probably not going up that. Respect to @tarkovsky who did on their visit!
img4589
Forest in a factory:
Loxley 02
img4556
The remains of the solar-powered secca gear:
img4554
And another bit of Brayk:
Loxley 03
img4579
Probably my fave bit of graff on the whole site:
Loxley 04
This place was totally empty:
img4578
Some nice graff in the one next door. Nice bit of Colorquix here:
img4565
img4563
img4573bw
Can’t remember this artist’s name:
img4570
img4569
More Brayk:
img4571
img4585
Definitively not!
img4586
Cool signage:
img4582
This big long building was also totally empty:
img4561
img4558
img4553
Another artist I’ve not come across before:
img4544
And one last bit of Brayk:
Loxley Valley factories 25
img4548
The site, known as Storr’s Bridge Works, was last occupied by Hepworth Refractories, a former brick factory located, in the Loxley valley, north-east of Sheffield. It also home to Carblox in the 70s, part of the Marshalls group, who made carbon blocks of different sizes for steel furnaces.
The site has been an area for industry since the 17th century. Initially home to Loxley Steel works, the Green Wheel Steel works and two rolling mills – the Green Wheel and Olive rolling mills, the valley was totally decimated by the Great Flood of 1864. Now only the mill pond areas remain. The area has been a source of ganister (a type of sandstone which was prevalent in the Loxley area) since Victorian times. It was a key material in the manufacture of ‘hollow refractories’ - bricks that were used to line the walls of furnaces in the production of steel. Mining and the production of refractory bricks began in the late 1800s. In the 1930s there were a total of three firms in the Loxley Valley (Dysons, Thomas Marshall’s and Thomas Wragg and Sons) producing hollow refractories and, between them, they supplied 95% of all the hollow refractories produced in Great Britain.
When war broke out in 1939, the industry became vital to the war effort, and if the Germans had bombed the Loxley Valley successfully, the war would have been over very quickly. As a consequence, there was a gun site on Wood Lane, Stannington, which shot down several Luftwaffe planes during the Sheffield Blitz.
View of the River Loxley at Storrs Bridge Works in the 1960s:
River Loxley at Storrs Bridge Works, Loxley nr Sheffield (1960s).Hepworth’s closed in the 1990s and the site fell into abandonment. However, in 2006 the site was bought by Bovis Homes with a view to building 500 new homes on the site. That was then defeated by local opposition, who objected on the grounds that the local area’s infrastructure could not support this level of development. During this period, Bovis beefed up the security on the site with a solar-powered CCTV and a speaker system along with a resident guard. In 2018 URBED were appointed by landowners Patrick Properties Ltd to help prepare a scheme that is “not a bog standard housing development” as this is more likely to get past Sheffield City Councils planning requirements.
2. The Explore
Can’t really explain why it’s taken me so long to explore this place. For quite a while it did have live secca on site but they’ve now gone. It has got a number of reports on here but they dried up circa 2010. A few more have been appearing recently. Currently it’s an easy in and there is quite a lot to see, albeit a bit on the derpy side. On the plus side though in the last few years a number of nice pieces of graff have appeared. Really enjoyed my wander round here and got a reasonable set of pictures.
3. The Pictures
One of the first things you notice is this old chimney:
img4599In we go:
Loxley 01img4529 img4594img4595 Probably not going up that. Respect to @tarkovsky who did on their visit!
img4589Forest in a factory:
Loxley 02 img4556 The remains of the solar-powered secca gear:
img4554 And another bit of Brayk:
Loxley 03 img4579 Probably my fave bit of graff on the whole site:
Loxley 04 This place was totally empty:
img4578Some nice graff in the one next door. Nice bit of Colorquix here:
img4565 img4563 img4573bwCan’t remember this artist’s name:
img4570 img4569 More Brayk:
img4571 img4585 Definitively not!
img4586Cool signage:
img4582This big long building was also totally empty:
img4561 img4558 img4553 Another artist I’ve not come across before:
img4544 And one last bit of Brayk:
Loxley Valley factories 25 img4548
