- Joined
- Dec 13, 2015
- Messages
- 142
- Reaction score
- 482
History
Construction of the Barrington cement plant began just over 100 years ago in 1912 and the plant has been an important part of the local community and economy almost ever since.
Unfortunately, with the onset of the current recession, the company took the decision to mothball the plant in November 2008 with the sad loss of over 80 jobs. In April 2012, with little sign of a recovery in the UK construction industry and construction output forecast to decline further in 2013, the company took the decision that cement manufacture would not recommence at Barrington and the plant has therefore been decommissioned.
The Future
Naturally this prompts the question of what is the future of the site. With a landholding of around 900 acres (mostly represented by the quarry area and adjacent agricultural land), the ‘brown field’ element of the site represents only about 24 acres. This is the area where the plant, buildings, associated structures and offices stand.
Restoration
As local residents will be aware, permission has been granted to restore part of the quarry, and the company will seek to do this by upgrading the railway line and importing inert material and it is hoped that this will commence during 2013 with the upgrade of the railway line itself. In addition, a large part of the quarried area is protected by its Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status.
(Barrington Community Matters)
The explore
We first visited the site a few weeks ago to give the place a recce, so only got to see the large chimney building. We returned a couple of weeks later for a proper walk around the site and we were not disappointed. Access is ridiculously easy if you go in the right way, and it made for a nice, if not long and muddy slog. We first headed up to the more remote works at the top of the hill to find an absolute bog of sticky clay and a locked down building. Next we walked back alongside the water filled pits to try and get access to the main works. Most of the buildings we tried were fairly well sealed, and with the wet weather we found ourselves in, none of us fancied climbing the structures, so we headed for the main storage shed, eventually finding a way in. This thing was huge!! After spending half an hour or so photographing (HDRs take aaages), I headed outside for a breath of fresh air and narrowly avoided the security van doing the rounds. We hid for a while then decided to call it a day and headed back to the access point. On leaving, we thought we’d give security a closer look by driving by the main entrance; as it turns out there were between 6 and 8 guys on site, with multiple dogs, they didn’t seem like the friendliest lot however I’m sure we’ll meet them soon enough to find out for ourselves!
Here are some pictures
Thanks for looking.
Construction of the Barrington cement plant began just over 100 years ago in 1912 and the plant has been an important part of the local community and economy almost ever since.
Unfortunately, with the onset of the current recession, the company took the decision to mothball the plant in November 2008 with the sad loss of over 80 jobs. In April 2012, with little sign of a recovery in the UK construction industry and construction output forecast to decline further in 2013, the company took the decision that cement manufacture would not recommence at Barrington and the plant has therefore been decommissioned.
The Future
Naturally this prompts the question of what is the future of the site. With a landholding of around 900 acres (mostly represented by the quarry area and adjacent agricultural land), the ‘brown field’ element of the site represents only about 24 acres. This is the area where the plant, buildings, associated structures and offices stand.
Restoration
As local residents will be aware, permission has been granted to restore part of the quarry, and the company will seek to do this by upgrading the railway line and importing inert material and it is hoped that this will commence during 2013 with the upgrade of the railway line itself. In addition, a large part of the quarried area is protected by its Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status.
(Barrington Community Matters)
The explore
We first visited the site a few weeks ago to give the place a recce, so only got to see the large chimney building. We returned a couple of weeks later for a proper walk around the site and we were not disappointed. Access is ridiculously easy if you go in the right way, and it made for a nice, if not long and muddy slog. We first headed up to the more remote works at the top of the hill to find an absolute bog of sticky clay and a locked down building. Next we walked back alongside the water filled pits to try and get access to the main works. Most of the buildings we tried were fairly well sealed, and with the wet weather we found ourselves in, none of us fancied climbing the structures, so we headed for the main storage shed, eventually finding a way in. This thing was huge!! After spending half an hour or so photographing (HDRs take aaages), I headed outside for a breath of fresh air and narrowly avoided the security van doing the rounds. We hid for a while then decided to call it a day and headed back to the access point. On leaving, we thought we’d give security a closer look by driving by the main entrance; as it turns out there were between 6 and 8 guys on site, with multiple dogs, they didn’t seem like the friendliest lot however I’m sure we’ll meet them soon enough to find out for ourselves!
Here are some pictures
Thanks for looking.
