Curious old workshop

[lurch]

A recent wander around Aberystwyth where I spied a crumbling gable end which had to be investigated further.

What I found was some kind of workshop, completely surrounded on all sides by properties, one side businesses, the other residential with this little gem sitting abandonned in the middle. Completely derelict , and obviously used as a dump site for all kinds of rubbish, the only indication of this place's past is probably the drive shaft that runs the length of a wall. I've seen these before, but they usually hang off the ceiling, whereas this one is at worktop height.

What this place could have been I have no idea, probably too small for weaving, no evidence of a forge?, a cobblers perhaps. Suggestions please.

 

[Foxylady]

What a delightful building! Those red-brick fireplaces and the wooden beams are wonderful...and the drive shaft's a great bonus.
Lovely find.

 

[Engineer]

Old Building.

Not sure about the use but the shafting has a sheave with provision for four belt postions, whatevever it was driving would have had a similar set up to give four gears/speeds.
There may have been a lathe above it.

 

[Melvin Faust]

I thought that looked like the drive machinery for a lathe too. Lovely photos - red brick and rusting metal is one of my favourite colour schemes for photos. Nice find!

 

[V70]

Perhaps the drive shaft has indeed been mounted on the ceiling, then fallen down when the supports rotted away?

Great find there... really quite interesting. It would be great to find out the history of the place. Strange its been left alone to decay when theres so much gone on round it, as you say

 

[Engineer]

Perhaps the drive shaft has indeed been mounted on the ceiling, then fallen down when the supports rotted away?

Looking at the brackets you are probably right.

 

[ricasso]

I would hazard a guess that the lineshafting is in original situ, 3 reasons, if it fell then it fell remarkably level, the diameter of the pulleys compared to the distance between the beams it sits on probably would make it extremely difficult to run a belt downwards from the shaft, also the stauffer/oilerholes would be very difficult to access in day to day use if it was fixed near the ceiling

 

[Engineer]

Old Building.

The more I look, the more it looks like it was mounted onto the ceiling joists, one bracket seems to have a bit of joist still attached
The shaft also seems to have been placed on a steel packer on the left side and a wooden packer on the right, also the wood and steel bed it rests on may be part of the driven machine?

 

[lurch]

Thanks for the replies, and the interest in that drive shaft. I see what people mean re the brackets that are on it but it looked like it had been set deliberatly at that level. Maybe it was designed to be ceiling hung but for some reason wasn't.

Its not far away, so I'll go back and take a closer look, and report back.

 

[Potter]

An interesting little find.

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

The more I look, the more it looks like it was mounted onto the ceiling joists, one bracket seems to have a bit of joist still attached
The shaft also seems to have been placed on a steel packer on the left side and a wooden packer on the right, also the wood and steel bed it rests on may be part of the driven machine?

I am sure you are correct about the original location of the line shafting, but I do not think the steel clad wooden beams were ever part of a driven machine. The beams look very similar to a device I saw on the floor of the main machine shop, in an old engine reconditioning works near Doncaster some years back. The beams were used as 'runners' to support cylinder blocks as they were moved between machines, the steel strips allowed the blocks to slide easily along the beams without damaging the wood.

 

[Lightbuoy]

Nice old building. Always looks a bit surreal when you can see one fireplace above the other!

Ta for sharing,