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- Jan 6, 2013
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1. The History
Guest and Chrimes is a substantial former brassworks in the centre of Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The Grade II listed buildings of the former iron and brass foundry sit on the edge of the town centre, between Rotherham United’s £20m New York Stadium and the council's new offices on Main Street.
The company itself was established by the Chrimes Brothers in1843. Brothers Peter and Edward were credited with the invention and production of the high-pressure loose valve screw-down tap. The firm rapidly expanded into sluice valves, fire hydrants and water meters and John Guest joined the firm in 1847. Following a very large order from Spain, the company moved to the present site in 1857. By 1871 Richard Chrimes employed 400 hands. Here’s some historic footage of the workforce leaving after a day’s work one day in 1901:
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-workers-leaving-guest-and-chrimes-brassworks-rotherham-1901-1901-online
In 1914 the Foundry and General Brass Work’s specialities were listed as high-pressure loose valve cocks, improved sluice valves, Siemens and Adamson's Water Meter, reservoir valves and fittings, fire-extinguishing apparatus and wet and dry Gas meters. In 1917 it became a private company.
Guest and Chrimes 2 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The foundry closed in 1999 and has remained empty since. Little interest has been shown in the buildings since 2004, when plans for a Tesco development on the site were refused following an appeal. Consultants, Gleeds, estimated that it would take an investment of £8.8m just to bring the current property up to a marketable condition. In 2013 Rotherham United drew up a planning application for the full demolition of the foundry, citing a lack of interest in developing the previous scheme and rising costs of remedial work.
2. The Explore
Happened to be in the Rotherham area on a very sunny Sunday in November with my camera and time to kill so looked this place up. Managed to get a decent set of externals but didn’t have the time or the gear to do a full internal explore. Hence wasn’t going to do a report of this. But big-up and thanks to Tarkovsky who had a set of internals from a previous visit and has kindly agreed for me to combine them with my externals to make a decent review.
3. The Pictures
My externals:
The beautiful front façade:
img3755 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3776 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3759 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3773bw by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3775 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Façade detail:
img3756 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Front right:
img3757 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Front left:
img3758 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Left hand side:
img3791 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Round the back:
img3761 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3762 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The famous tower:
img3760 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3765 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3787 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And round the other side, furthest from the footy ground:
img3767 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3770 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3792 by HughieDW, on Flickr
An open door, but a storey up!
img3772 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And back round the front again:
img3785 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And a fab set of interiors courtesy of Tarkovsky (many thanks for letting me use these in the report) from his earlier visit to the place in July 2014:
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
Guest and Chrimes is a substantial former brassworks in the centre of Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The Grade II listed buildings of the former iron and brass foundry sit on the edge of the town centre, between Rotherham United’s £20m New York Stadium and the council's new offices on Main Street.
The company itself was established by the Chrimes Brothers in1843. Brothers Peter and Edward were credited with the invention and production of the high-pressure loose valve screw-down tap. The firm rapidly expanded into sluice valves, fire hydrants and water meters and John Guest joined the firm in 1847. Following a very large order from Spain, the company moved to the present site in 1857. By 1871 Richard Chrimes employed 400 hands. Here’s some historic footage of the workforce leaving after a day’s work one day in 1901:
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-workers-leaving-guest-and-chrimes-brassworks-rotherham-1901-1901-online
In 1914 the Foundry and General Brass Work’s specialities were listed as high-pressure loose valve cocks, improved sluice valves, Siemens and Adamson's Water Meter, reservoir valves and fittings, fire-extinguishing apparatus and wet and dry Gas meters. In 1917 it became a private company.
Guest and Chrimes 2 by HughieDW, on FlickrThe foundry closed in 1999 and has remained empty since. Little interest has been shown in the buildings since 2004, when plans for a Tesco development on the site were refused following an appeal. Consultants, Gleeds, estimated that it would take an investment of £8.8m just to bring the current property up to a marketable condition. In 2013 Rotherham United drew up a planning application for the full demolition of the foundry, citing a lack of interest in developing the previous scheme and rising costs of remedial work.
2. The Explore
Happened to be in the Rotherham area on a very sunny Sunday in November with my camera and time to kill so looked this place up. Managed to get a decent set of externals but didn’t have the time or the gear to do a full internal explore. Hence wasn’t going to do a report of this. But big-up and thanks to Tarkovsky who had a set of internals from a previous visit and has kindly agreed for me to combine them with my externals to make a decent review.
3. The Pictures
My externals:
The beautiful front façade:
img3755 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3776 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3759 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3773bw by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3775 by HughieDW, on Flickr Façade detail:
img3756 by HughieDW, on FlickrFront right:
img3757 by HughieDW, on FlickrFront left:
img3758 by HughieDW, on FlickrLeft hand side:
img3791 by HughieDW, on FlickrRound the back:
img3761 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3762 by HughieDW, on FlickrThe famous tower:
img3760 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3765 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3787 by HughieDW, on FlickrAnd round the other side, furthest from the footy ground:
img3767 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3770 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg3792 by HughieDW, on FlickrAn open door, but a storey up!
img3772 by HughieDW, on FlickrAnd back round the front again:
img3785 by HughieDW, on FlickrAnd a fab set of interiors courtesy of Tarkovsky (many thanks for letting me use these in the report) from his earlier visit to the place in July 2014:
Untitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on FlickrUntitled by D Tarkovsky, on Flickr
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