The Millennium Mills is a site I have wanted to visit for sometime now and have been unlucky on a couple of occassions to miss fellow explorers visits. I finally managed to tick this one off after meeting up with UrbanX and CovertUrbex. Have to say serious Kudos to CovertUrbex on this one as he was the one that did the leap of faith and allow UrbanX and I to traverse the Ladder of Common Sense.
The history has been covered over and over again however here is my slant on it.
A little quote from a fellow urbexer -
I would however say this was probably more aimed at the older of the buildings we explored and indeed decided to bypass due to the obvious state of the floors and external fire escape. We didn't really have to play cat and mouse with the onsite security with our access time giving us the uppoer hand of being able to see him long before he saw us.
History
Millennium Mills was designed and built by millers William Vernon & Sons in 1905, its construction was overseen by William Vernon's son. The mills were extensive, featuring two plants, equipped by Henry Simon Ltd, that had a capacity of 100 sacks per hour. Upon completion W. A. Vernon described the mills as "palatial". Vernon and Sons named the mill after "Millenium Flour" their most successful product and flour variety after winning the The Miller Challenge Cup at the 1899 International Bakers Exhibition. The flour was milled from the best wheats of the world using a carefully designed industrial process. The victory made Vernon and Sons world famous and made them the dominant force in the English flour market.
The construction of Millennium Mills at the Royal Victoria Dock allowed this new flour to be brought to the South of England market.
An explosion in 1917 at the Brunner Monds munitions works partially destroyed this mill along with the other two mills in the imediate area. The munitions works was about 100 yards east of where Millennium Mills stood, and the adjoining grain silos and flour warehouses were amongst the 17 acres of buildings that the Port of London Authority estimated were affected.
1920 saw Vernon & Sons taken over by Spillers Limited and ownership of Millennium Mills was passed across too. Spillers was an established flour milling business founded in 1829, which subsequently went into the production of dog food and animal feeds and by 1927.
Millennium Mills was rebuilt as a 10-storey concrete art deco building in 1933.
During the Second World War many port mills throughout the country sustained severe damage from bombing, infact almost 75 per cent of the national capacity was concentrated at the ports, making them primary targets for air raids. In London, Spillers' Millennium Mills as well as Rank's Premier Mills were substantially destroyed. Resulting in large scale post war reconstruction between 1945 and 1950 this despite a severe deficit of raw materials and strict licensing. At this time Millennium Mills was rebuilt, including a windowless steel-framed infill on the west side, and was in operation by September 1953.
The Docks finally closed in 1981,with many businesses relocating to Tilbury. The LDDCand the Zoological Society of London discussed using the area for a public aquarium, but funding for this was hard to find and the idea was eventually mothballed.Rank, CWS mills along with B and C silos were subsequently demolished by the LDDC in the 1990s. D silo to the south was saved by virtue of the fact its Grade II listed.While Millennium Mills itself is locally listed by Newham Council.
The must do slide shot
Some gimp in a mask - SOrry Coverturbex had to be said
The history has been covered over and over again however here is my slant on it.
A little quote from a fellow urbexer -
I would however say this was probably more aimed at the older of the buildings we explored and indeed decided to bypass due to the obvious state of the floors and external fire escape. We didn't really have to play cat and mouse with the onsite security with our access time giving us the uppoer hand of being able to see him long before he saw us.
History
Millennium Mills was designed and built by millers William Vernon & Sons in 1905, its construction was overseen by William Vernon's son. The mills were extensive, featuring two plants, equipped by Henry Simon Ltd, that had a capacity of 100 sacks per hour. Upon completion W. A. Vernon described the mills as "palatial". Vernon and Sons named the mill after "Millenium Flour" their most successful product and flour variety after winning the The Miller Challenge Cup at the 1899 International Bakers Exhibition. The flour was milled from the best wheats of the world using a carefully designed industrial process. The victory made Vernon and Sons world famous and made them the dominant force in the English flour market.
The construction of Millennium Mills at the Royal Victoria Dock allowed this new flour to be brought to the South of England market.
An explosion in 1917 at the Brunner Monds munitions works partially destroyed this mill along with the other two mills in the imediate area. The munitions works was about 100 yards east of where Millennium Mills stood, and the adjoining grain silos and flour warehouses were amongst the 17 acres of buildings that the Port of London Authority estimated were affected.
1920 saw Vernon & Sons taken over by Spillers Limited and ownership of Millennium Mills was passed across too. Spillers was an established flour milling business founded in 1829, which subsequently went into the production of dog food and animal feeds and by 1927.
Millennium Mills was rebuilt as a 10-storey concrete art deco building in 1933.
During the Second World War many port mills throughout the country sustained severe damage from bombing, infact almost 75 per cent of the national capacity was concentrated at the ports, making them primary targets for air raids. In London, Spillers' Millennium Mills as well as Rank's Premier Mills were substantially destroyed. Resulting in large scale post war reconstruction between 1945 and 1950 this despite a severe deficit of raw materials and strict licensing. At this time Millennium Mills was rebuilt, including a windowless steel-framed infill on the west side, and was in operation by September 1953.
The Docks finally closed in 1981,with many businesses relocating to Tilbury. The LDDCand the Zoological Society of London discussed using the area for a public aquarium, but funding for this was hard to find and the idea was eventually mothballed.Rank, CWS mills along with B and C silos were subsequently demolished by the LDDC in the 1990s. D silo to the south was saved by virtue of the fact its Grade II listed.While Millennium Mills itself is locally listed by Newham Council.
The must do slide shot
Some gimp in a mask - SOrry Coverturbex had to be said
and quite a lot from the Dock 
