Southside UE
Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2013
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 82
History
The sprawling industrial site of Pianoforte lies on the edge of the small rural village of Roade in the heartland of Northamptonshire.
In 1910 a London floor polishing paste firm known as J. Masters&Co began the manufacture of polishing paste on a site nearby the railway tracks along the small village train station.
J. Masters&Co closed after only 12 years in business and was purchased by a former employee, C.T Cripps. In 1923 Cripps founded ‘Pianoforte supplies Ltd’ which was dedicated to the production of castings and fixtures for Piano manufacturers and also successfully produced large quantities of fixture parts for automobiles.
In 1933 the factory suffered from severe fire damage and was rebuilt later that year.
During WWII the factory went into full time production creating spare vehicle and aircraft parts as part of a contribution to the war effort in Britain.
Later during the 1960’s employment peaked with the factory employing just over 1,800 workers, this success was however short lived and when the railway station of Roade was closed in 1964 Pianoforte began a slow journey into gradual decline.
In 1980 the factory ceased to production of piano parts altogether.
The explore
Explored with Landie Man and Mookster,
This site had been on the list for a while now, was nice to finally get it crossed off,
a huge site overall most of which is very nicely decayed and a great mooch,
Thanks to mookster for the guided tour,
Some photos off the compact and the gopro
Some clips of the explore here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWwubaMqymE
Thanks for looking.
The sprawling industrial site of Pianoforte lies on the edge of the small rural village of Roade in the heartland of Northamptonshire.
In 1910 a London floor polishing paste firm known as J. Masters&Co began the manufacture of polishing paste on a site nearby the railway tracks along the small village train station.
J. Masters&Co closed after only 12 years in business and was purchased by a former employee, C.T Cripps. In 1923 Cripps founded ‘Pianoforte supplies Ltd’ which was dedicated to the production of castings and fixtures for Piano manufacturers and also successfully produced large quantities of fixture parts for automobiles.
In 1933 the factory suffered from severe fire damage and was rebuilt later that year.
During WWII the factory went into full time production creating spare vehicle and aircraft parts as part of a contribution to the war effort in Britain.
Later during the 1960’s employment peaked with the factory employing just over 1,800 workers, this success was however short lived and when the railway station of Roade was closed in 1964 Pianoforte began a slow journey into gradual decline.
In 1980 the factory ceased to production of piano parts altogether.
The explore
Explored with Landie Man and Mookster,
This site had been on the list for a while now, was nice to finally get it crossed off,
a huge site overall most of which is very nicely decayed and a great mooch,
Thanks to mookster for the guided tour,
Some photos off the compact and the gopro
Some clips of the explore here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWwubaMqymE
Thanks for looking.
