In the first week of January I decided to go on a recce of three sites near to each other (one of my new year's resolutions!), including Racal Electronics.
Racal was closed in the year 2000, some six & a half years ago, resulting in the loss of 109 jobs. This factory manufactured communications equipment, mainly for the MOD, and in 1999 the communications subsidiary of the company was sold to an American company, which was subsequently moved to the US.
The empty factory sits in quite well-maintained grounds & the whole site is enclosed in security fencing. I walked around taking photographs of the outside, all of which can be seen in the Gallery, and along the side access road to the rear.
This photo of graffiti clearly shows what one former employee thinks of the American company!
As I moved on I saw that part of the fence was open, much to my surprise, & with a bit of trepidation (I was on my own), I snuck in.
On the other side of the rear was a derelict shelter right next to the river bank. I'm not sure what it was for but could have been a bus connection point or motorbike/cycle parking.
Opposite that was a locked door into the building which had signs of someone trying to force entry and a small alley with two doors, one for the shop floor and another one. I tried each of the doors, not expecting to get in, but again I was surprised when the third door opened. It was a very dull day at that point, and was very dark inside. As I was alone and had no tripod with me, I decided to take a some pics from where I stood, of the stairs and the doorway into the assembly floor. I'm afraid the pictures of the stairs were inadvertantly scanned in as landscape instead of portrait, so the images are on their sides, but otherwise I'm pleased the indoor one's came out as I had to use a very slow shutter speed, keeping as steady as I could.
As I was taking photos I suddenly heard voices from upstairs then footsteps coming down, so I quickly and quietly vacated the building, and had just got to the end of the alley when I heard 'Oi!'. Major heart-attack!!! Fortunately I heard my name called right after & quickly realised I knew one of the two guys that came out. Apparently they were shifting some stuff and were the keyholders of the padlock to the fence that was open (which I hadn't actually noticed on the way in). It's a good job I didn't hide as I could have got locked inside the fence when they left!
Cheers,
Foxylady.
Racal was closed in the year 2000, some six & a half years ago, resulting in the loss of 109 jobs. This factory manufactured communications equipment, mainly for the MOD, and in 1999 the communications subsidiary of the company was sold to an American company, which was subsequently moved to the US.
The empty factory sits in quite well-maintained grounds & the whole site is enclosed in security fencing. I walked around taking photographs of the outside, all of which can be seen in the Gallery, and along the side access road to the rear.
This photo of graffiti clearly shows what one former employee thinks of the American company!
As I moved on I saw that part of the fence was open, much to my surprise, & with a bit of trepidation (I was on my own), I snuck in.
On the other side of the rear was a derelict shelter right next to the river bank. I'm not sure what it was for but could have been a bus connection point or motorbike/cycle parking.
Opposite that was a locked door into the building which had signs of someone trying to force entry and a small alley with two doors, one for the shop floor and another one. I tried each of the doors, not expecting to get in, but again I was surprised when the third door opened. It was a very dull day at that point, and was very dark inside. As I was alone and had no tripod with me, I decided to take a some pics from where I stood, of the stairs and the doorway into the assembly floor. I'm afraid the pictures of the stairs were inadvertantly scanned in as landscape instead of portrait, so the images are on their sides, but otherwise I'm pleased the indoor one's came out as I had to use a very slow shutter speed, keeping as steady as I could.
As I was taking photos I suddenly heard voices from upstairs then footsteps coming down, so I quickly and quietly vacated the building, and had just got to the end of the alley when I heard 'Oi!'. Major heart-attack!!! Fortunately I heard my name called right after & quickly realised I knew one of the two guys that came out. Apparently they were shifting some stuff and were the keyholders of the padlock to the fence that was open (which I hadn't actually noticed on the way in). It's a good job I didn't hide as I could have got locked inside the fence when they left!
Cheers,
Foxylady.
Brew coming up!
