Robert Fletcher's Paper Mill, Greenfield, Jan '11

[KooK.]

Part 2 of a trio of win! Explored with jST and Lauren (off-forum)

After a early (*ahem* late) start to the morning and ticking off an initial win, we headed over here had a great explore then rounded of the day of win with some awesome pies in Uppermill. Unfortunately marred somewhat after stopping by Dalton to check out the extent of the damage caused by the recent fire.

Anyhoo;

Robert Fletcher has produced paper since 1823 but in 1986, the company became part of the Melton Medes group. As non-UK sales represented up to 45% of the company's annual 20,000 tonnes output, the strength of the pound hit hard.

Greenfield Mill was one of two mills operated by Robert Fletcher & Son Ltd, for the manufacture of lightweight high opacity paper bible and cigarette paper. It closed in July 2001, following the closure of the company’s Stoneclough site the previous year.

The type of paper they produced has become quite unpopular in the UK due to the amount of chemicals (especially chlorine) used in its production as Europe moves towards TCF (totally-chlorine free) or ECF (elemental-chlorine free) production.

Having just read the chapter in The Story of Stuff on paper production I was astounded by the amount of chemicals used in the process and recognised quite a few of the chemicals labelled up.

From the Robert Fletcher Facebook Group:

And a few I took:

om nom nom

A dancer in a cupboard? Fancy.

Probably used by industrial divers.

Thanks for looking

 

[kevsy21]

Looks a decent place that,good stuff.

 

[jjstenso]

Looks a decent place that,good stuff.

Kev, it's absolutely quality...

Thanks to KooK for tolerating my morning tardiness on which turned out to be an excellent day's exploring. This was one of the finest and most varied explores I've had the privilege to experience and the only one to feature a partly devoured dead sheep.

No troubles from security, as they were holed up in their little house. Obviously not really on top of their game as there were two "gushers" from burst pipework, which were soaking through the structures from the inside... thought they'd have let the owners know and have those capped off by now.

Here are a few of the shots I got.

Thanks for having a looksie.

 

[KooK.]

Aye tis a top explore Kev, and I'd say not too far from halfway between thee and er..us (what's Yorkshire for us?) if you ever fancy meetin up again, I'd love to go back, with a little picnic to stop me getting mid-explore tummy-rumbles!

 

[lost]

I've really liked the look of this place since I first saw it reported on a couple of years ago, good to see it's still in decent nick.

 

[tumbles]

Those water pipes have been burst for well over 2 years. Given the powers been on for the past 9 years I don't think anyone cares at all.

Is the phone still ringing in the offices upstairs? Bet those Compaq ProLiant servers are still churning away in the server room too!

Fletchers is such a great explore, good to see its still doable.