Frostyjoshyb
Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2016
- Messages
- 20
- Reaction score
- 79
The History
The original Cobbold brewery was founded in Harwich, Essex in 1723 and in 1746 the Cobbold Cliff Brewery was founded, at Cliff Lane, Ipswich. The current building of 1896 is a tower brewery by William Bradford. The Tollemache Brewery was founded in the 1880s by sons of John Tollemache, 1st Baron Tollemache. The family acquired Ipswich Brewery from Cullingham & Co. in 1880, the Essex Brewery at Walthamstow in 1920, a controlling share of the Star Brewery, Cambridge in 1930 and full control in 1947. Tollemache and Cobbold merged in 1957 to form Tolly Cobbold. Tolly Cobbold was taken over by Ellerman Lines in 1977 and was later sold to Brent Walker in 1989 when production of Tolly Cobbold Beers was transferred to Camerons Brewery. The brewery was then acquired by Ridley's brewery in 2002. Three years later, Ridley's Brewery was taken over by Suffolk-based Greene King in 2005. Tolly Original, the only Tolly Cobbold beer that Ridley's continued to brew in Chelmsford, is likely to become extinct since Greene King are unlikely to continue brewing it. Greene King was the main sponsor of Ipswich Town F.C., which was established by the Cobbold family.
The Explore
This was the first of two sites we planned on visiting in the same day. Finding this place was tricky, because from the road it doesn't look abandoned at all. But after some googling, dodgy u-turns and a few swear words, we finally managed to park and stretch our legs after being on the road for a while. Once we gained access, the sheer size of the building was incredible. After having a look round the grounds and getting some photos, we thought we'd move inside. Now this however wasn't easy, and after meeting a few dead ends, we were instantly disappointed that we couldn't get it, so we made the decision to pack up and head onto the next site. While walking up the slope from one of the out buildings we bumped into three young lads around 13 years old, which made all of us jump! After saying hello, my girlfriend asked "I don't suppose you know how to get in do you?" and one of them replies "yes we do, we'll show you, follow us!" and we both took a huge sigh of relief because we would have been gutted if we left without seeing inside. After we had a look inside, which wasn't the safest of place to be around. The lad said "do you want to see the salt mountain?" both looking at each other confused, we nodded and began to follow them. And what we saw in the other hidden buildings were amazing. Thinking we could have missed all this, we were grateful to these boys that helped us, we couldn't thank them enough.
The Main Building
Out Building
"Salt Mountain"
This place was brilliant but it was a shame it was too dangerous to get to the top, because I feel like there were more awesome photo opportunities.
Thanks for viewing.
Frosty!
