Exploring

Reports.

King Edward VI Boys Grammar School, Stafford - October 2019

12 October 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

The Free Grammar School of King Edward VI was first established in Stafford in 1550 to provide free education to young boys. In 1862 a new building was erected for the school on Newport Road and would serve as the home of the boys' grammar school for over 100 years. Stafford Girls' High School was Read more

Sandonia Cinema, Stafford - October 2019

06 October 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

This was one of those irritating local places that just always seemed to be impossible to get inside! Obviously I'd seen Speed's reports from way back when which showed the inside was largely stripped out, so of course it was never going to be a top of the list item. We were down in Stafford on a Read more

Top Bridge Works (Price and Kensington), Stoke on Trent - September 2019

27 September 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

For whatever reason in the years that I've been doing this I'd never actually had a serious look at this place, I guess it just never really looked worth the effort, but I think I was wrong really, I probably should have had a look years ago when it wasn't so wet. It's one of those weird places Read more

Stoke-on-Trent Workshops for the Blind - September 2019

16 September 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

The Workshops for the Blind were closed in 2013, naturally it was straight on my radar, especially with it being a nice old art deco style industrial building (my favourite). However, since closing it has had very tight security and therefore has taken lots of persistence but as always it has Read more

Erecting Shop/10 Shop, Crewe Locomotive Works - September 2019

04 September 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility built in 1840 by the Grand Junction Railway. It is located in the town of Crewe, in Cheshire. It is currently owned by Bombardier Transportation. At its height, Crewe Works employed over 20,000 people; in 2005 fewer than 1,000 remained on site, Read more

Dudson Pottery, Stoke on Trent - Summer 2019

30 August 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

Dudson is a British company that manufactured fine china. It was one of the oldest china companies in England, founded in 1800. It was one of the first of the pottery companies to identify a need for products specifically to serve the hospitality market and soon after its launch began exclusively Read more

Liverpool Fruit Exchange - February 2019

27 February 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

There seems to be relatively little information about this place on the internet, hence I've just wheeled out the standard chunk of history that people have been using from Historic England. No.10-16 Victoria Street was built in c.1888 as a railway goods depot for the London & North Western Read more

Derby and Hartley Buildings, Liverpool University - February 2019

03 February 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

Similarly with the Fruit Exchange there appears to be minimal information available on the internet about these buildings, there is a fairly detailed history of Liverpool University available here: British History. There are brief mentions of the Hartley building as follows: a handsome botanical Read more

Cardiff City Asylum, Whitchurch - January 2019

08 January 2019 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

I have a previous report on here from August 2017, during that visit we had really been limited in what we saw due to the place being fairly tight, so I'd wanted to come back ever since really. We made a brief flying visit last year on the way back from Cefn Coed but we just had a bit of a mooch Read more

Brough Nicholson and Hall's, Royal York Mill, Leek - December 2018

30 December 2018 - Posted in Exploring by tomr - Comments

Brough Nicholson & Hall were once one of the major employers in the milling town of Leek, the above image shows the vastness of their factories. The Royal York Mill is the tall, rectangular, flat roofed one shown towards the top of the image. A number of the other buildings survive to this day Read more