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  1. #1
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    Default Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    Not done a report in ages with having a busy summer, so it IS pic heavy. Soz about that, but this place is HUGE.

    I had wanted to get into here for many years, and trying several times at various stages of the redevelopment down there. Did eventually find a way in, which for me was pushing it a bit but never the less it was doable. So I gave Grea a ring to see if he was up for it and we had a crack at it.
    There's a lot on the site here, built in the 1870s though an old OS map shows buildings on the same footprints as early as 1823. My mam used to work there in the late 1960s when one of the mills was still being for textiles so it had long been a plan to get in and try and imagine what it was like. On with a few piccies then.

    Caddies Wainright, Phoenix Mill and Navigation Warehouse


    It's a pretty substantial collection of mills, there used to be 35 in total but as most of the smaller buildings were demolished to make way for the new Hepworth Wakefield art gallery leaving 10 mills, most of which are Grade II listed.


    The charming old Gate House:


    Grea weighs up his options with one of the gates:


    It's properly pitch black inside due to everything being boarded up. It reminded me of the first time we went to Crabtrees in Bradford, crawling through the hole on top of that 2cv in the blackness. Long exposures and 1600lm of light painting are the order of the day






    This floor here contained around 60 little art studios, individually partitioned off rather crudely with plyboard and liquid nails. Again it was pitch black, this was another long exposure illuminated with a 5million candle power torch.


    Moving around to Rutland Mill itself, this has the unique curved facade. This is inside it:




    Harris Court Mill style floors! Caused with the expansion of the timber. Very spongey under foot:


    Looking out towards Phoenix Mill, this one is supposed to be haunted, stupendously haunted with many stories of strange goings on in there. This was completely locked down, and had been locked since the Most Haunted TV crews finished their filming, prior to that it had been locked for 20yrs.


    This shot was taken from the 3rd floor wooden walkway linking Rutland Mill to it's neighbour. The warehouse in the mill here is the former warehouse space of Wilkes Group Services, where they held their stock supply for their vending machines.


    Looking up to the walkway from the Wilkes warehouse:


    I spy with my little eye...


    Lone chair shot:


    Once out the scaffold around the Caddies Wainright warehouse proved to be too tempting:


    Looking over to the new Hepworth, with the 17th century watermill to the left of it:


    Underneath the new Caddies roof:


    On the way back down the scaffold we spotted an opening we missed earlier in the day. Hidden away behind rubble and bushes, we had a walk down and ended up in the cellars of the haunted Phoenix Mill. Proper creepy and the air is really cold in there. There was no access to the upper floors of Phoenix from the cellar, access was from an elevated walkway that was demolished a couple of years back.

    More images on my Flickr page as usual, some XP2 shots too but it was a bit of a fail due to the light, or lack of it. Shooting film in low light isn't my strongpoint.

    Cheers for looking, and being patient reading through this tosh!
    Last edited by Canonite; 02-10-2011 at 11:09 PM.

  2. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Canonite For This Useful Post:

    coops (04-10-2011), myke (03-10-2011), okidoke (02-10-2011), Smiler (02-10-2011), yorkietommo (03-10-2011)

  3. #2
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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    Really nice report fella. Pass by here all the time and often wondered if there was owt left worth doing.

    No doubt they'll all be soulless flats soon enough.
    Forget The Darkside - I'm Mr Brightside!

  4. #3
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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    excellent pics
    yesterday is history.tomorrow is a mystery. today is a gift thats why is called present

  5. #4
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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    is that the place over the road from the chantry chappel ? if so well done for getting in it looked like a fortress except for scaffold when i looked.
    the cellar looked cool (same as it felt lol) nice history too

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    Smiler (03-10-2011)

  7. #5
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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    Top dollar, nice to see what its like in here
    ________________

    A picture is not a picture without no depth of feeling....

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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    cheers for the report....reet nice inside shame soon be flats ......nice picks
    ...

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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    Good informative stuff mate ..thanks for posting
    "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them, and allow them into heaven. I can't live with that."

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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    The cellar looks interesting. Did you get into the old Harrats site? Used to be stuffed full of damaged cars.

  11. #9
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    Default Re: Rutland Mills Complex, Wakefield - Sept 2011

    Cheers guys. It is a bit of a fortress, well secured. Not a great deal of stuff left in, it's been well stripped over the years. The Harrats building is linked to the mill via a door, but there was padlocks and chains over it. The Harrats building is to be demolished along with all the central warehouse space and turned into a grassed courtyard that provides pedestrian access through to the Hepworth.

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