Reed Corrigated Cases Factory - Lower Lydbrook ARCHIVED

[Tumbles]

Thought I'd share this one as Silverstealth seemed quite intrested when I told him about it last weekend. This is a bit of a long tale.. I tend to waffle

I love the forest of dean and particularly the area around Lydbrook where the river wye winds away and there is a little YHA situated on the side of the river known as 'Welsh Bicknor'.



I used to visit this place when I was 14-15 and spent many a happy weekend here. The Youth Hostel was converted from what was originally the vicarage to the beautiful little church that sits on the edge of the river.



On the otherside of the Wye laid a big industial factory. This side of the wye was called 'English Bicknor' but also known as 'Lower Lydbrook'



I remember at the time thinking about the strange contrast of how pretty the church was on one side and how on this side was a reminder of the industrial heritage that the forest used to have. All the tin and coal mines are gone and only a few places such as this remained.



When I first went back to properly explore this place in Febuary it was a walk in explore. Given the area it's of little suprise, a sleepy backwater village with no sign of a chav anywhere. I didn't really have much idea what I'd find and to be honest it was a nice little explore but a little bare. The factory had been used as a corrigated cases factory from the mid to late 60's and what remained was vast warehouses similar to that of a car plant.



Like nearly every other visit to this part of the world the sun was out, albeit it a cold february sun. From the top of the paper pulp tower you could see for miles down the wye and surround area.



It wasn't really till I got home and started researching this place that I realised it had a far greater history than just a cardboard factory. I had noticed on the way out air raid shelters. This led me to research just why they were there.



In 1912 Harold J Smith purchased land at Stowfield and erected The Lydbrook Cable Works. The First World War provided a number of contracts with employee numbers expanding from 40 to 650 with double shilfts being worked. With the end of the War, came a slump in business, and in 1920 the Official Receiver was brought in ending Smith’s connection with the Factory.

The business was bought in 1925 by Edison Swan Electric Company. With the greater resources avaialable the plant at Stowfiled further expanded, and was well placed to help with the Second World War possessing one of only four machines for making lead alloy tube needed for P.L.U.T.O. - (Petroleum Lines Under The Ocean), which allowed fuel to be supplied to the Allied invasion force on the Continent from Britain. In the late 1940s,

Edison Swan was swallowed up by the Associated Electrical Company. Integrated with the Siemens Cable Works at Woolwich the Stowfield Factory at its height employed approximately 1,100 people. The Cable Works came to an end in 1966 when the Factory was bought by Reed Paper Group, which in its turn was taken over by a Swedish Company SCA. The factory finally ceased to be used around 2004

With this in mind I made a return visit as I'd only felt I'd visited 40% of the site last time. I wasn't really expecting the administration offices to be anything special given the rest of the sites general style and construction.



But then again it's nice to be suprised once in a while.



What I'd stumbled across when taking a few others from London for a 'explore to pass the afternoon' was something that looked straight out of an administration building of an asylum. Stained glass windows, oak staircases, mosaic floors.



It was beautiful, only slighly ruined by some idiot who's gone into the loft and spilt 1000's of work orders dating back to the 1940s. These orders were for cables used in the war. I could have sat for hours reading them.



If that wasn't enough, at the top of the stairs was this little room..



It might not be everyone's cup of tea.. but for me this was one of the best explores and finds of the year.

[Tumbles]

Some more pictures from yesterday..

The river Wye practically bursting its banks due to the heavy rain



Back to that lovely administration block











Some of the main factory





Poor old Zippy (drove his car through and wreaked the engine on the spot)