advertisement


Industrial Decline

I read that the other day, with difficulty, as it actually incited vertigo although I was lying in bed at the time. I watched again that footage of Fred Dibnah climbing to the top of a vast chimney quite recently, with a similar feature at the top. The effect both had on me was intense.
 
EKRQe8.jpg


Beqv3J.jpg


The Quarry at Trevean, immediately south of Manacle Point on the Lizard, twenty five odd years ago, on my birthday as I recall. All gone now.

I can't recall the camera, either my F3 or an OM4. The stock was HP5.
 
fJrvVp.jpg


Levant Mine, Cornwall, looking across the mine workshops to the compressor house chimney.


fRHUSA.jpg


Guide Shaft engine house at Higher Levant. This was an unusual dual action engine that operated both pump and winder - usually there would be an engine dedicated to each, operating via a common headframe over the shaft. There are extensive mountings for the machinery in front of the engine, and the shaft is still open as the mine was reworked by neighbouring Geevor Mine in the 1970s. There is still some pumping here, as Geevor is visitable down to adit level. You can hear the ghostly clank of the pumps when you stand close to any of the several open shafts at Levant.

Levant's Skip Shaft still has a working steam operated winding engine, rescued by the skin of the teeth from the scrapmen in the 1930s. Unfortunately they got to the pumping engine before the requiste funds could be raised. The mine is now under the auspices of the National Trust.

Pentax 645n/Ilford FP4+ in Perceptol.
 
Last edited:
UgFVqJ.jpg


A fairly typical century-old post industrial landscape behind the hamlet of Trewellard in Cornwall, a winding path through gloomy gorse and scrub, with the still open shafts of old mines, and the delapidated ruins of engine houses to each side. Google earth reveals this area to be extensively pockmarked with ancient mine workings.
 
I have to thank @eternumviti here, before I went to Cornwall I got in touch regardaing Tin Mines, and he pointed out that there were a couple about 2-3 miles from where I was staying, being an early riser (and my wife isn't), I visited these a couple of times early in the morning, the first time was full of bright sunlight and shadows, the second time more photographically rewarding.

Trewavas Mine - operational between 1835 and 1846, the mine workings went out under the sea

From Wikipedia

There are two engine houses. The building to the west served the first shaft, Old Engine Shaft, which was in operation by 1834. It housed an engine of cylinder diameter 18 inches, to pump water from the mine. To the east, New Engine Shaft began operation in 1836; it had a 45-inch engine. The mine employed about 160 men, and the workings extended under the sea. The mine was successful; it brought up about 17,500 long tons (17,800 t) of copper.

The mine eventually closed because of flooding. There is a story that the annual dinner of the "tributers" was to take place in a tunnel under the sea; two men making final preparations to the tables noticed water leaking from the tunnel roof, and quickly left. The sea soon broke in, before the time planned for the dinner.


Trewavas Mine-1
by David Yeoman, on Flickr


Trewavas Mine-2
by David Yeoman, on Flickr


Trewavas Mine-3
by David Yeoman, on Flickr


Trewavas Mine-4
by David Yeoman, on Flickr
 
Levant Mine - Arsenic Works

This dates from 1870s and was built to produce Arsenic as a bi-product of calcining (roasting) tin concentrate to drive off impurities. A long stone flue carried hot arsenic laden gasses to condensing chambers where arsenic soot crystallised on the walls. It was then scraped off (by hand!). It was used in dyeing clothes, making lead shot, coloured wallpaper, medicine and as pesticide. This mine produced over 400 tons of crude Arsenic.


Levant Mine - Arsenic Works-1
by David Yeoman, on Flickr


Levant Mine - Arsenic Works-2
by David Yeoman, on Flickr


Levant Mine - Arsenic Works-3
by David Yeoman, on Flickr
 
67LzyW.jpg


MkGnu0.jpg



8TM6u6.jpg


OwAjDD.jpg



QVkiAd.jpg


C28mKp.jpg



QgB3ql.jpg


ROkpwC.jpg



42E9a1.jpg


GYDt0q.jpg



Bb8HHY.jpg


hQj22z.jpg


Around Shad Thames & St.Saviours Dock, London, 1980 and 2022

Pentax ES/HP5 and Huawei P20

The recent photos were taken from memory after I had found the old negatives earlier this year. I wanted to make the comparison using the same camera, given to me by my late grandfather in 1977, but I couldn't make the poor old thing work.
 
Last edited:
Still an amazing record of photos though

Thanks David, as I've just added, I didn't have the original files with me, but managed to get roughly the correct vantage points from memory, having scanned the old negs a few nights before.

One walk where quite a few of the old warehouses have survived, at least after a fashion. The soul has gone though, along with the grubbiness, neglect, and the Dockhead Cafe!
 
I had a quick scout on Google too, but I didn't actually find some of the locations again until I was actually on the ground. Although I've eaten at the smart restaurants in Shad Thames, I haven't actually been back to these places since that last visit 42 years ago!

It was empty of people then, it's now swarming with keen young techie types with backpacks and cycles.
 
Just saw these posts and thought of a trip we made to Svalbard a few years ago. The remains of the coal industry still litters the landscape. You can make out glaciers in the background rolling between the mountains (which are a distinctive shape as ice has previously eroded their tops).

QVyxTMP.jpg


The human cost of the industry appears in scattered graveyards around the valleys.

VEBeHHG.jpg
 
The last standing Blondin Tower at a Welsh Slate Quarry - Pen-yr-Orsedd, a visit on Saturday.

Words from Roger Powley - The aerial ropeway system consisted of six towers and extended across New Quarry on Level 8 and was used for lifting and transporting wagons of slate from the pit. The tower is now a listed Scheduled Ancient Monument, an indication of its historical and archaeololgical industrial significance. The other towers have collapsed and lie in various stages of decay.


Pen-yr-Orsedd-1
by David Yeoman, on Flickr


Pen-yr-Orsedd-6
by David Yeoman, on Flickr


Pen-yr-Orsedd-7
by David Yeoman, on Flickr
 
Hays Wharf, Southwark, Then & Now.

cwsMiv.jpg


2SnLg6.jpg


1980 & 2022. I think this is one of the most depressing then & nows. The river has been banished, and the windows in Hays Galleria, as its now known, appear to be uPVC, though they may be aluminium fashioned in the style of uPVC.

This range of warehouses used to be known as 'the larder of London'. It is now utterly soulless, but I guess at least its still there.
 
Hays Wharf, Southwark, Then & Now.

....

1980 & 2022. I think this is one of the most depressing then & nows. The river has been banished, and the windows in Hays Galleria, as its now known, appear to be uPVC, though they may be aluminium fashioned in the style of uPVC.

This range of warehouses used to be known as 'the larder of London'. It is now utterly soulless, but I guess at least its still there.

This is 'progress', as you say at least they are still standing, I've just spent the weekend in Newcastle and most of the Tyne Waterfront is now a Salford Quays style development, very few original buildings left. The only way these old buildings will survive is through re-purposing, some will more sympathetic than others, the trick is to leave enough patina to make them believable - it's a fine line. Fortunately there was a fantastic Chris Killip 'Shipbuilding' exhibition in the Laing Art Gallery :)
 
Last edited:
Hays Wharf, Southwark, Then & Now.

cwsMiv.jpg


2SnLg6.jpg


1980 & 2022. I think this is one of the most depressing then & nows. The river has been banished, and the windows in Hays Galleria, as its now known, appear to be uPVC, though they may be aluminium fashioned in the style of uPVC.

This range of warehouses used to be known as 'the larder of London'. It is now utterly soulless, but I guess at least its still there.
I hate to be a party pooper but I prefer the modern view with it in use. The buildings are still visible and present. I can show you similar in Bradford with "authentic" derelict disused mill buildings that haven't been redeveloped because there is no money, and the places may be pretty and nostalgic but they don't provide work or housing or any human benefit. This contributes to Bradford being an abandoned poverty stricken dump with no work, high crime and all the rest.
 
Can't disagree with most that, Steve. As I said above, at least these buildings are still there. Most were unceremoniously smashed down.

But even when they're restored and repurposed, something is inevitably going to be lost. It is a matter of balancing modern requirements with sensitivity to the historic function and appearance of the buildings. I strongly feel that in the case of Hays Galleria the architects dropped the ball. You might argue in the case of Convent Garden, to take another example, that the balance has been more on the side of something gained.

Actually I think that this is even true of the London Bridge Hospital end of Hays Wharf, which is very true to the original. I don't know if the architects were the same.
 


advertisement


Back
Top