tarboat's photos with the keyword: concrete

Corrugated iron extension to the factory of Numold (UK) Ltd at Gloucester. The business designs and make moulds for concrete castings. I suspect that this extension was used as a drawing/design office as it has a wall of windows to allow as much light in as possible. The building seemed to be out of use.

Small industrial operations are are well worth recording whilst out and about. This example is the Hanson operated concrete batching plant in Halifax. It will provide foe the small-scale ready-mixed concrete demand over this part of West Yorkshire.

Welcome to Sutton Coldfield. The rear of the Gracechurch shopping centre presents a barren windswept vista with its concrete panelled car park above the acres of unrelieved brickwork. All I wanted to do was get back to the station at the top of the road.

This unusual concrete house is on the hillside above Bradwell in Derbyshire. The layout of doors and windows at the lower level suggests that this may once have been three small houses but it is certainly only one today.

A rare sight these days is a water tower not festooned in phone masts.

FCB18 is a concrete barge built by Messrs Wates Ltd of Barrow-in-Furness in 1944. The use of concrete for building such vessels enabled a saving of around ⅔ of the amount of steel required for a conventional barge. It is now hidden away in a remote corner of the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port as certain people consider this important barge to be an eyesore as cement is not sexy enough for their populist ideals.

If you want ready-mixed concrete in Sheffield then this is the place to come to. Hope Construction Materials operate this plant on Harvest Lane, close to the city centre. The mixing tower incorporates a large Braithwaite tank adjacent to the cement silo.

In the dark days of 1940/41 there was a real fear of invasion after the German forces overran the nearby European countries, and desperate efforts were made to develop defences within Britain to help stop or at least slow down an invading force. One method was the use of roadblocks incorporating concrete cylinders that were supposed to be able to obstruct mechanised traffic. The remains in this image are part of a factory that was set up to manufacture these cylinders and was abandoned after the invasion scares were over. Since then it has lain derelict and quietly disappearing into the woodland that has developed on teh site. The pulley wheel is attached to one of three pan mills used for preparing materials and the corrugated iron sheets are what little is left of the building that once protected the machinery. There is also a batch concrete mixer and dozens of unused cylinders around the area.

A a study in concrete amidst the wasteland that is the former Thorpe Marsh power station.

This water tower in the Parish of Charlton, east of Malmesbury is surprisingly unpolluted by aerials and dishes.

The East Buxton Lime Works was opened in 1880 adjacent to the Midland Railway west of Millers Dale Station. The two kilns were cut into the solid rock and it was only in the 1920's that the concrete buttresses were added. The kilns were served by a narrow gauge tramway from the adjacent quarry. Production ended here in 1944.

Concrete batching plant and blondin system in use during the construction of the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric scheme on the Shannon. The project was run by Siemens and during construction, 5,000 men were employed, 65 miles of railway, including a line up from Limerick, were built, four major bridges were constructed and nine rivers and four streams were diverted. Postcard view c1928.

During the first world war there were a number of air attacks made upon the North-East coast by German aircraft. Zeppelins raided the area fifteen times between April 1915 and November 1917. Defence against these raids was very limited and depended on knowing when aircraft were approaching and from what direction. To this end a series of listening stations were erected along the coast (and also in the south of England) in the form of 'sound mirrors'. This example, now sitting in the midst of a Redcar housing estate, and listed Grade II, was constructed by the Royal Engineers in 1916. It is about 17ft high. The sound of the approaching aircraft was reflected off the concave surface and into a receiving trumpet mounted on a steel column in front. This was connected to the listening operator by a stethoscope and this was moved to find the part of the dish producing the most sound, which indicated the direction of approach. At least the local populace could then be given advanced warning of the impending raid. Acoustic listening devices of various shapes were constructed along the coasts until the 1930s after which they began to be replaced by Radar.

Twin block railway sleepers stacked at the Stanton Bonna concrete factory at Stanton by Dale. This company has supplied materials to the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from London to Folkestone, and for light rail systems at Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham.

Day's end with the Winnington and Wallerscote sites of the Brunner Mond soda ash works to the left of the river and Anderton concrete factory to the right.

I find a lot of interest in the shapes and structures of concrete and aggregates plant. This particular example I happened upon whilst looking for brickworks remains at Chickerell near Weymouth. The brickworks had long been demolished and replaced with this works and the council refuse department garage and workshops with an enormous stockpile of wheelie bins at the back.

Mossley water tower in Congleton.

Water tower close to the Kostolac 'A' power station, Serbia.