SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

When out on a bike ride yesterday I came across a large derelict chemical factory which covered acres of land close to the river Aire. There were dozens of derelict buildings from the Victorian era onwards. The large chimney will probably give its location away to most of you but I did end up having my photo taken by the security guards and a good ticking off for trespassing. I have forgotten how to upoload pics into the forum but you can look at my Flickr pages to see some of the pics I took, there are more pics but I have yet to upload them. If somebody can recommend a good free picture hosting website and write the HTML code I use to post in the forum I will be happy to post them all for your enjoyment., In the meantime please click the link below to see what I am on about:http://www.flickr.com/photos/12267018@N ... /ta!Johnny

jonleeds wrote: When out on a bike ride yesterday I came across a large derelict chemical factory which covered acres of land close to the river Aire. There were dozens of derelict buildings from the Victorian era onwards. The large chimney will probably give its location away to most of you but I did end up having my photo taken by the security guards and a good ticking off for trespassing. I have forgotten how to upoload pics into the forum but you can look at my Flickr pages to see some of the pics I took, there are more pics but I have yet to upload them. If somebody can recommend a good free picture hosting website and write the HTML code I use to post in the forum I will be happy to post them all for your enjoyment., In the meantime please click the link below to see what I am on about:http://www.flickr.com/photos/12267018@N ... /ta!Johnny Copy and paste this to view - SL application doesn't recognise '@' as part of a hyperlink.Have a look in Tech Help for a refresher on uploading here Jon.Have a look in tech help for a refresher in how to upload here

Ok, here it goes, here is another pic from my Derelict Chemical Factory collection:

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Alrite folksbit of a mess but here are a few more pics, if you cant see them in the forum click on the link, this place I visited had lots of lovely machines with control consoles featuring buttons / knobs / dials / counters etc. Well worth a visit if you are stealthy about it.Johnny

Hi again!I havent posted on this forum for months until yesterday, is it still quite a busy site or do people just occasionally pop in now and then like I am doing? What is the urban exploration scene like now? Anything interesting happening? I keep seeing new derelict sites popping up, an interesting one is the old Gilchrist Bros factory just opposite my flats on the outer ring road at West Park, just at the side of the Leeds - Harrogate railway line by the bridge. Its an old factory which is now completely boarded up, the disused quarry to the rear and the factory site have all had planning permission recently approved for a massive new 'urban village' development including hotels, houses, pub, apartments, shops and a park and ride rail stop amongst other things. All this was applied for tho prior to the global recession so I doubt its gonna still happen in the current economic climate. Anyway if anyone is interested have a gander before they rip it down. Security is very lax, I know that a couple of weeks ago some lads stole £4000 worth of copper piping and lead roofing flashings and amongst the scrap metal community the tales of this place are travelling far and wide. So use it or lose it!Johnny

Whereabouts is the chemical factory?

in Leeds of course!

Was it the old guy who caught you Jon? He appeared from nowhere when we looked at the place in the Winter of 2008.. He was on the ball, reckoned there was CC.T.V but we never saw it. Anyway he wasn't a bad fella when you got talking to him. He (was) employed there at one time. He still had the keys, he took us round on an informative guided tour of the place lol. There is a huge boiler type thing inside clad in rockwall, I used to have some pics on flickr of it. But i've just had a mass deleting spree of stuff. I'll see if i have any shots left of the place. It wasn't massively inspiring inside i thought though.

Ey up PhilI didnt get caught by any old guy with keys who took me on a guided tour, although I have a feeling I know who you mean, I actually was pulled up by security guards from a neighbouring site who had seen me entering the site and they nabbed me when I was departing. They were pretty unfriendly despite my efforts to placate them with banter etc. They made some laughable allusions about how I was 'doing a recce' with regards to returning later with my diddycoy mates. The fact that the security guards were an african immigrant and a person of asian origin made it even more hilarious, talk about one ethinic minority descriminating against another, and been told where I can go in my own country by people! I know what you mean about this interior tho Phil, despite the whole place looking intriguing there is sweet nothing to see inside unless banks of panels and switches float your boat, and most of these have been hacked to bits by pikies anyway. Its still worth a gander tho if anyone has a few hours to kill, some interesting photo opportunities if you are good with a camera which I wouldnt pretend to be. If anyone else is interested its just off Low Hall Road near Calverley.