Clay Cross Foundry
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Clay Cross Foundry was originally part of The Clay Cross Company. Founded in 1837 by George Stephenson, the railway pioneer. Whilst constructing his Derby to Leeds railway.
During construction of the railway and the Clay Cross tunnel. Rich coal seams where discovered and turned Clay Cross virtually overnight into a successful manufacturing town producing coal, iron ore and iron and limestone.
When Stephenson died in 1848 his son took over the comapny until 1871. When it was taken over by Sir William Jackson who by 1913 had made the company limited.
When the collieries were nationalised in 1946 Clay Cross lost its colliery and gas works. Due to changes in manufacturing processes and the reduced need for pig-iron, the blast furnaces were demolished in 1959.
The Clay Cross became a public company in 1966 and in 1974 was taken over by RMC (Ready Mixed Concrete). In 1985 after RMC changed ownership a number of times, the company was bought by the Biwater Group.
The death of the company came in 1998 when it was bought by Stanton and was closed within 6 months.
Since the company closed little has changed on the site. In recent years it has been used as an Airsoft site with some of the outer buildings leased off as small industrial units.
As of September 2008 the site is currently being demolished as we found out to our surprise when we visited. The sad thing is that for a site with such and impressive and famous history it will be lost forever in a matter of weeks.
The only things that will remain are the ventilation tubes that litter the village. As for the foundry itself, no doubt it will be converted to housing.
Although there are still quite a few buildings still standing as of late September 08. The majority of them are literally just shells and shadows of their former selves.
The light that creeps through the broken windows and holes in the roof provide some nice natural lighting, making some sections rather photogenic.
Its just rather a sad ending really to a very pioneering and historical site. Not only that there are very few sites of this magnitude still standing.
Lets hope the new develoment does the place justice it deserves.
