Pilkington's Tile & Pottery Co. Ltd, Clifton, Manchester - Feb 2011.

[crippletron 3000]

Pilkington's Tile & Pottery Co. Ltd, Clifton, Manchester.



Pilkington's Tiles was established when a coal-mining enterprise struck clay rather than coal. The owners called on William Burton, a chemist with Josiah Wedgwood who suggested that the clay would make good tiles. He was engaged to run the business and production started in 1892.

Ceramic tiles were first produced by Pilkington’s in 1893 at their Clifton Junction factory. The tiles were made by compressing dried clay dust into a steel die or mould. After firing in a kiln, the biscuit fired tiles, that is tiles which have been fired once, were taken for glazing either with a plain glaze or for decorating by the paintresses.

The company went on to become one of the leading tile manufacturers in the UK, and continues today. They have manufactured a wide range of tiles over the years, from hand-painted and lustre tiles to commercial kitchen and bathroom ranges in more recent years. The company amalgamated with Carter & Co in 1964 and took over George Wooliscroft & Son in 2000.

Its tiles are supplied directly to householders as well as builders, DIY chains, builders' merchants and architects. They are used in schools, airports, hospitals and homes and its brands include Pilkington's and Quiligotti Terrazzo.

The firm went into Administration in June 2010 after existing since 1892. Since then around 40 employees had been kept on to fulfill orders and wind down the factory. It has subsequently been stripped of it's assets, many of which already auctioned off and removed, however we did see some machinery remaining which was labelled up with lot numbers.


After a 4am start, followed by FAIL, we then headed on to recce another site (watch this space)..

Recce complete, we headed onto target No.3 a cheeky underground utilities mooch. On our way home we decided to try our luck at Pilkingtons as a final hit - Success!

I have attempted this place in the past, resulting in failure, infact it was only 5 months ago when me and AndyJ went wandering about when the site was in full swing and had to fast retreat when we spotted workers

We did manage to access the treatment works on the other end of the site, so all wasn't wasted.

A chilled explore this one, and a good way to end the day, just a shame we didn't retry this place about a month ago, as I'm convinced there would have been much more to see...

We spent a considerable amount of time rooting through the various buildings, opting to stay away from certain areas due to uncertainty.

In a way I'm glad we stopped by, but was fairly disappointed in what was remaining, still a worthy mooch if your at a loose end.


The first building we encountered




There was a Workshop in here and various samples of tiles & FSDU's from the Factory Shop








Next up a smaller, but still hooj production area, sadly all the machinery had been stripped here




However there were plenty of tiles kicking around






Nozzle




Machine bed




Moar production sheds




Tile cutter & shizzle




Another larger, but stripped production area




Then we went for a mooch about in various rooms & buildings before heading outside










Some externals








Kilns, except we didn't get close, as bizzarely was still live complete with CCTV & PIR




Outside were pallets of tiles awaiting shipment, infact 2 yards full




Inside the iconic landmark

[Nicola]

Oh my days - that is fecking ACE!

[MJS]

Nice one cripplepants thumb thumb thumb

[crippletron 3000]

It's not a drain

[MJS]

hahahaa

[MJS]

Insane in the drain

[crippletron 3000]

Insane in the men drain

[MJS]

[SilentHill]

Fooookin awesome splorin

[judderman62]

looks alright does that