STEEPLEJACK'S CORNER 2012

[Stanley]

Interesting comment Tom..... Chimneys varied a lot didn't they. Swabs was like a milk bottle when you compare the thickness of the wall at the base with its ground area. It was almost 40 feet across inside the base.

[Spinningweb]

Mentioning photos that was something which hadn't dawned on me when in the Hartford Mill's chimney flue taking pictures where it meets the stack. The opening into the chimney was a triangular shape with an iron girder over the top, inside the stack was about two foot above the level of the flue as flue dust had turned solid. The draught from the boiler house at that point was very strong, maybe because of how high the chimney was Iv'e no idea.

[Steeplejerk]

I've uploaded an image into the steeplejack gallery,I expected the stack to be at least twice the thickness.

[PanBiker]

This one Tom?

[Stanley]

That'll be the one Ian and Tom's right, that's remarkably thin. Notice the air gap between the stack and the firebrick liner.... There are only five courses in the stack wall. The builders must have had balls of steel!

[Steeplejerk]

I bet it swung about a bit in high winds

[Stanley]

[Spinningweb]

The stack looked like a road map with all the breaks in the brickwork.

[Stanley]

Some of these mills were built during the false economic boom in the Lancashire industry between the wars. One gets the impression that corners were being cut!
See 'Lancashire Under the Hammer' by Ben Bowker who was editor of The Lancashire Daily Post and knew what he was talking about. He identified the mistakes being made before they became obvious.

[Spinningweb]

Inside the Hartford Mill stack, the damper door in the boiler house was partially open but couldn't get through to the flue, but to its left was a small metal framed 30" inch square flue access which once had a slide down shutter. Had to use a camera tripod on account of the draught drawing up.

[Dave Decadent]

Question regarding the Baytree/Laurel Mills shared chimney. Does anyone happen to recall the year the chimney height was lowered? I watched it reduced from my childhood bedroom window but can only recall it was approximately some time between 1969 to 1971.

Also, if anybody has any information on how the nearby CWS Preserve Works (Jam Works, Mills Hill Road) chimney was demolished I would love to hear. The CWS tower explosive demolition difficulties made it into the local paper at the time - 1970.

Regards,
Dave

[Stanley]

Sorry Dave, I don't know. Someone else will pick the question up......

[Dave Decadent]

Opinions/comments from the forum experts sought:

November 1970, extract from Oldham Evening Chronicle

TOWER DEMOLISHED AT THIRD ATTEMPT
Demolition workers (Enterprise Demolition of Rochdale) using gelignite, blasted down the tower at Chadderton on Thursday at the third attempt when the first charge failed to bring down the tower at the 100 year old former CWS Preserve Works (Jam Works) on Mills Hill Road.
But the tower and an adjoining four-storey gable end wall threatened to collapse on to the road and the police were called to cordon off both ends of the road.
Then the workers, using a 100ft long steel hawser and a bulldozer, tried to pull masonry away from the base of the tower so that it would collapse into a derelict space behind the road.
But this failed when the hawser repeatedly snapped. Then a second gelignite charge also failed to dislodge the tower.
Nearly five hours after the first attempt to blow the tower, a third and more powerful gelignite charge was placed on a steel support at the base.
This time it was successful and hundreds of tons of steel and bricks crashed into the derelict site throwing up a huge cloud of dust.

Whatever happened to Enterpise Demolition? I never saw them anywhere again. Their vehicles were bright red with yellow sign writing. They used Ford D Series tippers/tractors/skip lorries.

[PanBiker]

Company House has this:

Company Name
Enterprise Demolition

Company status
Dissolved

Dissolved on
6 May 2014

Company type
Private limited Company

Incorporated on
7 September 2012

Company House - Enterprise Demolition

[Stanley]

What you describe is not surprising. Mill access towers are very complex structures and the only safe way to demolish them is by starting at the top and taking them down manually brick by brick. This is too expensive for the main contractor and so they sub-contract to a firm like Enterprise Demolition who try to make money out of a low price contract by cutting corners, like using explosives. (Fred Dibnah took one down by undercutting, propping and burning and he was lucky to get away with it.)
The situation is made worse by the fact that there is no scrap value in an access tower, so no demolition bonus for the sub-contractor. All demolition is expensive and it is only the value of the plunder that can cover costs and give a profit. Enterprise Demolition must have been desperate for work, no way could they have made money out of that job but they took it anyway. They will be sadder and wiser men.

[Dave Decadent]

This is the Coldhurst Mill tower demolition from 1977 on Rochdale Road, Oldham. It was a Sunday and the adjacent section of road was closed to traffic for a few hours. A good amount of the tower debris ended up all over the road. I don't know the name of the contractor as non of their vehicles/plant had identifying sign writing. The colour photos were taken by me on the Mill side, the black & white photos are from the Oldham Evening Chronicle taken from the roadside.

[Stanley]

Dave, those pictures bear out what I said above, the only safe way to demolish access towers is by hand, piecemeal from the top. Takes longer and is not as dramatic but it's safe.

[Stanley]

My memory kicked into gear last night! The mill access tower that nearly got Fred Dibnah was at Dart Mill. look it up on YouTube.....



Here's the safe way to drop one. N&R at Ellenroad in 1985.

[Dave Decadent]

That's a great photo and it's clear that the crane has sufficient height/reach to tackle the tower safely from the top. Given all that clear space, it could have been over more quickly by starting say in the middle which of course would have been more spectacular to witness.
I do recall watching the episode featuring the Dart Mill tower on TV at the time but didn't realise it was an unusual demolition method for a tower.
Just to balance things; here are some examples of 'safe' demolition:
1. One of several chimneys at the old Platts Works, Oldham:

2. No introduction needed here:

3. The Sun Mill, Chadderton. One of Fred's:

A stunning textile mill I was sad to see disappear.

[Steeplejerk]

Brook Mill chimney in Earby disappeared from the skyline yesterday.

[Stanley]

Thanks for the heads up Tom. I'll let Susan know.....