Extinction
 The fabulous British Extracting Co. building stands on the east bank of the River Hull. Ever wondered what’s inside? I know I have. I found this account cached in Google, but the link to the original page on Lighting The Darkness seems to be broken.
“The British Extraction building is an amazing structure towering above the banks of the river Hull. It was built as part of Hull's oilseed crushing industry, which in the Victorian times was as big as it's fishing industry. The building is mostly a silo for storing the Oilseeds such as Linseed and Cottonseed, with mill works at the top and bottom floors. There is also a smaller building to the side which was where the crushing machinery was housed. At the top of the building the companies name is embossed in the brickwork, and a handsome water tower of stone construction rises from the roof. The company would import the various types of seeds from around the world, being brought in from the port on the river Humber. The seeds were crushed and the oil used for various purposes such as lubrication and for the manufacture of paint. The remaining residue was them made into cattle meal. We had been watching the building every time we were in Hull. But there was no way inside whatsoever. Even if we had have been fool heady enough to attempt the fire escape running up the side of the building we could not have done... it had been cut off 20 foot from the floor. But the fact it is literally dropping off the side of the wall does not help either! Well they say patients is a virtue and in this case it was, as I went to take some exterior pictures one sunny afternoon, and found one of the cast iron window frames had been cut out with an angle grinder! Bonus! So I returned with Camera and torch, and began exploring. Inside was completely different from what I expected. The roof was made up of the bottoms of steel silos, which were towering above me. The room was not full of milling equipment, but old car tires and parts. I searched for a staircase, but only found an old lift and a single ladder. The ladder is one of the longest I have ever climbed in one go, No rest points or floors, just straight up to the top of the silos. I reached the top of the steel ladder, but encountered a problem. The top of the ladder did not reach the floor of the top level. To solve this problem, someone had leaned an aluminum ladder against the top rung of the steel ladder and the wall of the top level. Now I'm cool with ladders, but this was ridiculous! In the end I decided I had come too far to turn back and reluctantly started to climb... with 160 rungs worth of drop below me! On the last rung the ladder started to move, so I franticly leapt to the safety of the concrete floor! In hindsight the ladder really had nowhere to move so it could not have fallen, but it was a horrible experience! Once I had composed myself, I headed straight for the roof. As it was very early morning I was just in time for the greatest show any roof can offer... sunrise. The view of Hull was breathtaking, and I sat on the top of the blue water tank, feeling safe as it sits on 4 stone arches. In the end I realized I had to face the ladder again and went back inside. Every meter or so was a square hole. These was the hatch into the silos... a hole 100f or so straight down! All the conveyers and 'Carriages' were still in place. It took three attempts to get myself back on the aluminium ladder. In the end I just grit my teeth and went for it, and this time it stayed put!! All that was left then was the 160 odd rungs to the bottom!!” Account taken from the urban exploration web site Lighting The Darkness. Comments
altitudezero
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Finding location...
theholyllama
says:
Your usual excellent wide angle work, Dunc, but what really makes this one for me are the ripples on the river. Great texture.
Posted 23 months ago. ( permalink )