First entry – Beldam asbestos works, Bury

Beldam asbestos works.
Quite an interesting name for the place I thought. I’m not sure where it comes from, perhaps the owner’s name. I’ve walked past the place many times, it’s been closed for years. I remember an attempt to turn at least the front section into offices maybe 7 years ago now, but it failed. I can understand why, it’s not in a very glamorous location, stuck down behind the old railway lines practically underneath the dual carriageway. Also I’m not sure how anyone working in an office there could ignore the rest of the place crumbling and rusting away behind them.

I originally set off to photograph some of the old factories down by Bury Bridge, but I took a detour, and I’m glad I did because I’ve never been past the asbestos factory and found a gate open before, let alone one of the factory doors. The bigger of the two sheds is heavily boarded up and I could barely find a crack to look through, which is a shame because there appeared to be water flowing from inside somewhere and I could hear it gushing from by the door. I would have liked to know where from.
One of the doors further down was open slightly, and I managed a few rough photos through the gap – only one made it on here, the clock that had stopped at 5.06. There were some other bits and pieces inside, an old metal lathe and some ladders. I think this would have been a much more interesting place to look around inside but from the state of the roof I think rather more dangerous.

The pictures speak for themselves really. The fire damaged building I remember seeing smouldering about a year ago, I’d love to know what it was used for when the factory was active what with all the metal ducting attached to it. I guess I don’t know enough about asbestos making to even hazard a guess, other than perhaps some form of ventilation but it had enough contact with asbestos to warrant four warning signs.