Thin Ice
 
 |  | Clarence Mill - Hull - England
< on 3/4/2010 5:53 PM >
|  | | | Clarence Mill - Hull
Pictures taken with two different cameras over a few different visits.
Joseph Rank (Born in Hull) was a famous mill owner (Founder of Rank Hovis McDougall), starting in 1875 when he rented a traditional windmill although this early venture was a failure, his second chance was successful and he expanded to accomodate newer and more profitable methods in order to beat foreign competition (specifically from America). This eventually lead to the creation of Clarence Mill in 1891 commissioned by the famous Hull architect W. Alfred Gelder, which was for its time one of the most advanced mills in the world and possibly the most advanced mill in the UK. During WW2 the original Clarence Mill was totally destroyed during the Blitz, It is said that Joseph Rank himself (who was in is 80s at this time) arrived to see what little remained of his mill and merely asked if the Horses where saved and that a new mill should be built. Unfortunately Joseph Rank died in 1943 and never got to see his mill rebuilt.
Clarence Mill was rebuilt 1952 on the other side of the road from where it used to exist and I believe (though could be wrong) overseen by Joseph's son J. Author Rank (who inherited the business). The mill was closed for the final time in 2005. Inside the mill there are many older machines included numerous wooden rollers and mixers, The mill was and probably still is one of the best preserved closed mills in the country. Rather than be saved and used as a museum (It was for the most part Rank's pioneering building and one whose influence affected the designs of Rank's other mills around the country afterall) is to be leveled and replaced by a casino, a up market café and a 23 story hotel. Due to lower planning permission times on this site (2 years instead of 3 given) and the people who own the lands past ventures they will demo and clear the land allowing for an extension on the planning permission (They had trouble getting PP to begin with) they then will likely sell the land with planning permission attached for profit and never build what they said they would.
Clarence Mill before its destruction during the Blitz
The Site as it is now
The Storage, Silo building and Mill parts of the site are covered in old flour and other assorted ingredients, in the main packing building unused bags of flour and salt remained.
Many of the machines and gizmos used in the mill remain
Including the fabulous wooden ones
Rows of them
apparently it seems the guards didn't always see eye to eye on matters...
I will put more up on the Flickr account at some point and hopefully will go get some better shots of the electrical fault warning control pannels (all shots I have of them are bad).
[last edit 3/4/2010 5:53 PM by Thin Ice - edited 1 times]
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G to the Race
   
Hi!
| | Re: Clarence Mill - Hull - England
<Reply # 1 on 3/4/2010 6:47 PM >
|  | | | Just *sigh* @ a casino taking the mill's place. In Ohio we are banking on casino's helping our major cities survive. I don't know about Hull, but Ohio is still going to be a depressing locale no matter how many casinos are put here. Politicians are looking for an easy buck instead of the hard work of getting real jobs to the state, so what once was a thriving economy is now literally a gamble. If it wasn't so pathetic it would be kinda funny.
You betcha |
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Thin Ice
| | Re: Clarence Mill - Hull - England
<Reply # 2 on 3/5/2010 5:39 AM >
| | | | Yhea, I can't really see casinos doing all that much for Hull or the surrouding area to be honest. Hull isn't exactly the type of place anyone of any real wealth would want to visit for the sakes of massive gambling. Not when they could go elsewhere, like Blackpool which is far more suitable.
Planners (for the mill site) are going to cause the closure and removal of the homeless shelter that happens to be a few metres to the south of the Mill. Out of desperation the people behind the shelter are trying to buy some land to the north on which sits a closed small old engineering building.
The neighbour to the south of this engineering building is a Shotwell shotgun cartridge factory/ Shot tower, which was built on the land that Clarence mill originally existed on. Shotwells are threatening to pack up their ball bearings and leave if the shelter is allowed to move above them.
The shelter as far as I am aware as had similar significant objections to all the other sites it as looked at and is effectively screwed at this point. I find it somewhat distressing considering Hull isn't exactly in the best of positions employment wise and many people here are unemployed since the numerous docks and mills closed between the 60s and 80s.
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