Lobb Lane Mill is a large derelict mill in the Brierfield area of Lancashire, and is sometimes referred to as Veevers mill. It was built around the middle of the 1800’s originally as a steam powered weaving mill, and remained open until as recent as 2001. In it’s heyday, it was one of the larger more affluent mills in the area for many years, and in its latter years has been occupied by various large industrial manufacturers. Its most recent occupation was by Trojan Plastics who used the mill until 2001 when they relocated and left the mill empty. At the moment the building is marked as being in preparation for renovation into canal side apartments, however the work does not seem to have begun as yet. In fact the place has an eerie, Marie Celeste style feel to it, having many of the original items left in situ from machinery, to signs, to tomato ketchup bottles. The site is deceptively vast in size with large open factory floors scattered with machinery, and many floors of offices and store rooms, many with furniture, machinery, and paperwork standing spookily in place. The building stands on the Leeds Liverpool canal and I believe there may have been a landing stage to the rear at some stage for delivery and collection of goods. One of the strangest features is a large cobbled tunnel leading steeply from the ground floor deep into a basement area. It appears that perhaps this used to house tracks for a tram of some sort, possibly for the transportation of goods from the basement to the ground floor and the canal. An impressive building which can be easily overlooked when passing on the street, but once inside it is almost like stepping into a vast area of frozen time that the outside world has forgotten and is passing by obliviously.

After lunch another two hour drive to find a furniture manufacturer that we found on the web. Down a dusty decrepit lane we found a fabulous little factory. Ordered all the new office furniture. After 10 hours on the road we limped back to the hotel...exhausted