Thread: Wadkin Factory .

If I may take the liberty of adding more to this story, with material mostly half-inched from other websites...

Originally Posted by auscab

...The factory is due to be knocked down soon I think...

The Green Lane, Leicester, factory demolition was well underway when Wallace went back in January of this year.

Wadkin Leicester 1.jpg Wadkin Leicester 3.jpg Wadkin Leicester 4.jpg

By February, parts of the site were looking like this...

Wadkin 20.jpg Wadkin 19.jpg

...and the dozers were even hanging around the street frontage (I believe part of the facade is to saved on site - which is to be a housing estate).

Wadkin 17d.jpg

Cheers, Vann.

(more to come when I get the time)

The Green Lane site comprised a number of buildings...

Wadkin 12.jpgWadkin13.jpg I'm not sure when these aerial photographs were taken.

Built up over a number of years from 1922 to 1955.

WadkinLeicesterPlan.jpg

Cheers, Vann,

If we take a step back and have another look at the factory floor...

Wadkin Leicester 3.jpg ...we see fresh earth.

Edit: someone on CWW suggested that was concrete, Mark (wallace) suggested bitumen. Whatever it is, it's recently been uncovered.

Until recently (before the bulldozers moved in) it looked like this (not necessarily the same part of the factory) - paved floor.

Wadin 10.jpg

Going back again to the recent photos of the factory floor, in the background is a pile of paving blocks.

Wadkin Leicester 4.jpg

The floor of the Wadkin factory was paved in wooden blocks - each ~7" x ~3" x ~3 3/4" thick.

Wadkin 11.jpg

How do I know that? Well when he heard the demolition was commencing Jack (jgforsberg) in Canada, organised for a couple of square feet of flooring blocks to be collected and sent to Canada for his "Wadkin Temple" (his mostly Wadkin workshop). They came from the 1936 extension. At the same time he arranged for some extra blocks to be sent to various "Waddies" (Wadkin nutcases) around the world. Mine arrived a month ago .

Wadkin15.jpg

They stink of creosote - after all these years (maybe they were treated regularly?).

So if you're visiting a mate's workshop and you smell creosote, look out for a 7" x 3" block of blackened wood. You could be in extreme danger - your mate could turn into a Wadkin Blockhead at the full moon.

My thanks to Jack for thinking of us, and to Richard Findley who did most of the legwork in Leicester. Also to the various people whose photographs I have half-inched from the web.

Wadkin Green Lane Works - Leicester, England - RIP.

Cheers, Vann.

Nice Vann Ive still got to collect my one from the Melbourne delivery .

Has there been any mention of what these were laid onto ? Id like to know how its done .

Rob

What a great story. Wonderful to see that there are some pieces of Wakinitis that have spread through the world. More power to you.

Originally Posted by auscab

...Has there been any mention of what these were laid onto ? Id like to know how its done .

Hi Rob. On the Canadian forum Mark says:

Originally Posted by wallace1973

...The blocks are laid on bitumen but not like parquet which is quite thick, this looks like they were dipped in a runny bitumen when laid. The smell is really strong like the old creosote.

But it would be good to confirm that.

Cheers, Vann.