Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2009-03-04 17:53:21 - Graham Ellis
Around about the time of the Second World War, Melksham had a higher proportion of its are given over to industrial use than any other town in Great Britain - my source of this information being the current mayor. And to this day, this quiet little market town has a surprising range of industrial and business areas - from 'The Avon' (now Cooper Tires) and some of the big companies on Bowerhill, through to a whole peppering of other offices and works scattered in pockets through the town. Some, such as Spencer's have gone (via GEC Mechanical Handling), as has the Rope Factory. The dairy has become smaller industrial units, and there are a few structures like the grain silos which are out of use at present, but due to be demolished and replace by a new Countrywide and Asda complex. You've got new industry up in some of the old RAF Melksham Hangers too, and in purpose fitted factories as well. If you're looking for platform doors for stations, for rubber masks for use in hostile conditions, for personalised nuts, or to mail order National Trust souvenirs, Melksham is your place.
Industry is not designed to be pretty or beautiful, but never the less there are some places and parts where the geometry and colour provide a certain handsomeness, as illustrated by these pictures; both taken as part of a series yesterday morning, where I was answering to the challenge of photographing the station from the North, and which will be shared here and elsewhere in due course.
Around about the time of the Second World War, Melksham had a higher proportion of its are given over to industrial use than any other town in Great Britain - my source of this information being the current mayor. And to this day, this quiet little market town has a surprising range of industrial and business areas - from 'The Avon' (now Cooper Tires) and some of the big companies on Bowerhill, through to a whole peppering of other offices and works scattered in pockets through the town. Some, such as Spencer's have gone (via GEC Mechanical Handling), as has the Rope Factory. The dairy has become smaller industrial units, and there are a few structures like the grain silos which are out of use at present, but due to be demolished and replace by a new Countrywide and Asda complex. You've got new industry up in some of the old RAF Melksham Hangers too, and in purpose fitted factories as well. If you're looking for platform doors for stations, for rubber masks for use in hostile conditions, for personalised nuts, or to mail order National Trust souvenirs, Melksham is your place.
Industry is not designed to be pretty or beautiful, but never the less there are some places and parts where the geometry and colour provide a certain handsomeness, as illustrated by these pictures; both taken as part of a series yesterday morning, where I was answering to the challenge of photographing the station from the North, and which will be shared here and elsewhere in due course.