Diary - Millennium Mills, LON - May 2009

The Mills are truly what I would class as an "epic" explore, certainly one of the last really big scale industrial locations left in London. They are also incredibly difficult to get into, featuring a very "mobile" security, a lot of running and some quite complicated climbing. Once inside we started in the smaller Rank Hovis mill; the first thing of interest are the huge screws that would have conveyed the grain through the floors of the mills.

Whilst admiring the screws one needs to keep a careful lookout as to avoid a nasty fall. I'm not certain why the floors have gone but it would appear that some have been purposefully removed and others have just rotted away. There are also various sized holes in the floors, presumably were milling equipment has been removed. Some of these holes are deceitfully covered up by various detritus, for example thin sheet metal. Put your weight on that and the metal will give way and it's straight down. Express route.

The head house at the top of the Rank Hovis mills. Note the "step on/step off" lift to the right. This probably would have run continuously. I wonder if health and safety still precludes such lifts...

We are now in the Millennium Mills proper. The mills were built by the William Vernon & Sons in 1905 and named after one of the types of flour they produced back then. The flour had had one an award for excellence in 1899, hence Millennium flour.

We started in the middle of the building on one of the many production floors. Many of the rooms are stripped but still quite pleasant to be in. I think there is something quite enjoyable about huge man made empty spaces.

Dotted about the place are a few of these small offices with this particular one still littered with the paperwork required to run a mill. We found a booklet in here explaining how to maintain the machinery used in the room in the above picture. The machines would have produced a bleaching agent, chlorine di-oxide, presumably to make the flour white. Also the switch gear for the lift can be seen in the cupboard to the centre left of the shot.

One of the strangest parts of the building is this particular room that just doesn't have a wall at one end it. The drop is about ten stories. Quite why it's missing I just don't know. I can only imagine it was done to salvage whatever was once in here. To the left are what look like a couple of mortuary slabs, maybe they would be used to lay my body on in the event that I don't make it out alive. This part of the mill was added at a later date, some time in the 1930's.

Nearing the top of the building what ever happened to the raw grain started just about here.

Plenty of old control panels are left in place. These ones once controlled the conditioning and blending processes. The wheat would be conditioned to a suitable moisture content by tempering it with water and leaving it in conditioning bins for up to 24 hours. This conditioning softens the outer pericarp (bran) layer of the wheat and enhances the release of the inner white endosperm at the time of milling. Wheat that has been properly cleaned and conditioned can then be blended with other wheat's in a process known as 'gristing'. This involves combining different wheat's to produce a mix capable of yielding the required quality of flour at the lowest possible cost.

One of the last parts of the building to be added during the 1950's. This lies high level between the two wings of the building and is covered by what looks like sheet metal. By now Vernon and Sons had been bought out by Spillers.

A really nice piece of 1950's engineering, the huge motor...

...used to drive the pulley system around the factory.

I think shortly after this picture was taken we call it day and head back out. We both agree it's a most amazing building but we won't be returning for a second visit.