Industrial Urbex. The Red Factory.

An industrial upload, I find these to be less than satisfying in comparison to proper time capsules, and most of the sheds were impenetrable with windows and doors blocked up. Pretty fucking ironic that a brickworks should shun bricks for the job in favour of breeze blocks and plywood

In days gone by before sign writers and sticky backed plastic existed craftsmen took pride in ornate detailing

Founded by Henry Dennis in 1878, the Hafod Brickworks was perfectly placed to capitalise on the reserves of Etruria Clay found in the area.

Due to the popularity of the products, across the U.K. it became known simply as the Red Factory; producing bricks, ridge tiles, chimney pots and the famous Ruabon quarry tile.

The factory underwent major modernisation in the 1980s with a complete rebuild incorporating a fully automated and computerised drying kilns, product transfer and handling as well as packing and palletising. The business went into liquidation in 2008.

Spent quite a bit of time playing “dodge the workers”. There is a new cement mixing plant right next to the old sheds. Kinda restricted my movements somewhat.

A few empties on display, all look fairly new

And a few bits of stuff that don’t look new

Some of the older bits were open but not a lot to see

The Ibrox Main Stand was built using 1,018,000 red Ruabon bricks, from the Dennis Ruabon factory in Wrexham

Source: GRFC Scotland

Statutory H&S policy still on the wall as well as out dated instructions

This equates to a take home pay in today’s money of just over £1,300 per month, I wonder where mr Owen is today

And finally please spare a thought for poor old Brad.