After exploring Ankle Hill Hospital in Melton Mowbray I needed to find something bigger and somewhere I could definitely explore completely, as luck had it some quick Googling turned up Comrade Thompski’s Flickr set taken at Lisk Industrial Controls which was helpfully geotagged to guide us to the location. Being Winter the light was already fading by the time I arrived but there was enough light to be going on with and I had my trusty Maglite in tow anyway (wouldn’t go urbexing without it!). The first thing I saw on entry was this bizarre barrel of Green Goo, it didn’t look so bizarre until you put a flash through it and then the colour just goes mental, at best estimate it’s some kind of anti-freeze but I’m not ruling out something more disturbing or sinister! The surrounding area (and much of the site) consists of a series of giant sheds, mostly brick built with corrugated iron roofing, and mostly empty.
The more interesting part from my perspective was some of the switchgear and electronics to be found around the place, I love engineering related bits and bobs and they really give a place atmosphere. Lisk was full of switches, start/stop buttons, gauges, dials, signs, wiring, fuseboxes and all sorts of stuff like that so I was in my element. I didn’t touch too much of it very closely and I’m always wearing gloves so I don’t know whether there’s a risk that some of it is still live though I very much doubt it, the place has been empty for quite I while I expect although not too long since it doesn’t show many classic signs of decay and dereliction.
The back of the complex (probably the bit nearest the road) seemed to be a set of offices with much smaller rooms, carpeted floors and some leftover furniture and other debris. One of the more noteworthy bits of electronic debris was the chassis and main boards of their old Goldstar PBX / phone system, there were several cards laying around and none of them seemed to show signs of massive damage so they might even be usable if you know what you’re doing. Other noteworthy bits and pieces include some strange hexagonal tubs (or perhaps up-ended plinths) made out of MDF and painted green. I suspect that these were either some kind of packaging in which Lisk products were shipped (they seemed to have address labels on them) or some kind of trade stand as there was another giant wooden structure in the same room.
By the time I’d finished exploring the light had really faded outside, making the torch an essential and every shot required the sort of power provided only by an external flash unit (I have a Speedlite 580EXII) – so much so that had to change the batteries whilst on site. It’s well worth noting that after exploring there’s a Marstons pub almost exactly opposite the abandoned Lisk building, the pub does great food (the goat’s cheese ravioli was superb) and seems to have a perpetual 2-for-1 offer on main courses which is pretty sweet in this day and age.
Click the following link to Flickr for a few other pics taken on the day.
Popularity: 4% [?]
