Racal Electronics, Seaton, Devon - Part Four: Demolition Remains

Continuing from the last three posts, I found that I had so many photos from two further visits that I decided to make a Part Four. After demolition huge piles of building materials and other odd remains were left on site, so I went to have a look and found that they'd left quite a few interesting things, some of which I hadn't seen during my earlier explores.

Oddly enough, although most of the benches had been left intact, this one had been ripped apart with the concrete uprights left in situ. The shelter also still remained as it was, along with the litter boxes and trees.

And an oil tank, which I hadn't photographed on my earlier visits.

I also saw some more bird feeders that I hadn't noticed before.

 
What is sad though, is that a couple of weeks later all the trees were chopped down. I didn't revisit the site after that but I did take some photos from the lane side through the fence a couple of years ago...shown further down at the end. 

Looking from the site towards the boat builder's yard on the spit of land jutting out into the river, above. The river was at low tide on each visit so that I could access the ledge and scramble up the bank without getting wet feet...or falling into the river! Hooray for Tide Tables. :)

Various steel wires were left dangling above ground.

The bricks and other detritus were left piled up at each end of the site.

 Missed a bit! An odd brick corner, below.

And two from a couple of years ago when I went down to see what had happened to the pigeon lofts. The fence mostly gone, and nature has once again taken over the surrounds with buddlea, other garden escapees and lots of wild flowers.

The bank by the river is really quite a lot higher now and overgrown. I was going to have another meander down there to see what has happened since, but unable to do so before finishing this, so I'll add something another time when I have the opportunity.

I hope you enjoyed this little foray into the story of Racal Electronics and its last days. Please stay safe everyone during these difficult times. Hopefully I'll be getting more stuff uploaded now - I left a lot of the more involved, longer and time-consuming rewrites from my website, which is why I've slowed down with posting articles - but I've still got plenty to go and hopefully a bit more frequently too. :)

Racal Electronics, Seaton, Devon - Part Three: Demolition

Racal Electronics was finally demolished in June 2008, after lying empty for eight years. Attempts had been made to sell the factory to another industry, so as to keep the buildings and provide some work for the town, but alas wasn't to be. 

Plans for the site included a hotel plus luxury riverside apartments and a path with picnic areas alongside the river. It hasn't quite turned out that way. There is a Premier Inn on the front part of the site now, but it's nothing like the lovely ArtDeco building envisaged on the plans and, to be honest, looks nothing more than three boxes stuck together! I don't know if anything else has been built yet as I haven't been able to get down there to have a look, which I will try and do before finishing the fourth part of this series.

History and information about the building can be seen on Part One, the first article for Racal.

I was alerted about the demolition by a friend on Derelict Places, the forum that we both belonged to. Most fortunately, he happened to see it whilst driving past and I managed to get down there just in time to take some photos.

Sad as it was, it was really nice to see this side of the long factory building, as you can't see the top properly from the narrow river path on the other side where I took my previous photos from. 

The crew were in the process of erecting hoardings around the site and demolition was already well under way.  Happily, I was able to see quite a bit before the hoardings blocked the view.

One of the many things I loved about this site was the amount of flowering shrubs, roses and other plants, in and surrounding the grounds. Sadly, they were all ripped out.

I continued down along the lane to the end of the buildings. To the left of the car park gate, below, was the path leading to the pigeon lofts (seen in the article before the Racal ones).

And lo and behold, the God of Urbex was surely with me that day, as part of the hoarding was open! I snuck in. ;)

One of the blokes spotted me and wouldn't let me go too far in of course, but he did kindly allow me to take a few photos from where I stood just inside the site.

Just as I was leaving, I had an opportunity to take a photo of the inside through a partially demolished window in the front building (below).

As I have a lot more photos of the remains afterwards - including some bits and pieces that were left and that I hadn't seen before - I decided to make a Part Four. On my now defunct website I only had two pages; the explores for one and the demolition plus remains for the second, with just a few photos on each page and the rest in the photo gallery. However, with no gallery on my blog I now include all the photos on the pages where possible, often also rewriting and adding much more information, which would make these too long and unwieldy.

So, four parts it is, with Part Four coming up next. :)

Racal Electronics, Seaton, Devon - Part Two

Continuing from the previous post - and having tried to find other means of entering the site again over the next three months - I finally found a way during a reccee by the boat builders yard, which is on a curve of land jutting partway across the river (photo above). Getting onto the grounds entailed walking along a ledge to the left of where I stood (not seen on the photo), then scrambling up onto the river bank.

A self portrait, below, reflected in the glass doors.

And that wonderful expanse of the factory floor building, below. The 1960s style of architecture is often condemned, rightly so when shabbily executed, but when done right it can be quite inspiring, and there was something about the long, clean lines of this building that I really liked.

There was no access inside, but I did enjoy a leisurely meander around the grounds, taking exterior photos and enjoying the peaceful surroundings.

 

The bicycle shelter. This proved to be very photogenic, and totally irresistible. On my first explore, it was a January afternoon and the light was just beginning to fade, which provided an atmospheric background, but as these photos were taken on an Easter visit in startling sunshine, there were lots of lovely stripey shadows and contrasts.

The factory was a big asset to a small seaside town, and provided jobs for many local people. I know several former employees, and they've all got fond memories of their time there. This is what one person said...

"I worked between 89-99 on testing mainly portable transceivers, notably the Jaguar and Couger sets. Overall the company had a good reputation for working conditions, pay and a pension that firms in the big bad world outside fail on. Summarising - production and test downstairs and design, management and canteen upstairs with lovely views all round."

Along the riverside were several benches for employees to use whilst on their breaks. Bird feeders hung in the Poplar trees lining the bank, which was really lovely to see. Sadly, the trees were cut down shortly after demolition along with the uprooting of all the gardens, which was totally unnecessary as nothing was done with the site for many years afterwards, although I have been told since that whenever a site is earmarked for demolition it also has to include any trees and landscaping. Lunacy! 

A foray back along and to the front of the main building.

 The extensive grounds included gardens to the front, containing many shrubs and flowers.

The Reception at the front.

 

 The Racal sign was once on the front of the building.

The Reception sign, above, now reduced to just 'e'eption! I found the missing 'c' on the ground, below, but didn't find the 'R', lol.

  
I walked back up to the rear of the building afterwards to take a few more photos.

The site used to belong to the Seaton branch railway, the railway lines once running along by the river. Further along is another site belonging to the Seaton Tramway, which uses the same trackbed that the railway once used.

The remains of a fence on the concrete standing along the riverbank next to the former rail line. 

Looking back down towards the buildings. 

 
And following the explore was a blissful riverside relax on one of the benches with a flask of coffee, a ciggy and the delights of nature. Magic!