File: 2012003-0083
Gloucester Docks, in the city of Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom, on Wednesday 31st October 2012.
A brief information about the building in the photo is in Chapter 1.
If you want to know more in-depth history about the area, feel free to skip to Chapter 2.
Chapter 1: About the photograph
I am a graphic designer as well as a photographer. I have been doing some graphic design projects, like a book cover design, a fictional movie posters, packaging designs, and in this case, an album art cover for a fictional CD.
The subject of the non-existence and made-up album is about a female singer-songwriter, who used to live in an old industrial town during her childhood days, and decided to leave her hometown, to seek stardom in the world of music.
The name of the album is The Old Dying Town. It is supposed to imply that the coal mines have dried up, the factories closed down, the town lost its cinema and nightlife, and too many people leaving. The town could easily become a ghost town.
So for the design theme of the album art, I needed black and white photos of old buildings, coal mines, abandoned factories, and anything like that. Thankfully I was aware of the old warehouses in Gloucester that had been left run down.
So I drove there, parked my car, and walked around, looking for some of the few old buildings that would be useful as background for the album art design.
The camera was set to black and white mode, and I took the photographs. I did not think to take the photos in colour, then covert into black and white while using photo-editing software. It’s a habit from the old days of using film cameras, where I would load either colour or black and white roll of film.
That was around the year of 2012, and thankfully few years before those old warehouses by the docks, were redeveloped into modern apartments.
In this photo: The viewpoint of this photo was taken from the High Orchard Lift Bridge on St Ann Way, looking in the rough direction of northeast.
Originally in the past, this was part of the Llanthony Provender Mill. It was built in 1862 for Foster Brothers Oil and Cake Mill, which processed vegetable seeds into oil. The cake is a product made from seeds after the oil had been extracted, and used as animal feed.
In early 1950s, the company moved to Avonmouth, and the mill closed, then sold to West Midlands Farmers as a distribution depot, until mid-1990s, then it fell into a state of disrepair and dereliction until the 2010s when it would be bought for redevelopment.
On the left side of the photo, the tall building had been damaged in an arson attack c2015, and was later redeveloped into 47 luxury apartments, and restaurants on the ground floor.
The smaller side building, seen on the right side of the photo, had been turned into a Beefeater steakhouse restaurant.
Chapter 2: The history of the Gloucester Docks.
In medieval times, this area was an orchard belonging to the nearby Llanthony Secunda Priory, a house for the canons.
Historically, materials and goods were mostly transported by boats up the River Severn to Gloucester. By around 1580, Queen Elizabeth I granted Gloucester the status of a customs port.
In the early 1800s, a canal was built, and during the Victorian times, warehouses and industrial buildings were built on the site, which benefited from the newly opened Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.
There were various kinds of businesses on the site. Companies that imported timber and prepared them for the building industry, some iron works factories, and even a flour-milling buildings were also presented at the site.
Over time during the 20th century, some companies closed because of the difficulties in trying to compete against rival businesses, some buildings had caught fire, and many other factors. By the late 20th century, many of the buildings were left empty.
During the 2010s, most of High Orchard buildings were redeveloped as Gloucester Quays outlet shopping centre, and many of the other buildings were redeveloped as luxury flats (apartments).
You are welcome to comment on my photographs, but please only comment about the subject in the photos. Do NOT comment about the groups with canned comments. The comment box is for about the photos, it is NOT an advertising billboard for the groups.
