Introduction

"[Pyestock was] the oldest, continuously operating, gas turbine research community in the world" - Ian Mckenzie

Not many will have heard of Pyestock. So here's a handy introduction to the site, the activities carried out and some of the key people who worked there.

The more I heard about Pyestock, the more I wondered why I’d never heard of Pyestock before.

The first whispers floated around various urban exploration communities in early 2006. Superlatives were in overdrive: "amazing", "huge", "unvanalised", "incredible"; all associated with this amazing industrial research site. "Jet engines" said some. "Sir Frank Whittle" confided others. "Top secret research" said the rest. It all sounded extremely interesting and so I went to see it for myself.

The descriptions were true. It was amazing. I couldn’t understand why this now derelict site wasn’t in some ways celebrated more. This was a world-class gas turbine research establishment, arguably the best in the world from the 1950s through to the 1980s. Even English Heritage gave knowing nods to particular cells and described them as unique structures. But this was not enough; the whole lot is going to be bulldozed to make way for a supermarket distribution centre.

All around the UK there are fascinating, marvelous places. They are documented and celebrated. And yet, Pyestock has slipped through the net. A site of this importance deserved a far more fitting epitaph than a small footnote in a developer’s brief.

More coming soon