Detail of smashed windows at the derelict Unigate factory, Great Torrington. This once thriving creamery has been abandoned since the early 1990's following a damaging fire in the drying plant. A Creamery has stood on this site since 1874 when Robert Sandford founded the Torridge Vale Dairy and Butter Factory. Its situation at the bottom of the Torridge Valley was ideal being in a close proximity to the newly opened railway. By 1932 the site expanded under the ownership of the Cow and Gate Company. The site was modernised and grew further after the second world war. A new milk churn facility was built as production increased with a laboratory and canteen above it. These windows would have provided light for the employees on the production line. By the mid 1970's this site was run by Dairy Crest which was the processing part of the Milk Marketing Board. Expansion and modernisation included a new Drying plant, Separator Room Boiler house and milk receiving facilities. Dairy production here included. butter, cream condensed, pasteurised and dried milk. Prior to its closure this was one of the main employers in the area. Planning permission has been granted to develop the site for mixed housing and employment but is yet to be started.
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