B.KINGS.K36 37181, Courtesy of the Cambridgeshire Collection

The Mill Road Depot, Cambridge

Wharf, Eagle Foundry, The Limes, Corporation Storeyard and Depot

Read the history of the Mill Road Depot area in the Building Report.

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Mill Road Depot Snapshot 2015

A snapshot of the Cambridge City Council’s Mill Road Depot site was put together as part of the Mill Road History Project in order to capture and record the buildings, services and equipment on the site itself as well as the people who work there and the jobs they do both on site and out across the City.

It consists of a series of images, encounters and conversations during the summer of 2015, 110 years after the Depot was opened.

The depot was subsequently closed and redeveloped as a residential area, Ironworks.

In the sections below you can find the photos and interviews recorded on the site and here you can read a summary of the snapshot taken.

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Elena Moses Photo Galleries

Elena Moses was the main photographer for the snapshot and in the galleries below you can find all the photos she took of the depot as well as being able to listen to, and read, her commentary on them.

• Mill Road Depot Photos – Elena Moses – People
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Elena Moses – People 2
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Elena Moses – Places
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Elena Moses – Signage
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Elena Moses – Vehicles

Elena Moses Photo Commentary – 11 August 2015. Transcript.

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Shelley Lockwood Photo Galleries

Shelley Lockwood performed the interviews you will find below and wrote up the project – in the galleries below you can find her photos.

• Mill Road Depot Photos – Shelley Lockwood – People
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Shelley Lockwood – Places
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Shelley Lockwood – Signage & Vehicles

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Other Photo Galleries

These galleries contain other photos and scans collected during the preparation of the snapshot.

• Mill Road Depot Photos – Allan Brigham
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Documents
• Mill Road Depot Photos – Misc
• Mill Road Depot Photos – 100 Years

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Interviews

You can find here the full interviews conducted as part of the snapshot project as well as walkthroughs of the site by Allan Brigham and Graham Watts.

Godwin Adjayi-Obe Interview
5 August 2015

Mark Arnold Interview
12 August 2015

Donald Blair Interview
12 August 2015

Allan Brigham Interview
4 August 2015

Part 1

Part 2

Paul Jones Interview
12 August 2015

Andrew Keavney Interview
12 August 2015

Ceri Ann Littlechild Interview
5 August 2015

Bob Matthews Interview
5 August 2015

Althea Mejias Interview
6 July 2015

Graham Nicholson Interview
12 August 2015

Simon Payne Interview
12 August 2015

Kevin Roberts Interview
12 August 2015

Andrew Rowlinson Interview
5 August 2015

Graham Watts Interview
17 June 2015

Allan Brigham Site Visit

With Shelley Lockwood and Elena Moses, 21 April 2015.

Part 1

Part 2

Graham Watts and Allan Brigham Site Tour

With Shelley Lockwood, 17 June 2015.

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Mike Petty Archive

9 December 1905: Cambridge Corporation’s new Mill Road storeyard is nearing completion on land behind the Free Library. Here material for the repair and making of roads is stored, vehicles housed and mended and appliances for any contingency kept in readiness. It has a siding to the railway for granite or cement, an open shed for refuse vehicles and stables together with accommodation for two steam rollers. There are blacksmiths, carpenters and wheelwright’s shops and a men’s mess room. Source: Mike Petty, Cambridge Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

13 November 1918: Corporation Motor Lorry. — A motor lorry is shortly to be used by the Cambridge Corporation for the purpose of house refuse collecting and general haulage. The body was built on to a Ford chassis at the Corporation Works Department, Mill Road, and the lorry will make its ‘appearance in public,’ as it were, as soon as a driver is available. Source: Mike Petty, Cambridge Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

19 May 1932
A fire broke out at the Corporation Store Yard, Mill Road when a tar boiler, containing 240 gallons, caught alight. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

11 October 1939
Mill Road store yard, Cherry Hinton Hall and Victoria Road. First aid depots have been set up at these locations. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

1940
HEs at 15:57 straddling Mill Road Bridge. Bombs burst in the Corporation store yard, and No. 130 Mill Road and the next house were shattered by a direct hit. Other bombs exploded in the rail yard. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

31 January 1941
Creeping in from Ely at low level during the dull, dreary Thursday afternoon, enemy aircraft dropped nine 50 kg high-explosive bombs at 3.57 pm straddling Mill Road Bridge. Bombs burst in the Corporation Store Yard and No. 130 Mill Road and the next house were shattered by a direct hit. Other bombs exploded in the railway yard. Although the undershoot meant that the locomotive maintenance area escaped destruction, two railway workers were killed and others injured. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

14 December 1956
The Corporation has introduced a new vehicle for the purpose of house refuse collecting and general haulage. The body was built on to a Ford chassis at the Corporation workshops. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

14 August 1958
The Corporation Storeyard, Mill Road was severely damaged by fire. The alarm was raised by storekeeper, Mr Frederick Tungatt, who lives at the yard. Employees brought their own fire-fighting equipment into action before a large section of a store roof became an inferno of flames. More men rescued equipment including road signs. Source: Mike Petty Archive –Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

3 October 1962: Supplies of salt are fast running out at Cambridge grocery shops as people adopt a ‘do-it-yourself’ policy towards clearing away the snow from their doorsteps. In two of the largest stores stocks of block or crushed cooking salt are negligible. But there is still plenty at the Corporation store yard in Mill Road despite a considerable amount being used on the streets. Hard-packed frozen snow still prevails on all roads and overnight fog reduced visibility. One result of the snow-up in Royston was the postponement of the meeting of the Urban Council. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

5 November 1965
The City Engineer said that staff at the Corporation Store Yard, Mill Road had been working continuously to keep roads open after heavy snow and ice. Gritting vehicles had been operating throughout the night and salt stocks were being carefully controlled to ensure supplies remained available if severe weather continued. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

16 January 1968
Cambridge Corporation’s fleet of gritting lorries and snow-clearing equipment was again operating from the Mill Road Store Yard following freezing conditions. The City Engineer appealed to motorists to take extra care as men were working around the clock to keep the principal routes open. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

12 January 1979
Road gangs based at the Corporation Store Yard in Mill Road were called out before dawn as snow and ice affected Cambridge and surrounding villages. Hundreds of tons of salt and grit were spread on the city’s main roads during one of the busiest winter periods for several years. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.

8 January 1982
Cambridge’s gritting lorries returned repeatedly to the Corporation Store Yard in Mill Road to reload with salt as prolonged icy weather continued. Corporation workmen were on duty day and night in an effort to keep the city’s main roads passable. Source: Mike Petty Archive – Mill Road Scrapbook 1897–1990.