Dyson ceramics: 20 fascinating photos showing inside huge abandoned factory, and luxury homes planned there

These fascinating photos show inside an abandoned factory at a historic manufacturing site in Sheffield which could soon look very different.

The images, taken by the urban explorer behind the popular Lost Places & Forgotten Faces Facebook page, capture how the old Dyson ceramic buildings off Baslow Road in Totley, Sheffield, have fallen into dereliction since the factory closed in 2006.

Plans have been submitted by Blenheim Architecture, on behalf of Steel City (Totley) Ltd, to demolish the old factory buildings and replace them with 10 ‘executive’ homes on the land, beside the Peak District.

The planning application describes how the ‘eyesore’ site is the former Totley Brickworks, which was owned by Dyson Group PLC and was commonly known as Dyson Refractories.

It explains how bricks and other ceramic products have long been manufactured there, with Dyson Technical Ceramics ‘noting 205 years of supplying cutting edge ceramics’.

The application continues: “We believe this is a thoughtful and sensible proposal that helps regenerate derelict brownfield land and would provide a unique addition to the housing stock of Sheffield and the wider area.”

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The urban explorer who captured these photos of the site as it looks now says the company was founded by John Dyson, who began making bricks in the early 1800s.

The 1834 Sheffield trade directory lists 'John Dyson - Brick Maker, Sheffield', while four years later the business was listed as 'John Dyson and Son - Black clay miners and firebrick manufacturers, Sheffield'.

Dyson manufactured refractory materials and ceramics for the steel industry at the site.

The planning application to demolish the industrial buildings and replace them with 10 houses was submitted to Sheffield City Council in summer 2023 and a decision is yet to made.