Thank you, my many visitors. I hope that you find my logs of interest. This is my quest to understand the story of British manufacturing and how it shaped this island nation.
You can find more on this link
Coming soon will be an index to companies and industries
Cornwall was the source of valuable metals, until more accessible reserves were found elsewhere and so a very much part of the Industrial Revolution. The image is of South Cornwall. Continuing the metals theme, I am taking the Southwest to include the English part of the Forest of Dean as well as the counties south and west of Bristol.
The Romans installed garrisons at strategic towns across England and Gloucester was one. In medieval times and probably earlier, iron ore was found and was smelted with charcoal from the nearby Forest of Dean. At nearby Temple Guiting the Knights Templar set up one of the first fulling mills in the twelfth century. The two towns were later famous for their contribution to aircraft production. Read more by following this link.
Home to Renishaw plc and McMurtry Automotive
RA Lister made agricultural machinery and diesel engines
Home to the early days of shipbuilding through its trading links and from these to WD & HO Wills cigarettes and Fry’s Chocolate. In the eighteenth century, Bristol was a centre of Zinc production from ore mined in the Mendips. You can read more in this link.
Harbutts plasticine was made at Bathampton. In the Second World War Bristol manufactured aircraft at a shadow factory built in a disused quarry in nearby Corsham where there was also an underground ammunition storage depot. Rotork's Brassmill Lane factory was built in 1961 and is now the HQ of a global business serving the energy industry. I also spied a Rotork motor powering locks on the River Nene. The Bathford paper mill dating back to the eighteenth century became owned by Portals the security printer and is its last remaining mill in the UK.
Former home of Bowyers sausages, later joined with C&T Harris of nearby Calne as part of Northern Foods. Not to be confused with Harris sausages of London, the sausage king. Nestle and General Foods make Shredded Wheat and Cheerios.
Home of the Avon Rubber factory. G Plan Upholstery moved here from High Wycombe.
In the twelfth century one of the first fulling mills was established at nearby Heycroft.
Evans O'Donnell set up a railway signal works in 1897 and six years later merged with the Kilburn firm of Saby and Farmer which moved all manufacturing to Chippenham. Westinghouse Brake and Signal bought the combined business and moved from their London factory in 1932. It was bought by Hawker Siddeley in 1979 subsequently becoming part of BTR, Invensys. It is now part of Siemens Mobility rail infrastructure
Bristol Beaufighters were produced at a shadow factory in the Second World War at nearby Old Mixon
British Cellophane manufactured here from the 1930s until 2005. I was a joint venture between Courtaulds and La Cellophane SA
Home to cider. Read more in this link.
Carpets have been made here for over 250 years and are still woven in Devon. Machine tool manufacturer JH Shand moved from London in 1940 and carried out crucial tooling work including for the Spitfire.
A Drake and Gorman, Skull Ltd company made switchboards. Radio-Intercom made baby alarm systems.
Centrax, with 2,000 employees, made gas turbine blades for Bristol Olympus aero-engines and mobile transformers and generating sets. The area is also a major producer of ball clay.
STC moved here from Ilminster where it had moved during the Second World War.
Where Clarks shoes were manufactured. I write more in this link.
Home to Numatic International manufacturer of the Henry vacuum cleaner
Home to Westland (now Leonardo) Helicopters and BAE Systems digital intelligence. You can read more in this link.
Home to Showerings Babycham, once again owned by the Showerings family. Cheddar cheese is made in a number of places including Redruth and Froome. The major producer Dairy Crest is now owned by the Canadian Saputo. It was previously the processing arm of the milk marketing board.
Home to woollens manufacturer Fox Bros.
The first recorded incidence of the Black Death was recorded here in June 1348. The plague spread and killed perhaps half the population. With too much work for too few people and strict control of wages the poor suffered
Was a major centre of the wool trade. It now is home to a top university and a vibrant service economy.
Home to John Heathcoat textiles.
In the nearby Taw Valley the farmers co-op Arla are investing in a creamery to make Mozzarella.
In nearby Lifton, Ambrosia Creamed Rice has been made since 1917. It is now owned ny Premier Foods.
Slate is still extracted here
In 1859 Isambard Kingdom Brunel extended his Great Western Railway across the Tamar bridge into Devon and Cornwall. The Royal Naval Dockyard, later known as Devonport Dock Yard, was created in Plymouth in the late seventeenth century. As well as shipbuilding the city attracted technology companies. You can read more by following the link.
Home to Appledore shipbuilders currently owned by Harland & Wolff
English China Clays was the major producer of china clay in Cornwall and also manufactured related building products. The Eden Project now occupies former clay mining quarries. Before china clay the St Austell area was extensively mined for metla. I write more in this link.
Cornwall was exporting the tin mined here as early as 1,300 BC. Copper and silver were also mined. In the eighteenth century Cornwall was mining the metals demanded by the industrial revolution. You can read more in this link. At nearby Upton Towans from 1888 the National Explosives Company manufactured dynamite and other explosives. They later joined 29 other companies in Nobel Industries Limited
Ginsters pasties and sausage rolls made here, now owned by Samworth Brothers of Melton Mowbray.
The cathedral city of Truro is home to Kensa Ground Source Heat Pumps. These pumps are already installed in a number of projects including the replacement of night storage heaters in three tower blocks in Thurrock, Essex.
The town was the busiest port in Cornwall importing wine and timber, exporting tin and pilchards. Along with this, the town's businesses supplied services to shipping including the Packet Service set up on 1689 to take post to Spain and beyond when the overland route through France was disturbed once more by war. Alongside ship repair, ships were built until 1930. Now A&P operate the largest ship repair facility in Britain, and Pendennis Shipyard offers a specialist repair facility for yachts.
The central strip of southern England running south from Milton Keynes to the Isle of Wight has a surprisingly ancient manufacturing history as well as being home to much contemporary hi-tech innovation.
A new town designated in 1967 hosts the Red Bull motor sport team. You can read more about the Milton Keynes story by following this link.
Plessey opened their R&D facility at Caswell House. Silverstone circuit with Aston Martin F1 and a host of small supporting hi-tech business are nearby. Silverstone is very much the heart of 'Motorsport Valley', stretching from south of Birmingham through Oxfordshire and which contains most of the British motorsport industry.
Home to Haas F1 motor sport team. Follow this link to read more of what came before.
At nearby Old Warden is Shuttleworth Hall which exhibits old aircraft and other production of the Lincoln firm of Clayton & Shuttleworth
Historically a staple and then coaching down. Now home to Mercedes motor sport and supporting engineering business. Also food companies including Avara Foods formed in 2018 from a merger between Cargill Uk and Faccenda.
YASA, a subsidiary of Mercedes is developing electric motors for EVs.
Just outside Oxford, at Cowley, William Morris set up Morris motors. It became a major car making centre, adding specialist Pressed Steel and a whole supply chain. The site is now occupied by BMW Mini. The University is a major collaborator with British industry. Read more in this link.
Harwell is home to the Space Cluster a centre of research built on seventy-five years of research beginning with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment.
Once home to a vast Ordnance Depot, It is also the caretaker of the Great Western Railway heritage.
The town was home to MG cars before manufacturing and ownership left for China. It is now home to Oxford Instruments who manufacture hi-tec research equipment.
Birthplace of Alfred the Great. Now Williams motor sport F1 team is based at nearby Grove.
In the twenties the American foundation garment manufacturer, Gossard, set up in the town. It would later achieve independence as a British public company only to fall into the hands of Courtaulds some years later. In the late twentieth century Hone All Precision set up here to provide high specification parts for aerospace and related industries.
Ecko relocated part of is manufacturing during the Second World War. Glaxo set up manufacturing here after the war.
Famously a railway town. I tell much more in this link.
Home to Huntley and Palmers biscuit factory. I tell its story in this link.
Home to Dennis Commercial vehicles famous for their patented worm-driven rear axle, introduced in 1904. . The successor company which manufactures electric buses has a new factory in Farnborough. Like Godalming and Kingston, it was a centre of tanning.
In 1881, Siemens Brothers installed a small generating station at Godalming in Surrey powered by water from the river Wey.
In the nineteenth century a number of paper mills and print works were founded; one became part of the Staples Group. Ken Wood began his kitchen appliance business here before moving to Havant. The Maclaren Technology Centre is based here.
Home to Brooklands Race Track aircraft manufacture and testing. Read more in this link.
A Surrey town close to London. Historically home to tanners. In the twentieth century it was aircraft and support for the war effort that re-created the economy. Home to Hawker-Siddeley. Read more in this link.
Home to the British aircraft industry with the Royal Aircraft Factory and subsequently the Royal Aircraft Establishment. Vickers had their Balloon factory there for early airships. I write more in this link.
In nearby Waverley Abbey Cistercian monks made their first settlement in the twelfth century. Their impact would be huge for they were skilled at agriculture particularly the breeding of sheep. Sheep had been brought from the Middle East at around 3,000 BC and were present in many parts of the country. As the Cistercians spread they cleared the land sometimes of whole villages to expand their flocks. They became the most significant woolgrowers in the land. In the fourteenth century there were estimated to be eight million sheep in England compared to five million people.
One of the new towns designated after the Second World War. ICI set up its agricultural research laboratory here, now owned by Syngenta. ICL had a presence in the town with a large office block, now the Fujitsu HQ. Now a technological hub and the home to Rowney Artist materials. Read more by following the link.
Original home to Burberry raincoats. Thornycroft commercial vehicles were made here. Read more by following the link.
The ancient capital of King Arthur and Alfred the Great was buried in the cathedral. Winchester, like many English towns, was a centre of the wool industry which drove the English economy in the Middle Ages. It was a staple town as indicated by the presence of wool weights dating from the 1350s. Nothing lasts and as elsewhere wool work moved from the city to the surrounding rural areas. In the fifteenth century there was a move away from narrow worsted cloth to much heavier woollen fulled broadcloth. This much larger cloth required more space and more people. It also attracted a higher price and was in demand in export markets as well as at home. This was good for the English economy but less so for the towns and cities which lost workers.
The city was a centre of the wool trade and at nearby Wilton carpets are still made.
For centuries, home to support for the Royal Navy. The town’s shipbuilding skills were importantly directed also to the building of yachts. Related maritime electronics brought necessary skills to Ferguson television.
Kenwood kitchen appliances were made here, later bought by Thorn. They moved from Woking in 1962.
A town supplying the shipyards of Portsmouth. Read more in this link.
Plessey's Roke Manor Research opened in 1956 with a focus on military communications.
A major port not least for the age of the great transatlantic liners. Read more by following the link.
Railway workshops were built here at the end of the nineteenth century and found increased activity in the interwar years with the southern region electrification.
The Royal dockyards were by the mid eighteenth century the 'greatest industrial power in the world'. Read more by following this link.
Rolls-Royce Motors have a large manufacturing complex on the Goodwood Estate. Chichester itself was home to Shippams producer of meat and fish pastes.
Plessey took over the site of the MOD Signals Research and Development Establishment.
Plessey Radar was manufactured here. Britten-Norman began manufacture of light aircraft in the sixties then moved overseas and have recently re-shored production. Saunders Roe manufactured seaplanes and hovercraft. Vestas manufacture wind turbine blades. Read more by following this link.
My exploration of British manufacturing has been sector by sector and chronological. I am now beginning to join up the dots and explore thos...
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