Northeast England manufacturing history

 This was surely the powerhouse for the Industrial Revolution in Britain, with abundant coal, iron ore and limestone, a canny workforce and some of our best engineers. The coalfields of Northumberland and Durham were the biggest source of coal in the UK the total production of which in 1913 was 287 million tons with the mighty USA a short distance behind. The output of the Durham field alone was 41 million tons. The region produced iron and steel and played a big part in shipbuilding.

Berwick on Tweed

In 1850 Robert Stephenson built the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick, connecting London and Edinburgh.

Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead

A shipbuilding town built on coal. Home to William Armstrong's engineering ventures which joined with Vickers to become a giant of engineering, shipbuilding and armaments. CA Parson steam turbines were invented and built in the city and transformed both the generation of electricity and the way ships were powered. You can find more in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World and by following this link.

South Shields

Barbour have made wax jackets since 1894.

Sunderland

On the river Wear, home to builders of clippers for fast carriage of tea and silk. Now home to Nissan UK and its electric car and battery plant. I write much more in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World and in this link.

Washington

A new town designated in 1964 home to a BAE Systems munitions factory derived from the Second World War Royal Ordnance engineering factory at nearby Birtley. You can read more by following this link.

Jarrow

Home to Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Company. This was one of the companies which in the 1930s was deemed surplus to the nation's needs. Palmers with eighteen berths and one hundred and thirty one thousand capacity closed in 1935. Vickers later brought it back for repair work.

Blyth

A major port for the shipment of coal. Nearby Cambois was home to a Glaxo primary manufacturing factory

County Durham and Durham

The county was home to one of Britain’s largest coal fields and a good deal of the industry of the area development round the need to transport that coal to market. The first water powered pump to clear a mine of water was introduced in Finchdale in1486. In recent times, there was some diversification. Phillips (formerly Mullard) made colour TV tubes at their Durham factory.

Consett, the Derwent Valley and Shotley Bridge

The Derwent Valley was rich in coal, iron ore and limestone and made it the perfect place for iron and steel production. I write more in this blog piece.

Hartlepool

A shipbuilding and iron and steel town built on the carriage of coal by rail from the Durham coalfields to the sea. Still home to a Tata steel plant. You can read more in this link.

Peterlee

A new town designated after the Second World War in 1948. You can read more in the link.

Middlesborough

On the south of Teeside, and so in Yorkshire. One of the 19th century towns created by the railways. Along with neighbouring Hartlepool, Stockton and Darlington historically focused on shipbuilding, coal and iron. You can read more by following this link.

Billingham and Wilton

ICI built massive chemical plants forming the core of the British chemical industry. Read more in this link.

Stockton

One end of the first railway, this town on the winding river Tees. was important for its engineering skills. You can read more in this link.

Darlington

The North Eastern Railway workshops moved here from Gateshead. Whessoe foundries and engineering had their home here. Cummins Inc set up their diesel engine factory here in 1965. Dorman, Long continues to trade as DLT Engineering with the Whessoe Technology Centre at Darlington, head office in Northamptonshire and operations in China and India. Here is the link to DLT. Rothmans made cigarettes here.

Barnard Castle

Glaxo's first factory producing penicillin. I write more in Vehicles to Vaccines.

Newton Aycliff

New Town designated in 1947. Home to a Royal Ordnance shell filling factory in the Second World War to which the government persuaded the British Bakelite company to move in the late forties. Home now to Hitachi Europe, one of the few remaining UK railway locomotive works, and the government owned semiconductor plant, Octric. You can read more in this link.

Eastern Scotland manufacturing history

 Scotland became home to high tech in the area now known as Silicon Glen between Dundee, Inverclyde and Edinburgh. At Grangemouth it was home to oil refining and cracking for the plastics industry. Aberdeen was the heart of North Sea oil. Earlier, there was wool and iron and, in Dundee, jute.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh was a capital city of many trades: publishing, printing, paper making, bookbinding, wool, linen, cotton, glass and electronics. Read more by following this link.

Grangemouth

Grangemouth is home to the Ineos, formerly BP, refinery and cracker. The Distillers Company had its headquarters in the city but owned distilleries across the country. I tell in Vehicles to Vaccines of its involvement in chemicals, plastics and man made fibres. ICI also had a plant at Grangemouth (formerly part of British Dyestuffs).

Rosyth

The Royal Naval Dockyard at Rosyth was commissioned in 1909 and opened in 1916 in order to support the fleet in the North Sea just in time to deal with the aftermath of the battle of Jutland. Babcock International now run the Rosyth dockyard

Falkirk

Where the Carron Iron works, one of the earliest of which I wrote in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World, set up. I write more in this link.

Stirling

As wool production spread across much of Scotland in the eighteenth century, mills were established in Stirling using steam power. It was an important military centre.

Perth

The Glenturret distillery produces many of the malt whiskeys that are blended into Scotland's top brand Famous Grouse now owned by William Grant & Sons.

Livingston 'Silicon Glen'

A new town designated in 1962 and thought of as the capital of silicon glen. NEC set up a major plant but closed it as a result of the downturn in electronics in 2000. Its proximity to Edinburgh means that is is now benefitting from the growth in indigenous software development companies.

Galashiels

A centre of the wool industry and the place chosen for the Heriot-Watt University's School of Textiles and Design.

Hawick

In the early nineteenth century framework knitting of hosiery produced in Hawick accounted for half of all Scottish production which in turn was one quarter of the total for Britain. I write of framework knitting in my blog piece on Leicester.

Dalkeith

Home to Ferranti measurement and inspection equipment which was later sold to Plessey.

Dundee

Home to linen manufacture which in the eighteenth century accounted for nearly half of Scotland’s exports (much to England) and also to Jute manufacture for use in sail cloth now largely gone overseas except for Jute Products Ltd at Kidderminster. The coming of steam power caused a massive increase in coal imports into Dundee from the coal fields of Fife and the Lothians shipped from the ports of Alloa and Charleston on the Forth. The largest of the linen manufacturers was Baxter Brothers Dens Works said to be the biggest in the world in 1840. Paper manufacture also took place here. Ferranti made components and laser systems here. NCR set up cash register and adding machine manufacture after the Second World War. It finally left the city after the downturn in electronics in 2000.

Dunfermline

Home to fine linen manufacture. Marconi Electronic Systems established here in the Second World War and subsequently became part of BAE Systems.

Montrose

A Glaxo primary manufacturing factory

Kirkaldy

Linoleum was manufactured by the Nairn family

Glenrothes 'Silicon Glen'

One of the new towns designated after the Second World War 1948. Elliott Automation and English Electric semiconductor plants were based here. Rodime, founded by former American and Scots employees of Burroughs, pioneered the 3.5 inch hard disc drive in 1986. In 1960 Hughes Aircraft (now Raytheon) manufactured germanium and silicon diodes. General Instruments established a wafer fab

East Kilbride 'Silicon Glen'

One of the new towns designated after the Second World War in 1947. Home to CVH Spirits formerly Burns Stewart whisky distillers. Quartztec Europe's site in East Kilbride, Scotland has been operational for over 35 years (owned by Motorola), manufacturing and supplying the Semiconductor, Solar and Fibre Optic markets.

South Queensferry

Digital Equipment operated a semiconductor manufacturing plant and sold it to Motorola. It was closed as a result of the down turn in electronics in 2000.

Linlithgow

Sun Microsystems (now Oracle) set up a major plant but the downturn in 2000 caused its closure.

Hillend, Fife

Home to BAE Systems electronic engineering. Fife is also home now to the distilleries making Tanqueray and Gordon's Gin, owned by Diageo.

Aberdeen

Home to shipbuilding dating back to clippers for the tea and silk trades. The UK base for North Sea oil and gas and now home to British Energy. Read more in this link. In nearby Rothienorman, Mackie make ice cream and chocolate.

Inverness

Nearby Speyside is the largest centre of Scotch whiskey production. In Dufftown is the Glenfiddich distillery and headquarters of William Grant and Sons.

Western Scotland manufacturing history

 To many this area is synonymous with the Clyde and shipbuilding. Interestingly it was also where Singer set up their first UK sewing machine factory. The image is of hydroelectric power at Fort William.

Glasgow

It is said that one half of the world's shipping was once built on the Clyde. Nearby Ardgowan had an industrial alcohol distillery run by the Distillers Company. There were and indeed are whisky distilleries in many places in Scotland. I write about how Distillers brought many of them together and diversified into industrial alcohol in Vehicles to Vaccines. You can read about Glasgow's remarkable history by following this link.

Renfrew

The American Babcock & Wilcox boiler makers established in 1895. They built tanks and other armaments in both world wars. They provided the boiler for the Battersea power station and the ICI complex at Billingham.

Inverclyde and Greenock

Texas Instruments took over the National Semi Conductor plants which manufactured in Greenock from 1970 until 2014. IBM also had a major presence in Greenock since 1953.

Prestwick

Home to Scottish Aviation, a company dating from the thirties when Prestwick airport was bought for pilot training. During the Second World War, the USAF used the airport and Scottish Aviation provided maintenance. After the war the company repurposed surplus aircraft before going on to build their own military aircraft. The factory is now part of Spirit Aerosystems and, at the time of writing, possibly Airbus.

Motherwell

Colvilles at their Motherwell works were set to become a major steel producer. In the sixties, Colvilles Ltd at Ravenscraig had the largest hot strip steel mill in western Europe. It closed in 1992. Honeywell Controls set up here after the end of the Second World War.

Lanark

David Dale founded the New Lanark mill in the late eighteenth century using imported cotton and technology borrowed from the Lancashire cotton masters. Dale was committed to provided better working conditions and this was taken further by his son in law Robert Owen.

Irvine

New Town designated in 1966. Hosted a Royal Ordnance explosives factory in the Second World War. Beecham built a factory to manufacture antibiotics.

Coatbridge

A steel town now known for Tablet, the sugar bar made by Lees of Scotland.

Kilmarnock

W.B Dick and John Kerr formed a partnership in 1875 which became Dick Kerr later merged into English Electric and then GEC. The company Dick, Kerr & Co manufactured locomotives and some ships. In time it expanded into electrical engineering and competed for generation projects. It set up a subsidiary in 1898 in Preston

Cumnock

Home to Emergency One Fire Appliances

Cumbernauld

One of the new towns designated after the Second World War in 1955. Home to Smurfit Kappa packaging and Alexander Manufacturing, one of the last remaining luxury garment manufacturers in Scotland. Burroughs later Unisys was one of the first manufacturers to set up. Honeywell were in nearby Newhouse. AG Barr manufacture Irn Bru

Paisley

90% of the world's cotton thread was made here including by Thomas Coats. The town also made imitation Cashmere shawls which bore its name. In nearby Linwood, the Rootes Group manufactured their Hillman Imp and in Inchinnan Dunlop produced tyres. Both of these investments came with the encouragement of government; neither succeeded. I offer some thoughts on government intervention in this blog.

Ardeer

The first dynamite factory was established here by Alfred Nobel, later part of ICI. I tell more of the story of Nobel and explosives in this link.

Fort William

The British Aluminium Company began production at Foyers and Kinlochleven in the late nineteenth century powered by hydroelectricity. Later Fort William hosted hydroelectricity and aluminium production.

Dumfries

Glaxo set up a primary manufacturing unit at nearby Annan. British Aluminium embarked upon a third major hydro-electric scheme in Lochaber, the first of three phases of which completed in 1924. In the late nineteenth century Britain had produced one third of the world’s total production, but other countries had caught up.

Girvan

Nestle manufacture milk chocolate crumb for incorporation into confectionary.

Northern Ireland manufacturing history

 The traditional manufacturing industry in the six counties was linen. However, the presence in Belfast of Harland & Wolff underlines the importance of shipbuilding

Shorts Stirling bomber

Belfast

Home to Irish textiles. Harland & Wolff has been a longterm employer in the city and was joined in 1948 by Shorts aircraft which moved from Rochester. Read more by following this link.

Moira

Harry Ferguson began manufacturing farm machinery and tractors. I tell in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World of the businesses he worked with before and during the Second World War eventually to become Massey Ferguson.

Larne

Home to the AEI turbine plant that became something of a White Elephant as I write in Vehicles to Vaccines.

Carrickfergus

Courtaulds had a viscose yarn works here. Carreras manufactured cigarettes.

Ballymena

Historically the home of handloom brown linen weavers. Designated New Town in 1967. Wrightbus, set up in 1946 and in the 2000's employ 1400 people manufacturing environmentally friendly buses. Michelin manufacture tyres and Gallagher cigarettes.

Antrim

Designated New Town in 1966. With a history of linen production. You can read more in this link.

Craigavon

Originally a linen town with major mills including Gilford Mill. Craigavon was designated a New Town in 1965 and welcomed Hyster-Yale to manufacture lift trucks. Sir Allen McClay, opened the doors of Almac his pharmaceutical development business on its Craigavon headquarters. Goodyear manufactured drive belts for DAF trucks.

Derry (Londonderry)

Home of shirt manufacture. Designated New Town in 1969. Read more by following the link.

Southern Ireland

This history covers a period very much longer than the division of Ireland into north and south.

Dublin

Linen and later cotton spinning, weaving, dying and bleaching were the business of Ireland, north and south. Before partition, Dublin handled most of the textile exports as well as having the more skilled calico printers. The main manufacturing industry was brewing, but also shipbuilding. Read more in this link

Waterford

Home to linen spinning and weaving and later to cotton. Malcolmson's integrated spinning and weaving factory at Portlaw provided Lancashire with strong competition for half of the nineteenth century.

Waterford Glass began manufacture in 1783 and still produces fine glass today. It is owned by the Finnish Fiskars Corporation.

Northwest England manufacturing history

 The climate of the north west leant itself to the spinning and weaving of cotton. Later chemicals, electrical engineering and glass fixed the region in the national manufacturing jigsaw. In the sixties Courtaulds bought up a great many cotton mills and so were a highly visible presence.

Mill in Bollington near Macclesfield, formerly Courtaulds.

Manchester

Was home to the cotton traders who provided the raw cotton to the multitude of spinners and weavers in Lancashire who would then sell their finished cloth to those same merchants. The merchants later transformed the industry with the introduction of mills housing machinery for the mass production of cotton cloth. As I explain in this link, Manchester has a genius for re-invention.

Merseyside and the Cheshire salt towns

Liverpool

Was a seagoing town connecting Britain with many parts of the world. Its manufacturing was largely built round the materials it imported. With the decline of the port, Liverpool became one of the firt areas in the country to receive active support in re-inventing its manufacturing. You can read more by following this link.

Blackpool

Home to TVR motor cars. Johnson & Johnson manufacture here. Like many towns Blackpool had an extensive tram system with vehicles built in the city's own Rigby Road Works but also by English Electric in Preston and Brush in Loughborough. Mullard produced components at Lytham St Annes and Fleetwood.

St Helens

Home to Pilkington Glass of which I write much more in Vehicles to Vaccines and in this blog. Like much of the surrounding area St Helens had salt mines and from these the early heavy chemical industry grew with the production of soda which became part of United Alkali. Production did though shrink back as new processes were embraced elsewhere (the Solvay process for producing soda at the ICI plant at Winnington - outside Northwich). Thomas Beecham moved from Wigan to set up as a chemist in the town. Beecham later became part of GSK. I write more in this blog

Newton le Willows

The famous Vulcan Foundry, which became part of English Electric with Ruston-Paxman Diesels, played a big part in building the railways and later in the modernisation of British Railways. Newton-le-Willows also became home to GEC Switchgear.

Runcorn

New Town designated in 1964 with a long history of chemical manufacture. Read more in this link.

Widnes

Close to the Cheshire saltfields, this was a natural place for alkali manufacture. Read more in this link.

Warrington

New Town designated in 1968. A chemical town based on the production of soda from salt. Crosfield, later part of Unilever, had a toiletries and detergent business. In the Second World War Fairey Aviation managed a shadow factory modifying American made aircraft. Historically Warrington had manufactured metal goods and engineering products. It also became an early producer of sheet aluminium. I tell more in this link.

The Cotton Towns

Preston

Preston, along with Chorley and Leyland was designated a new town as Central Lancashire in 1970. Chorley, a cotton town, had been home to a massive Royal Ordnance shell filling factory in the Second World war which was repurposed for textile production. Leyland was dominated by Leyland commercial vehicles. In Preston, Dick, Kerr & Co factories building electric locomotives and aircraft filled a massive gap left by the decline in the cotton industry. I write much more about Preston and neighbouring towns in this link.

Leyland

Leyland under the leadership of the Spurriers was a force to be reckoned with. The subsequent story of British Leyland is well known and I write about it in Vehicles and Vaccines. Leyland still assemble DAF trucks.

Blackburn

A cotton weaving town with now home furnishings. You can read more by following this link

Oldham

A cotton spinning town with machine makers, Platt Brothers. Much later Ferranti Limited moved their heavy electrical business from London in 1900 and later focused there on naval and civil computer systems and fuzes. When Hawker Siddeley was formed in 1935, Avro's operations moved to Chadderton and Woodford in the Oldham borough. Woodford became home to British Aerospace Commercial aircraft production until that ceased in 2001. Read more in this link.

Burnley

A cotton weaving town with manufacturers of power looms. Lucas aerospace and automotive had a big presence derived in part from the Gas Turbine Equipment Company. Mullard manufactured radio components in Simonstone.

Bolton

A cotton spinning town with machine makers, Dobson and Barlow. Home to Warburtons Bakeries.

Rochdale

In the twenties Dunlop bought cotton mills to complete the material sourcing for the production of tyres. Rayon from Courtaulds' Rochdale factory and in thread form was accepted as an alternative to natural cotton by spinners. It brought the company great prosperity and a strong position in the American market, through its subsidiary American Viscose, and in international markets, through its patent and licence agreements.

Todmorden

Weir Group had an iron foundry in the town

Accrington

Cotton and coal, bricks and textile machinery. Read more in this link.

Wigan

A coal and cotton town at the centre of canal and railway mania. Beecham originated here as a chemists shop in 1850, but then set up his first factory in St Helens. Heinz Baked Beans set up their UK production here. A major steel works was located adjacent to the Wigan flight of canal locks. In the Second World War the Royal Ordnance factory produced five and half million 25lb shells. You can read more by following this link.

Horwich

One of the six major railway workshops was established here in 1887 transferring activity from Manchester.

Skelmersdale

A new town designated in 1961. Thorn set up a plant for the manufacture of colour picture TV tubes. Union Carbide set up production, as did Dunlop.

Poynton

A coal mining town where Ferranti located its microwave division.

Macclesfield

Home to silk with reputedly two hundred mills at one time. Home also Hovis and now Astra-Zeneca. Follow this link to read more.

Congleton

Home to ribbon manufacturers, the Beresford family. Over the years there were mills in Congleton itself but also Macclesfield and Derby. Products included ribbons for lady’s wear, medal ribbons and fustian - a velvet made from cotton and laboriously cut by hand.

Wilmslow

Quarry Bank Mill at nearby Styl is open to visitors to gain a sense of what cotton production was like.

Knutsford

Ilford Ltd manufactured here

Stockport

Was where more than half of the hats made in Britain were produced in 1900. It was an industry dating back to the seventeenth century and earlier. You can read more in this link.

Southport

The Vulcan motor company manufactured chassis for the War Office in the First World War. Mullard manufactured radio components.

Northwich

Winnington Hall was home to much brilliant ICI research of which I write in Vehicles to Vaccines. The same building had been a girls boarding school at which John Ruskin had spoken about the education of women. Nearby, ICI (formerly Brunner Mond) manufactured soda ash (Carbonate of soda) using the Solvay process which had been patented in 1863. It is now the headquarters of Tata Chemicals Europe. Read more in this link

Chester

The Romans set up forts across the country and Chester was one such. Much later, the coming of the railways brought three railway workshops and a LNWR factory manufacturing railway wagons. Vickers managed a large shadow factory to meet the demand for Wellington bombers during the Second World War. The factory subsequently became part of Vickers-Armstrong. Also in the town were Hydraulic Engineering Company, the Westminster Coach and Motor Works, the aluminium manufacturer Williams & Williams and Brookhurst Switchgear Ltd. (with thanks to Stewart Shuttleworth and Stanley C. Jenkins and their book Chester at Work. Bristol Meyers Squibb have a presence in Chester and manufacture at nearby Moreton.

Barnoldswick

A cotton town which welcomed a shadow factory in the Second World War working on jet engines first for Rover and then Rolls-Royce. Silent Night, the largest bed and mattress manufacturer in the UK, which started business in 1946.

Carlisle, Cumbria

Home to Carr's Biscuits subsequently part of United Biscuits. Separately Carr's Flour Mills produced both flour for human consumption and animal feeds. Nestle make instant coffee at nearby Dalston.

Kendal, Cumbria

K Shoes was founded in 1842 and manufactured in the town until 2003.

Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria

Vickers began building ships having bought land from the Duke of Devonshire. The shipyard is now part of BAE Systems and builds mainly submarines. Ferranti had a semiconductor plant here. You can read more in this blog.

Whitehaven, Cumbria

Chzech refugees Frank Schon and Fred Marzillier created the Marchon works in Whitehaven in 1940. Albright & Wilson adopted their new process of sulphuric acid production from anhydrite using reserves at Whitehaven when they bought Marcon in 1955.

Sellafield, Cumbria

A Royal Ordnance factory manufacturing TNT was set up here in the Second World War. It is now the site of a nuclear power station.

Distington, Cumbria

A shadow factory managed by High Duty Alloys (later part of Hawker Siddeley) produced Hiduminum (an alloy developed by Rolls-Royce) for aircraft parts.

Ulverston, Cumbria

Glaxo built a new factory, modelled on their Brentford HQ, to manufacture antibiotics.

Ellesmere Port and Stanlow

The German Hoechst Elsmere Port plant produced nearly all indigo dye. The same factory produced the major anti-syphilis medicine. Although not manufacturing, these areas provided vital port facilities for oil and although its subsequent refining. British Dyestuffs had an indigo plant here.

Manufacturing in the West Midlands

 The home of the metal basher, the Black Country, but also the city of a thousand small workshops. The image is of the Cadbury sports pavilion at Bournville.

Stoke on Trent

This town, the amalgamation of pottery villages, was home to the foundation of a British luxury goods industry in the form of pottery. You can read more by following this link.

Leek

Home to a Croda International chemical plant.

Newcastle-under-Lyme

Lucas (Rist) wiring harnesses were produced in the former BSA shadow factory.

Stafford

Originally known for shoe making (most notably Lotus shoes) and railway locomotive manufacture, Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works Limited set up in Stafford and subsequently became part of GEC. English Electric ran their tank factory here in the Second World War. They too became part of GEC. Also home to GEC Nelson Laboratories and GEC Turbine Generators, Power Transmission, Transformers and Dorman Diesels. Perkins Diesels still manufacture in the town. You can read more by following this link.

Crewe

A railway town. Bentley motor cars took over the former Rolls-Royce factory when Rolls-Royce Motors was sold. BAE Systems produce munitions at nearby Radway Green. You can read more by following this link.

Armitage

Home to Armitage Shanks bathrooms.

Wolverhampton

Home to boiler makers John Thompson, a diversified engineer making metal products ranging from drums for Servis washing machines to chassis for Land Rover. Rubery Owen, which owned BRM about whose Design Award I write in Vehicles to Vaccines, was based here. You can read more by following this link.

Walsall

Historically a centre of the leather industry, particularly saddlery. Later it became known for its fine leather products including handbags for the late Queen. GEC owned Berlec Ltd which manufactured furnaces here.

Cannock

Neighbouring Cannock Chase had the largest coalfield in Staffordshire. Cannock was known for its edge tools (chisels). In the First World War a large number of soldiers were trained here. Lucas manufactured automotive lighting

Birmingham

My first introduction to the Industrial Revolution was a study of Birmingham. This city of workshops caught my imagination as is evident from the essay I wrote which tells the story of the city up to the date of the Great Exhibition. I include some of this and some of Birmingham's later industries in the post which can be accessed by following this link. Birmingham is a city with a remarkable capacity for reinvention.

Coventry

Home of the British motor industry with the first factory producing vehicles to Daimler's designs. William Lyons set up SS Cars in Coventry later changing its name to Jaguar and taking over Daimler, amongst others. I write of these in Vehicles to Vaccines. You can read much more on Coventry manufacturing by following this link

Rugby

Home to electrical and railway engineering. Read more in the link.

Warwick and Leamington

The University of Warwick had a specialism in the motor industry. At nearby Leamington Spa Automotive Products manufactured parts of the motor industry from a seventy acre site. Read more on this link.

Nuneaton

Courtaulds produced rayon in the town. Nearby Atherstone was a centre of hat making.

Rocester

JCB headquarters founded 1945

Stourbridge

The area close to the river Stour had all the ingredients for industrialisation. The Stour itself powered mills and then under the ground there was coal, iron ore, high quality clay, lime and sand. Stourbridge was thus home to glass making. Follow this link to the Stourbridge Glass Museum.

Dudley

Dudley was home to nail making and much more - a genius for reinvention. Read more in this link.

Telford

Nearby Coalbrookdale is regarded as the home of the Industrial Revolution. Telford was a new town designated in 1963. Read more in this link.

Redditch

Home to needle making. A new town designated in 1964. Read more in this link.

Droitwich

Originally known for the production of salt. Vax vacuum cleaners have been made here since 1977

Kidderminster

Home to the carpet industry. You can read more by following this link.

Worcester

Up until 1826 Worcester was a centre of fine leather glove manufacture when the removal of tariffs resulted in the market being flooded with cheaper imports. Home to Willis Shoe Company, Royal Worcester porcelain and Lea & Perrins Source. SIG (Carmichael) fire engines.

Malvern

Home to Morgan Motor Company and Malvern Water.

Hereford

Historically known for its cider and beer and home to HP Bulmer's cider. A munitions factory employed over 5,000 in the First World War and a Royal Ordnance shell filling factory was located here in the Second World War. This factory specialised in alloys and after the war the factory was taken by Henry Wiggin Ltd, specialist metals founded in Birmingham.

Manufacturing history of Wales

Coal, iron ore, copper and tin were the raw materials that made Wales key to the British industrial revolution. Slate from North Wales covered many British roofs. Before all of this Wales was predominantly agricultural with an economy revolving around annual fairs and periodic local markets. Woollen cloth was woven from locally reared sheep in very much a cottage industry. There were big land owners but no great wealth.

There was a massive coal field bordered by Merthyr Tydfil in the north, Kidwelly in the west and Pontypool in the East reaching the coast in the south around Swansea bay and then heading inland eastward toward Caerphilly. Iron, copper and tin ore were also to be found. Landowners and occupiers would access coal and other minerals close to the surface essentially for their own use; there was simply not the transport to trade further afield. War changed this settled picture with increased demand particularly for iron. Technical developments were crucial: the blast furnace, Darby's discovery of how coal could be used to smelt ore and Cort's puddling method for wrought iron. In relation to coal, it was Newcomen and then Watt who enabled the sinking of ever deeper pits. The canals offered vital transport; the image is of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. A.H. John in his The Industrial Development of South Wales 1750-1850 highlights the remarkable fact that the capital to develop coal, tin and copper mining came from England as did the funding of most of the iron industry. One result of this was that the Welsh iron industry in particular was in much larger units that the contemporary businesses in industrial England.

Further reading: A.H. John, The Industrial Development of South Wales 1750-1850 (Cardiff: Merton Priory Press,1995, 1950)

Thomas Telford's Menai Bridge

Merthyr Tydfil

Once known as the Iron Capital of the World, Merthyr was home to the Dowlais Foundry and Engineering Company which made iron using the Northern Coal measures some twenty miles inland of Cardiff and Newport. It became part of GKN and I write about this in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World. In the nearby village of Hirwaun, Radio and Allied had a manufacturing base in a former Royal Ordnance Factory; this would be the start of Arnold Weinstock's long relationship with GEC and I write of this in Vehicles to Vaccines. I write more on Merthyr in this link.

Ebbw Vale

Ebbw Vale Steelworks was at one time the largest in Europe. It had moved from using local ore for iron production to ore from Middlesbrough and Northampton to make steel, the local ore being unsuitable for steel making. In 1920, the steel works had employed 34,000 people but had then declined and closed in 1929. As a result of a government initiative, Richard Thomas & Co, the biggest tinplate manufacturer, took over the steel works and production of tinplate expanded not least for the growing canning industry. In the thirties it introduced a wide strip mill which revolutionised production. The production of 5,000 tons a week was used in the adjoining tinplate works but also to be galvanised and corrugated. It was at one time under the control of the Darby family and had fought Bessemer over patent rights.

Newport

At the mouth of the river Usk, Newport remains a general cargo port. It has one of the few remaining transporter bridges which crossed the river. Historically, it exported coal and tinplate. Richard Thomas and Baldwins of Spencer Works, Llanwern was set up to produce tinplate taking advantage of the proximity of the coast and hence the ease of imports. The Inmos semiconductor factory was built here and later became Newport Wafer Fab.

Cwmbran

A new town designated after the Second World War. Ferranti based their software development, naval and civil computer systems there. Lucas managed a shadow factory making aircraft turrets, and later Girling made shock absorbers. As a new town it provided home for some workers at the nearby Panteg steelworks.

Pontypool

British Nylon Spinners opened a factory in 1947 to produce nylon yarn. Pilkington Brothers had a glass works there.

Glascoed

BAE Systems' former Royal Ordnance munitions factory is the major manufacturing employer.

Cardiff

The capital city of Wales. In 1891, the Dowlais Company set up steel making at East Moors to have better access to imported ore, its reserves at Merthyr Tydfill being unsuitable for steel making. The company had acquired suitable iron ore reserves at Bilbao in Spain. A Royal Ordnance engineering armaments factory was based here in the Second World War and produced 21,200 guns including 7,250 tank guns and 1875 anti-tank guns. Matsushita TV factory was set up in the sixties. Robert Bosch set up a factory in nearby Pontyclun Miskin Business Park but left in 2011 when the space was taken by Renishaw for Healthcare product manufacturing. Also in healthacre, Amersham International had a presence here. The Royal Mint is at Llantrisant.

Bridgend

Sony set up a TV factory here. I write in Vehicles to Vaccines about the encouragement government gave to Japanese manufacturers. Ford set up a motor factory here in 1980 and a supply chain gathered including machine tools makers, mostly SMEs.

Swansea

The home of tinplating and related steel production largely because of its status as a major commercial centre. You can read much more by following this link

Port Talbot

The Steel Company of Wales's Abbey Works at Port Talbot was huge. It stemmed from the success of Siemens in steel making for tinplate at nearby Swansea. In 1831 William Llewellyn founded the Aberdulais tinplate works. The steel works now owned by Tata is in process of conversion to smelting with electric arc furnaces.

Llanelli

A centre for lead, copper (after 1804), and tinplate (after 1847). Llanelli also became a port for the anthracite coalfield. South Wales produced nearly all the anthracite mined in the UK. A large cold-reduction mill at Trostre, using steel strip from Port Talbot, made Llanelli again a centre of tinplate manufacture, primarily for packaging. The town also has a small steel fabrication industry. TNT was manufactured in the Second World War at the Royal Ordnance factory at Pembrey on the South Wales coast between Llanelly and Kidwelly. Covering five hundred acres of dunes, it was originally owned and run  by Nobel before being taken over by the War Office in the First World War. Pembrey also had a shell filling factory. The Japanese Calsonic Kansei (Marelli) set up a car components plant.

Pembroke

For over a century of active service, the Royal Dockyard saw the construction of five Royal Yachts and 263 other Royal Naval vessels. The last ship built there was launched in April 1922. The Valero Oil refinery was established by Chevron in 1964 and taken over by Valero in 2011.

Milford Haven

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the town was one of the main UK fishing ports employing some 4,000 people. The Suez crisis of the fifties led to the use of much larger oil tankers for which new terminals were required. Milford Haven fitted the bill and the Esso Oil Refinery opened in 1960 to be followed by BP in 1961, Regent (now Valero) in 1964, Gulf in 1968 and finally Elf in 1973.

Newtown

The wool industry had been significant in Wales since the time of the Cistercian monks in the twelfth century. Fulling mills began to appear wherever there was fast running water and by the late nineteenth century there were 250 mills in west Wales. Also in the nineteenth century Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones opened a large woollen mill in Newtown selling by mail order. I wrote of current wool manufacture in Melin Tregwynt in Vehicles to Vaccines. Foxford woollen mills founded in 1892 in county Mayo is one of the few remaining mills.

Flint

The first artificial silk mill, the Aber Works, was opened in Holywell by a German company in 1907. The First World War saw its German employees interned and the mill was taken over by Courtaulds to manufacture rayon as it became known. Further mills were added: the Castle Works and Deeside Mill. The mills employed thousands so much so that the Flint football team were known as the Silkmen. Production ceased in 1980.

Deeside

There was John Summers and Son’s Steelworks on Deeside which closed in 1980. Toyota engine plant built in the early 1990s to supply the Burnaston assembly plant.

Broughton (North Wales)

Vickers set up a factory at Broughton in 1940 producing Wellingtons and Lancasters. A Broughton built Lancaster now forms part of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. After the War, the factory was bought by de Havilland, producing the very successful Mosquito. In the 1960s, the company became part of Hawker-Siddeley Aviation, before becoming part of British Aerospace in 1977. Today, the Broughton facility is owned by the multi-nationally owned Airbus and is one of the biggest employers in the area, producing wing components

Wrexham

The town boasts the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal designed by Thomas Telford (shown in the image). The steel works at nearby Brymbo was founded in 1796 and was only closed in 1990. At one time it experimented with a method of making steel from high phosphorous ore. The Royal Ordnance factory producing cordite closed after the Second World War. Wrexham attracted new industries, including engineering, packaging, pharmaceuticals, electronics, optical fibres and chemicals. In 1978 Kellogg created a new manufacturing plant which was to take over production from Trafford Park in Manchester. JCB manufactures transmissions at a factory here.

Llandudno

Some of the first British copper mines were on the Great Orme, one of the hills bordering the seaside town. Inland was the great slate mining district.

Anglesea

Once the largest copper mine in the world. There is evidence of a Roman presence here for it was the place they defeated the Druids. Robert Stephenson built the bridge over the Menai Strait connecting London to Dublin by train and sea. He followed the wrought-iron and stone suspension bridge built by Thomas Telford in 1826 as part of the post road linking the two capitals.

200,000 visits to British Manufacturing History

 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

The site of the First World War shell filling factory at Chilwell near Nottingham which would be re-purposed as the Army Centre for Mechanisation in the Second World War. Like so much  of industry this covered green fields. It has since been repurposed once more for housing.

Manufacturing in southwest England

 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.

Cheltenham and Gloucester

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.

Wotton-under-Edge

Home to Renishaw plc and McMurtry Automotive

Dursley

RA Lister made agricultural machinery and diesel engines

Bristol

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.

Bath

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.

Trowbridge

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.

Melksham

Home of the Avon Rubber factory. G Plan Upholstery moved here from High Wycombe.

Malmsbury

In the twelfth century one of the first fulling mills was established at nearby Heycroft.

Chippenham

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

Weston Super Mare

Bristol Beaufighters were produced at a shadow factory in the Second World War at nearby Old Mixon

Bridgewater

British Cellophane manufactured here from the 1930s until 2005. I was a joint venture between Courtaulds and La Cellophane SA

Taunton

Home to cider. Read more in this link.

Axminster

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.

Honiton

A Drake and Gorman, Skull Ltd company made switchboards. Radio-Intercom made baby alarm systems.

Newton Abbot

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.

Paignton

STC moved here from Ilminster where it had moved during the Second World War.

Street

Where Clarks shoes were manufactured. I write more in this link.

Chard

Home to Numatic International manufacturer of the Henry vacuum cleaner

Yeovil

Home to Westland (now Leonardo) Helicopters and BAE Systems digital intelligence. You can read more in this link.

Cheddar

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.

Wellington

Home to woollens manufacturer Fox Bros.

Weymouth

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

Exeter

Was a major centre of the wool trade. It now is home to a top university and a vibrant service economy.

Tiverton

Home to John Heathcoat textiles.

Oakhampton

In the nearby Taw Valley the farmers co-op Arla are investing in a creamery to make Mozzarella.

Launceston

In nearby Lifton, Ambrosia Creamed Rice has been made since 1917. It is now owned ny Premier Foods.

Delebole

Slate is still extracted here

Plymouth

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.

Appledore near Bideford

Home to Appledore shipbuilders currently owned by Harland & Wolff

St Austell

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.

Camborne and Redruth

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

Callington

Ginsters pasties and sausage rolls made here, now owned by Samworth Brothers of Melton Mowbray.

Truro

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.

Falmouth

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.

Manufacturing in central southern England

 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.

Milton Keynes

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.

Towcester

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.

Banbury

Home to Haas F1 motor sport team. Follow this link to read more of what came before.

Bedford

At nearby Old Warden is Shuttleworth Hall which exhibits old aircraft and other production of the Lincoln firm of Clayton & Shuttleworth

Brackley

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.

Kidlington

YASA, a subsidiary of Mercedes is developing electric motors for EVs.

Oxford

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

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.

Didcot

Once home to a vast Ordnance Depot, It is also the caretaker of the Great Western Railway heritage.

Abingdon

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.

Wantage

Birthplace of Alfred the Great. Now Williams motor sport F1 team is based at nearby Grove.

Leighton Buzzard

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.

Aylesbury

Ecko relocated part of is manufacturing during the Second World War. Glaxo set up manufacturing here after the war.

Swindon

Famously a railway town. I tell much more in this link.

Reading

Home to Huntley and Palmers biscuit factory. I tell its story in this link.

Guildford

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.

Godalming

In 1881, Siemens Brothers installed a small generating station at Godalming in Surrey powered by water from the river Wey.

Woking

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.

Weybridge

Home to Brooklands Race Track aircraft manufacture and testing. Read more in this link.

Kingston upon Thames

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.

Farnborough

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.

Farnham

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.

Bracknell

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.

Basingstoke

Original home to Burberry raincoats. Thornycroft commercial vehicles were made here. Read more by following the link.

Winchester

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.

Salisbury

The city was a centre of the wool trade and at nearby Wilton carpets are still made.

Gosport

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.

Havant

Kenwood kitchen appliances were made here, later bought by Thorn. They moved from Woking in 1962.

Fareham

A town supplying the shipyards of Portsmouth. Read more in this link.

Romsey

Plessey's Roke Manor Research opened in 1956 with a focus on military communications.

Southampton

A major port not least for the age of the great transatlantic liners. Read more by following the link.

Eastleigh

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.

Portsmouth

The Royal dockyards were by the mid eighteenth century the 'greatest industrial power in the world'. Read more by following this link.

Chichester

Rolls-Royce Motors have a large manufacturing complex on the Goodwood Estate. Chichester itself was home to Shippams producer of meat and fish pastes.

Bournemouth and Christchurch

Plessey took over the site of the MOD Signals Research and Development Establishment.

Isle of Wight

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.