Antrim coast and glens manufacturing history

 This part of Northern Ireland, with the Giants Causeway, is rich in minerals and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries supported coal, iron ore and bauxite mining as well as quarrying for building materials. In the 1750s Hugh Boyd was shipping 8,000 tons of coal a year from his mines in Ballycastle. Iron ore production peaked in 1870 part being smelted locally and part shipped to England for smelting. As iron ore mining decreased, bauxite increased especially in the Second World War when aluminium was needed for aircraft production.

The main industry of Antrim was linen. Flax was widely grown and two initial processes took place close to where it was harvested; since only 10% of the flax plant ends up in linen, the remainder being waste. The first process is to soften the plant by wetting in small ponds. The plant begins to rot giving a foul smell. This process is called Retting. The retted flax is then taken to a water mill where it undergoes Scrutching essentially separating the usable flax from waste. This usable flax is then spun, woven and bleached, these processes taking place mainly in Belfast.

In the sixties, Antrim attracted British Enkalon to build a factory to produce nylon 6, which was a strong nylon thread for use in textiles. The promise of British Enkalon is said to have encouraged the designation as a new town. At its height the factory employed more than 3,000 and the towns population exceeded 20,000. Nylon for textiles was of its time and the factory closed in the mid seventies. The owners did not simply walk away but set up the Enkalon Foundation and business park which supports employment in the town.

Further reading:

Fred Hammond, Antrim Coast and Glens Industrial Heritage (HMSO, 1991)

Banbury manufacturing history

 A market town in an agricultural county, it is perhaps not surprising that Banbury's first venture into engineering manufacturing was into agricultural machinery. Bernhard Samuelson had been in business in Tours in France and, on visiting Banbury, saw the urgent need for labour saving equipment to support agricultural production. His company produced at their Britannia Works a prize winning turnip cutter, digging machines, mowing machines, chaff and linseed cutters and an oil cake breaker. Importantly he took a license to manufacture the American McCormick reaper of which he sold thousands. In 1871 he employed 500 people. He was a philanthropist, as well as a businessman who paid above average wages, and provided a good deal of the infrastructure of the growing town. He served as member of parliament for the town for some ten years. His business became a limited company in 1873 but closed in 1933.

Thus the approach of the Second World War saw the town without major manufacturing employment. The council managed to attract .The Northern Aluminium Company (later known as Alcan) of Canada. The company's role during the war would be vital, providing aluminium for Spitfires and Bailey Bridges. It became the town's largest employer with a workforce at one time of 2,300. During the early years of the war, the plant supplied 40% of aluminium sheet and extrusion vital for the manufacture of aircraft. Aluminium ingots were brought from as far a field as Canada and scrap from crashed aircraft would be melted down for re-use. The factory acted as the central store of aluminium for the Ministry of Aircraft Production Light Metals Committee which was based there. The factory continued its role as part of Alcan's research laboratory until closure in 2003. I write more about the UK aluminium industry in Vehicles to Vaccines.

After the war Banbury agreed to accept overspill from both London and Birmingham the latter of which relocated the Birds factory owned by General Foods of America and then Kraft of America.

Another company attracted was Automotive Products of Leamington about which I write more in my piece of Warwick and Leamington

Further reading

Ted Clark, Banbury (Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1992)