South East England manufacturing history

 The south east, mirroring Metroland, welcomed businesses moving out of London and the many new businesses setting up with good access to airports and seaports, plus importantly inward investment largely from the USA. Historically Kent and Sussex had contained the Weald which was the birth place of Britain's iron industry. In common with much of the country these counties were also home to millions of sheep and so wool played a big part in their economy. The image is of the Brighton pavilion domes depicted in one of the windows on Brighton pier.

Reigate and Redhill

Home to Windmills, Redland Tiles and Monotype. I write more in this link.

Crawley

One of the new towns designated after the Second World War. These towns were intended to have a good number of SME manufacturing businesses and looking at Dun & Bradstreet, Crawley would seem to be an exemplar. I write more on Crawley in this link. In nearby Brockham, in 1945 the Beecham Research Laboratories were established and in 1947 moved to a bespoke site open by Sir Alexander Fleming.

Chiddingford and Wealden Glass making

It is possible that Romans made glass in Britain but the evidence points more to its being imported. The first evidence of British glass making is to be found in 1226 in the village of Chiddingford where Laurence Vitearius was granted 20 acres of land in which he made window glass probably for Salisbury Cathedral. I write more about the British glass story in this link.

Heathfield and Wealden Iron and Gun casting

Home to the iron foundry of the Fuller family where they cast cannon for the Board of Ordnance. I write more of the Wealden Iron and Gun casting industry in this link.

Buxted

The first blast furnace to be installed in England in 1491. Much later the mass production of poultry.

Horsham

At one time home to five breweries.

East Grinstead

At nearby Gravetye, iron masters cast cannon. Rolls-Royce manufactures mtu engines for military vehicles.

Brighton

A classic nineteenth century seaside resort much loved by Londoners with easy access by railway. The town did try to attract manufactures. Allen West electrical engineers was probably the largest with 4,000 employees during the Second World War, working on radar and other electronics. It became part of the American GE. Brighton is now home to a good number of designer makers.

KENT

Crayford

Crayford was first home to Maxim Nordenfeldt and machine gun production in the First World War. I write more in this link.

Erith

Home to British Insulated Callender's Cables which created much of the national grid. You can read more in this link.

Dartford

In 1889 the Wellcome Chemical Works set up their first factory in Dartford in 1889 and that remained their main UK manufacturing base. Home to the Portland cement industry. I write more in this link.

Gravesend and Northfleet

Home to a Bowater paper mill, now part of Kimberly Clark, and more generally on the Thames the Blue Circle cement works.

The Medway Towns: Gillingham, Rochester and Chatham

Chatham was home to the Royal Dockyards with everything needed to build and maintain naval ships. HMS Victory had been built there. Shorts built Stirling bombers in Rochester in the Second World War. You can read much more by following this link.

Sittingbourne

Edward Lloyd set up a paper mill here once the water of the Lea became too polluted for the original mill at Bow. DS Smith Kemsley Paper Mill formerly Bowater manufactures from recycled paper.

Canterbury

Nearby Chartham was home to paper making owned by Wiggins Teape.

Maidstone

Birthplace of the Rootes Motor Group. Nearby Harrietsham was home to Marley tiles. I write more in this link.

Horsmonden

Brass cannon were cast here largely for the navy because they were lighter than iron. Later iron took over on the grounds of cost.

Cranbrook

Famous for its heavy woollen cloth

Ashford

Railway workshops were built here in 1847. With the introduction of diesel electric in the 1950s the future of the worksop became uncertain and other industries were encouraged to move to the town.

Margate

Home to the Hornby factory from the fifties making model railways, Dinky toys and Meccano.

Dover

The major cross-channel port.

Metroland manufacturing history

 John Betjemin used the term to describe those areas made accessible to London by the building of the extensions to the London Underground. For me it also describes those areas just outside and to the north of the Thames in what were in my childhood referred to as the Home Counties. The image is of a model of a tube station at Bekonscot in Beaconsfield. From the point of view of manufacturing history, it was where many business moved out of London. It was home to New Towns.

Luton

Where Vauxhall moved from south London; in the Second World War, they manufactured Churchill tanks here. Commer trucks were made here and later became part of the Rootes Group. Also Lucas Aerospace had a presence along with a former English Electric factory beside Luton Airport. The town's origin was in hat making. You can read more in this blog piece.

Dunstable

Home of Bedford, the commercial vehicle arm of Vauxhall with a main base at nearby Luton.

Hertford and Ware

Glaxo bought Allen & Hanbury which had its main manufacturing facility at nearby Ware having moved from Bethnal Green . Follow this link to find out more.

Letchworth

The first Garden City before the First World War. You can read more by following this link

Baldock

A town founded by the Knights Templar with the intention of making it the English Baghdad. Nonetheless it was a busy market town known for its malting and brewing.

Royston

The world’s first catalysts to control vehicle pollution were produced at Johnson Matthey’s Royston plant

Hitchin

A town, the product of its soil. Read more by following this link.

Stevenage

One of the new towns designated after the Second World War. Now home to GSK, Airbus and MBDA the missile joint venture between BAE Systems, Airbus and Leonardo. Stevenage has been given the nickname Space City recognising its role in satellite manufacture. You can read more by following this link.

Radlett

EMI set up a factory to manufacture its CAT scanner. Handley Page aircraft moved to nearby Radlett Aerodrome from Cricklewood and manufactured many great aircraft before falling into voluntary liquidation in 1969.

Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield

One of the first designated new towns which became home to Shredded Wheat, Murphy television and a Unilever research laboratory for food stuffs. Nearby Hatfield was home to de Havilland aircraft which later became part of Hawker Siddeley and then BAE Systems; production ceased in 1992. Read more by following this link.

Harlow

One of the new towns designated after the Second World War, former home to the Edison Swan Laboratory as a legacy of their joint venture in incandescent bulbs. In the sixties Gilbey's Gin built a striking new factory moving its production from London. Follow this link to find out more.

Hemel Hempstead

This was one of the new towns designated after the Second World War building on the substantial and long standing John Dickinson paper mill at nearby Aspley Mill You can find more by following this link.

Watford

The home of printing. You can read more by following this link.

St Albans

Before the Roman invasion, Verulamium (St Albans) was capital of Catuvellauni under king Cunobelinus (brought to life for us by Shakespeare in his play Cymbeline). It was occupied by the Romans and destroyed by Bodeca.

Waltham Abbey

The Royal Gunpowder Factory was here.

Borehamwood

During the Second World War the Admiralty enabled Elliott Brothers to take a redundant fuse factory in order to increase their production of fire control systems. Elliott Automation, as it became following a merger, was in 1957 the largest automation and instrumentation company in Europe, with some 35,000 employees. They are one of the few companies still active in the fifties who exhibited at the Great Exhibition; then they offered drawing instruments, theodolites, transit instruments, slide-rule, azimuth and altitude instruments. During the war, Elliott had worked with the navy on fire control and had developed electro-mechanical devices. In 1947, Elliott created their Borehamwood Research Laboratory and there pursued an advanced digital system building on their earlier naval work. They became part of GEC Avionics. Ugo Foods, manufacturers of pasta, moved from Holloway in 1998 where the company moved in 1952 having set up in Soho in 1929.

Slough

Home to light industry and much inward investment. Read more by following this link.

High Wycombe

Home of furniture making including Gomme with their famous G Plan, and William Hands. You can read more by following this link.

Princess Risborough

Ercol furniture moved their offices, design and factory here from High Wycombe in 2002.

Denham

Home to Martin-Baker ejector seats for aircraft and Bosch UK.

Beaconsfield

Rotax (part of Lucas) moved magneto production here after its Willesden factory was bombed in the Second World War. Wiggins Teape research centre was founded at Butlers Court. Perkin Elmer made instruments in the town.

Amersham

Home to the nuclear diagnostic company that bore the towns name and which became part of GE Healthcare whose UK HQ is at nearby Chalfont St Giles.

Hayes

Fairey Aviation was founded here in 1915. The Gramophone company set up in 1906 and would become part of EMI. You can read more by following this link.

Uxbridge

The town that made the flour for London's bakers. You can read more by following this link.

London region manufacturing overview

 London was the first and largest urban area in the world and naturally attracted industries that would serve the needs of its ever growing population.

I write of the growth of London in the context of improvements in communication in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World (HBSTMW)

The image is of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre and I include it because it marks a beginning of London as an entrepreneurial city as I explain in this blog piece.

Inner London

Where it all began with trade. Wool and silk occupied many Londoners as did clock making and furniture. Follow this link to discover more.

East London

Docklands and the East End. Trade needed ships and London built many. Along with ships, London made armaments at Woolwich. Follow this link to discover more.

South London

Tanning by the Thames created a stink. Flour and beer nourished the population. Huguenots produced more fine silk. Follow this link to discover more. .

East London 19th and 20th century

With yet more trade the docks expanded. Furniture making spread with the influx of skilled Jewish makers. Industry gathered along the Thames. Read more in this link.

South London 19th and 20th century

A hive of cutting edge engineering with Maudslay. Pharmaceuticals, much loved toys and the Stanley knife. Read more in this link.

Inner London 19th and 20th century

Pianos but also many of the basic needs of life, but then the new Industries before they moved out to pastures new. Read more in this link.

North London

Manufacturing moved north from inner London and there a raft of different industries from electronics to aircraft, furniture and motor components. Read more in this link.

West London 19th and 20th century

American companies flocked to Western Avenue and the Great West Road. Our iconic aircraft were built in Kingston and then radar to spot their enemies. Read more in this link.

Further reading

Francis Sheppard, London: A History, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)

Jerry White, London in the Twentieth Century, (London: Viking and Penguin, 2001, 2002), also his  book on Nineteenth century London