ICI MIDDLEWICH WORKS COMMEMORATIVE PHOTO 1962

ICI MIDDLEWICH WORKS in Brooks Lane. Photo courtesy of John Bailey/Bill Armsden. Reproduced with permission.

by Dave Roberts

This photograph of the ICI Works in Middlewich is dated 1962 and has been restored to near-mint condition by Bill Armsden, who writes:

This photograph, taken in 1962, is of the ICI Works which could be seen from Booth Lane and was located to the right of where the Kings Lock Pub is.

Pochins now sits where this works was.

I have cleaned up and enhanced the picture and it is now almost mint. It is hard to believe that just over 50 years ago this dominated the view from St Anns and Kitfield Avenues.

Do you remember it? I do.


Bill says that the photo has the year 1962 written on the back, and was one of many copies given out to workers at ICI Middlewich when the works closed in that year. 

This particular copy belongs to John Bailey, who now lives in Knutsford.*

I have a vague feeling that this photo may have been taken before 1962, as the buildings and apparatus on the site don't look exactly as I remember them at that time. Then again, I was only a youngster in 1962, so I may be mistaken. 

Does anyone know if this is indeed how the works looked in 1962?

Here's a different view of part of the works, courtesy of Bill Eaton

ICI DISTILLER BUILDING

And a late 1950s view of the SUC Middlewich Branch, also from Bill Armsden's collection, which includes a glimpse of the works.

CANAL SCENE FROM THE LATE 1950s

Many thanks to Bill and also to John Bailey* for allowing us to feature this historic photo.

UPDATE (4th March 2018)

From Australia, Bevan Goodall writes:

'Thanks, Dave, for making this photo available.

I left ICI Middlewich in 1960 to emigrate to Australia, so I didn't receive a copy. 

I remember working one freezing winter thirty-odd metres up the side of the distillation plant, installing some removable panels.

I had my billy-can of tea laced with rum sitting on a steam-pipe nearby.

Harry Sandbach, the foreman - a lovely guy - was in the habit of helping himself to a drink when he came around to inspect what was going on.

He had a sip of my tea.

After a 'what the heck!' it didn't take him long to have another one!

Of course that wouldn't happen today with the current 'Health & Safety' regime...'



Many thanks to Bevan for this story, and how nice that he was able to get hold of his copy of the commemorative  photo of the works, albeit electronically, 58 years on -Ed.

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* Sadly, since this diary entry was first published, John has passed away. -Ed

Bill Armsden writes:

'My dear friend John Bailey sadly passed away suddenly in September last year from a massive heart attack. It was always his intention to make a private video of 'his Middlewich' as he was Middlewich born and bred.
Sadly, that will never happen but we can thank him for the 8mm film shot in his car during the late 1960's whilst he travelled from St Annes Avenue through to Chester Zoo. The Middlewich Diary was given a copy of that film and John was very happy to do that.'

We were very sorry to hear of John's passing. Here's the link to that precious film -Ed

GLIMPSES OF MIDDLEWICH AND WINSFORD IN THE 60s

Please note that this film is temporarily unavailable, due to a technical problem. We hope to have the link restored very soon -Ed.

First published 28th February 2014
Re-published 28th February 2018
and 27th July 2018

Links repaired. Entry re-published 26th February 2021

Re-published 2nd September 2021

THE CLOSURE OF ICI MIDDLEWICH, 1962

Mike Jennings writes

Hi Dave. I am not sure we have seen this photo before? I have  found with it the letter my father got about the closure of Middlewich ICI.

Actually we have seen the photo before. It's the commemorative photo given to employees of ICI Middlewich when it closed in 1962. We last looked at it in this Diary entry which dates originally from 2014 and was re-published last July. Bevan Goodall, who left the works in 1960 and now lives overseas was able, belatedly, to obtain his copy via the Middlewich Diary. There are also links in this Diary entry to other photos of ICI Middlewich:

ICI MIDDLEWICH COMMEMORATIVE PHOTO

But we've never seen the accompanying statement from ICI concerning the closure of the works and strongly suspect that former employees won't have seen it either since its original distribution in 1962. It's very simply produced (most likely on a Gestetner or Roneo stencil machine - the usual technology at the time for producing bulk copies of anything) and undated, with no ICI logo or letterhead and no signature, and appears to be a simplified version of the company's Press Release to 'national and local press' concerning the closure. It was probably included in employees' wage packets.

What's interesting is that it not only announces the closure (without actually giving a firm date) but also gives reasons why the works is closing, and how the company proposes to maintain production of soda ash at Lostock and Winnington (now itself closed).

Because the text in the original is a little difficult to read, we've transcribed it here:

CLOSING MIDDLEWICH WORKS

STATEMENT FOR NATIONAL AND LOCAL PRESS

The Alkali Division of ICI announces with regret that owing to a change in the pattern of the alkali trade brought about by the increased production of electrolytic caustic soda it has decided to shut down its Middlewich works towards the end of 1962 or early in 1963.

Middlewich is one of the smallest of ICI's works in Mid-Cheshire and accounts for less than 10% of ICI's soda ash capacity in the U.K.

Supplies of soda ash will not be affected as production is to be transferred to the much larger works at Lostock and Northwich, which have recently been modernised and extended.

ICI will offer alternative employment to as many as possible of the 250 employees affected and it expects to be able to place most of them. Those to whom alternative employment cannot be offered will be treated under the normal ICI arrangements for redundancy, each according to his individual circumstances.

The Division employs nearly 10,000 people, over 8,000 of them in Mid-Cheshire.

Future expansion of sales is likely to be met from the large plant at Winnington where at present all of the sodium carbonate produced is converted to caustic soda and other alkali products. With increasing supplies of caustic soda as a by product of electrolytic chlorine production sodium carbonate capacity is being released at Winnington. It is proposed to install modern plant there to produce soda ash for sale.

In more recent years most of the old ICI Middlewich site has been the location for Pochins Ltd and some of its associated companies. The collapse of the company was recently announced. The southern end of the site was, from 1971 until the year 2000 the location for ERF's Service Centre. Those buildings are still being used by the motor industry, but it is unclear what will happen to the area used by Pochins. A few of the former ICI buildings remain on the site, as do the wrought iron gates situated behind the modern Pochin office block.

In a poignant ceremony in July this year, the recently re-furbished works war memorial and memorial garden were formally re-opened by Lord Grey of Codnor.

THE MIDDLEWICH YEAR: OPENING OF THE BRUNNER-MOND MEMORIAL


 

DIRTY OLD TOWN...

'A mean old town without any manufactures but, I think, a Corporation'

- Dr Samuel Johnson

'Of the three wiches, Middlewich is rather a hag, unredeemed, uncouth and disfavoured...'

- J.C. Walters, 'Romantic Cheshire' 1930

by Dave Roberts

Vicky Walker has kindly given us permission to publish this series of photographs, originally posted  by her on Facebook and taken over a period of forty-three years. They show a section of Lewin Street, as seen from Middlewich church tower, as it  slowly changed from  being  part of a grim, grey smoky industrial town to a much more pleasant - if traffic-choked - area of the Middlewich we know today. We've included several links to past Middlewich Diary entries which will show us something of the buildings which once stood in this historic part of the town. -Ed.

1957. Probably something of a revelation to people who have only known Middlewich in comparatively recent years. The building in the lower middle of the photo is the Church of England Infants' School. Beyond that is the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, and then Seddon's waggon repair shop which incorporated Middlewich's first Catholic Church. The original cross from this building is preserved in the entrance porch of the current St Mary's Church in King Street.

Between the school and the chapel and fronting directly onto Lewin Street is the building which was, at one time, Dawson's record shop and ended its days as a hardware shop called 'Square One'. It's hard to discern whether this building was a shop at the time of the photograph. It may well have been two cottages. To the immediate left of the school and chapel can be seen three chimneys belonging to Seddon's Wych House Lane salt works.

See also: WYCH HOUSE LANE 1969

 Bottom left, the building with the smoking chimney is currently Peter Forshaw's funeral parlour. At the time this was Les Gibbins' Newsagents shop.

But it's in the background that we can see something of the dirty old town which was Middlewich at the time.
To the right is  ICI Middlewich in Brooks Lane, the site of which is now mostly occupied by Pochin Ltd. This works was dedicated to the production of alkali, as were many other such works in the area, including those at Northwich and Sandbach. The square building to the right is part of the limestone crushing apparatus. Railway trucks full of limestone were hoisted to the top of this tower and tipped, the limestone falling into the crushing machinery below.

This tower was situated immediately behind the King's Lock pub, across the Trent & Mersey Canal from Booth Lane and the Avenues. The constant noise from this machinery has been described by one local resident as 'frightening'. 

On the left can be seen a jumble of salt works chimneys.
The taller ones belong to Seddon's Brooks Lane salt works, and the smaller ones to Murgatroyd's salt works.

In 1957 all these icons of industrial Middlewich had just ten years of life left in them: the ICI works closed  five years later in 1962; Murgatroyd's salt works, which started operations in 1889, closed in 1966 and Seddon's Brooks Lane works (along with the works in Wych House Lane and Pepper Street) in 1967. 

The land in between Lewin Street and Brooks Lane was, at this time, pasture land. Nowadays you'll find the houses of the Maidenhills development, closing the gap between Lewin Street and the Trent & Mersey Canal, there.

An enlarged version of part of the above photo, but showing a little more of the ICI works, to the right. A much degraded image, looking rather like a Turner painting. But it's still possible to see from this image just how smoky and dirty industrial Middlewich was at this time. This is the 'lovely little town' which people remember - or think they remember - from this period.

Frank Smith's photo of the area in 1983 will make the layout  a little clearer.

LEWIN STREET 1983

1986. Time has moved on, and Vicky Walker has taken advantage of one of the Middlewich Church Tower open days which occurred from time to time to show us Lewin Street as it was when all those buildings - the salt works, the waggon repair shops, the Infants' School, the Methodist Chapel and Square One had all been razed to the ground. 

Middlewich Library which was built a surprisingly long time before all this demolition took place, is the square building to the right.

Most of the ICI works is long gone, but a few tall buildings linger on as part of Pochin (Contractors) Ltd.

The pasture land which will eventually become Maidenhills is still unspoilt.

On the left Gibbins' Newsagents has survived, under different ownership.

2000. Another trip up the church tower has given Vicki the chance to picture Lewin Street looking a lot more like it does nineteen years later. 

On the extreme left is just a small part of the gardens and car parks surrounding the Salinae Centre. Bottom right is part of the library roof.

The main difference, though, is the filling in of all that pasture land by the houses of Maidenhills. Part of the land between Maidenhills and the canal has been preserved as the 'Three Locks Trail'.

See also: LEWIN STREET 1972

CANAL SCENE FROM THE 1950s

by Dave Roberts
Here's an extraordinary picture, originally posted on Facebook by Bill Armsden and used here with his permission, showing the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal just a few years before its rural nature was changed forever by housing development.
It's very unusual to see a picture of bygone Middlewich which hasn't been going the rounds for years, and our band of Middlewich Diary experts were soon on the case to pinpoint the location and add additional information, making any further comment from me superfluous. I have, however added an illustration from Google Maps putting the picture into its modern day context. Here, then is Bill's original description from facebook, followed by the feedback which tell us all we need to know.

Bill writes:
Here is another picture of old Middlewich. I think it was taken around 1957 and shows Ernie Paxton and his daughter Josie fishing on t'cut.
It is the horizon that got my attention. The taller building to the right is the old ICI works and the two chimneys could be part of the salt works on Brooks Lane.
But, where was the picture taken? I think it is the Shropshire Union Canal (Middlewich Branch-Ed) and the first bridge is St Ann's Road bridge with Sutton Lane bridge further down.

The present day scene as viewed from above, courtesy of Google Maps. The Long Lane Bridge is just out of the picture to the left, and  Ernie and Josie would probably have been sitting on the towpath just to the left of the location of the boat. Centre right is the St Ann's Road bridge with, uniquely for Middlewich canal bridges, a footbridge alongside, added in the 1960s when Hubert Drive and other housing development took place, presumably to give easier pedestrian access to the town centre. On the extreme right is Sutton Lane Bridge. It's interesting to note how the two bridges are skewed at different angles - something which is not immediately apparent from the towpath. Although this stretch of canal is now more semi-rural than rural, it's still a delightful and picturesque place to visit and is always a great favourite with photographers. - ed

Facebook Feedback:

Cathy Prince A great picture. Taken, presumably, before the houses on Hubert Drive were built on the right?
Bill Armsden That is what I was thinking. In the picture Ernie and Josie are very close to Long lane Bridge, so opposite where they were sitting would be the site where my parents built a detached house, no 27 Long Lane, in 1961.
Robert Sheckleston Yes, it is opposite what is now Hubert Drive, I think.
Cliff Astles The farm building by the bridge was where Joey Berrington lived at that time. He had a donkey which lived around the house and garden. The land was owned by Derbyshires and was used for a variety of root and wheat crops. The Orchard (off St Ann's Road) was a mix of apple and pear trees which were all picked when ready (except for the ones we nicked!) and, on the other side of the orchard was more land that was farmed with differing crops.
And yes, this is where Chris Earl first built houses for less than £15,000, and the reason why I left the Big Smoke to come back to live in Cheshire - Housing! And to marry Barbara Elaine Evans in 1962.
The chimneys are all on ICI land; on what was originally the Brunner Mond factory. The Seddon's works was further away to the left, out of shot.
Bill Armsden Quite right, Cliff. Brooks Lane is a way off to the left of this picture's location.

Editor's note: Yes, those chimneys are indeed part of the ICI works, as evidenced from their location and also from the fact that they are round, whereas Seddon's chimneys were always of square construction. It's very unusual to see a view of the ICI works from this particular angle, particularly in its working days. The works closed in 1962.
Many thanks to Bill for letting us share this photo.

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ICI MIDDLEWICH DISTILLER BUILDING

by Dave Roberts

Bill Eaton has sent us this photograph of part of the old ICI Middlewich Works which he found in a book about the history of the firm.

He says, 'the camera man would be standing with his back to the lime beds looking at the back of the works'.
This site is now occupied partly by Pochin Ltd and partly by warehousing which was, between 1971 and 2000, ERF's Middlewich Service Centre (Pochin's is on the part of the site nearest to Brooks Lane, and the ex-ERF buildings are at the other end of the site, directly beneath the lime beds.
An access road called 'Road Beta' runs from Brooks Lane to the foot of the lime beds.
This is the start of the footpath which runs off in the direction of Cledford Lane and was formerly known as 'Poppityjohns'.
Bill, who worked at the ICI works in the mid-1950s,  goes on to say, 'the tall building with the decorative brickwork is the distiller building'.
Note the railway wagons in the foreground of the distinctive type used in the salt and chemicals industries, and which we saw an example of here.
According to Bill, these wagons would be 'on their way with limestone to feed the kilns'.
To enable the modern Middlewichian to get his or her bearings, we should say that the Kings Lock pub and the Trent & Mersey Canal were (and still are) directly behind the buildings in the centre of this picture.
The area is, of course, still industrial in nature and Brooks Lane has been transformed over the years into the 'Brooks Lane Industrial Estate' but, in its day, the ICI Works dominated the area in a way that is hard to envisage now, with its massive limestone crushing machinery, its tall chimneys and its many sidings full of railway wagons.
An idea of the huge scale of the works is afforded by a piece of information which Bill Eaton gives us about that rather charmingly decorated distiller building.
'For a comparison', he says, 'the distiller building was roughly the same height as St Michael's church tower.'

Facebook Feedback:

Bill Armsden I remember that place. There were always loud crashing noises as if stuff was being dropped down the inside of the tall corrugated building. We lived on Long Lane by the canal and that noise could be heard at our house. It was not an attractive structure at all.

Dave Roberts No it wasn't. The whole place was ugly and workmanlike. Which makes it all the more remarkable that they should go to the trouble of putting decorative brickwork on that distiller tower. For whose benefit was it? The constant crashing noises would come from the limestone crushing machinery inside the buildings adjoining the canal.