Site Event/Activity record ECH6749 - Carrington Wire Works, Warrington: Archaeological Buildings Investigation

A photographic survey and record of the former Carrington Wire complex, Warrington, was undertaken in 2005, to provide a basic record of 14 derelict buildings remaining on site prior to their demolition. The former Carrington Wire site was not developed until the mid-19th century when it was used as a brick kiln and brickfield. The site was subsequently developed at the end of the 19th century by the Cheshire Lines Railway Engineering Works and Marshalling Yard prior to its use by the Coronation Wire Works in the 1920s and, subsequently, by Carrington Wire. It would appear that few upstanding remains associated with the former use of the site survived, indeed most of the buildings on the site would appear to have been constructed within the past 100 years and were seemingly not part of the original works. However, a single building (Building 5) that clearly displayed several phases of continued use into the 21st century, probably originally functioned as a loading area associated with the Cheshire Lines Railway works that occupied the site some time around 1890, and provides the only remnant from this period. Historic maps provided evidence of the site as being used continually as engineering works from 1894 until the buildings associated with the former Coronation Wire Works were constructed sometime during the 1920’s. Many of these building survive along the west edge of the site bordering Battersby Lane. The rest of the buildings on the site reflect the developments in the nail processing industry, although none of the buildings are listed and on an individual basis their architectural merit is low. (1)