Monument record 4238/0/0 - Brunner Mond and Co and Ammonia Soda Co Factories

<1> W D Cocroft, 2000, Dangerous Energy - The Archaeology of Gunpowder and Military Explosives Manufacture, p.168-9, 275 (Book). SCH4464.

Brunner Mond and Co and Ammonia Soda Co factories operated during the Great War producing material for the war effort. Initially the Brunner Mond site was used for the hazardous process of purifying the crude TNT produced at other plants. From 1915 TNT production moved to newer, more efficent and safer facilities. Chemists at Brunner Mond took the lead in devising methods to manufacture ammonium nitrate and production was centred on a number of pre-existing plants in Cheshire where there was long expertise in ammonia.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ6774 (1898) & SJ6874 (1898) (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

The salt works, Lostock Bleach Works and Lostock Works. A network of railway sidings connect the majority of the buildings and structures to the adjacent Cheshire Lines Railway (CHER 2267/1/0) and there is a possible small wharf where the site abuts the Trent and Mersey Canal. There are many smaller structures depicted on the map, including reservoirs, shafts (presumably brine), pumps and brine cisterns. Its not clear if Bonner's Green Works and bone mill form, immediately adjacent on the eastern side of the canal, part of the same complex.

<3> Royal Air Force, 1944-1947, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH8041.

The majority of the buildings and structures associated with the Lostock Bleach Works (as labelled on 2) have been demolished.

<3> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

The majority of the buildings and structures associated with the Lostock Bleach Works (as labelled on 2) have been demolished.

<4> Wardell Armstrong LLP, 2010, Viridor, Proposed Development of a Waste Treatment Plant, Lostock Gralam: Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, p.171 (Client Report). SCH5371.

The chemical works at Lostock Gralam was first established in 1891 by the firm of Bowman Thompson, who operated both ammonia soda works and a Leblanc works producing sulphuric acid, salt cake and bleaching powder. In 1900 the works were sold to Brunner, Mond and Co. whose founder members had been instrumental in the establishment of the chemical industry in Cheshire with their construction of a works producing soda at Winnington. For Brunner, Mond and Co. central Cheshire had the advantages of the local supply of brine and of recently created rail links facilitating the import of other raw materials and the export of their own products.

During the Great War Brunner, Mond and Co. produced phenol and ammonium nitrate for use in explosives and in 1926 the company became one of the founding partners in ICI, which took over the firm’s Lostock Gralam works.

By 1898 historic maps depict a number of shafts and brine cisterns in association with pumping stations. There is also documentary evidence which records that the Lostock Salt Works pumped brine up to the surface from depths of up to 90m. By 1938 the site had been entirely cleared of buildings and structures.

<5> Various, Written Communication to the HER, Edwards, R 28/05/2015 (Written Communication). SCH3756.

The absence of any features and buildings associated with either the Lostock Bleach Works, the Lostock Works, or the Lostock Salt Works on the 1938 Ordnance Survey map (see 4) is misleading. There are some clear correlations between buildings and structures depicted on the 1910 Ordnance Survey map (see 6) and the late 1940s RAF aerial photographs. It is possible that the site was considered to be of strategic importance and was therefore omitted from publically available maps. A not uncommon practice in the mid twentieth century during the Cold War.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1909-1912, Ordnance Survey Second Revision County Series (Epoch 3) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ6774 (1910) & SJ6874 (1910) (Maps and Plans). SCH4361.

<7> Huntings Surveys Ltd, 1971-1973, 1971-1973 County Survey (Aerial Photograph). SCH4881.

By the early 1970s there has been a massive expansion of the site with many hectares of waste lime beds.