Brunner Mond & Co. ltd. Wallerscote Island
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Brunner Mond dates to 1873 when Sir John Brunner and Ludwig Mond formed the Brunner Mond Co. ltd. They created their first factory at Winnington which is literally across the road.
In 1912 operations where expanded and the Wallerscote site was purchased to produce Soda Ash which is used to make glass amongst other things. In 1920 Brunner Mond took over Castner Keller and 4 years later Magadi Soda Co. in Kenya. Then in 1926 merged with United Alkali Co. British Dyestuffs Corp. and Noble Industries to form I.C.I. Imperial Chemical Industries ltd.
Wallerscote, Winnington and the Lostock were designated I.C.I. And renamed with the the title Mond Division.
The Wallerscote site produced and stored Soda Ash. As well as prouducing its own parts for the factory and servicing its own locomotives. Which brought in limestone from quarries such as Buxton and then shipped the finished products out to places such as Liverpool.
The entire site covers over 44 hectares and dominates the local landscape. We only scratched the surface on our visit and covered around a tenth of the place which took around 4 hours.
The Wallerscote site finally closed down in 1984 with facilities being transferred to Lostock.
The storage facilities how ever are still very much active and are occupied on a regular basis. The site name has reverted interestingly enough back to Brunner Mond Division.
When we arrived here we were taken aback by the sheer scale of the site. With various structures towering above you, the first thing we noticed was the condition of the site. The disused section is understanably quite bad and decayed beyond belief but the live side is no better. Rust dominates virtually every structure.
On entering the site we were instantly amazed at how the Soda Ash literaly covers everything in sight, its like a soft blanket of snow.
After the initial excitement of taking everything in we got down to exploring the site in depth. Scalling the giant Silos from the outside we worked our way back through the factory, floor by floor.
The main complex is one vast intricate maze of steel walkways and gantrys. Which lead off in every direction you can imagaine.
Since our initial visit early in 2007 a lot has changed at Wallerscote. During 2008 the factory section across the river was totally demolished.
