Chemicals and Plastics

The Chemical and Plastics Industry underwent a revolution with the use of hydrocarbons which dominated not only the chemical industry but also spread tentacles into almost every sector: plastics and artificial fibres but also the spin off benefit to pharmaceuticals.

I trace the beginning of plastics with the Distillers Company and British Celanese but then the dramatic switch to oil cracking. The industry occupied swathes of Cheshire, the North East and North Lincolnshire hand in hand with dramatic increase in oil production.

ICI dominated the industry for most of the period together with the oil majors and Fisons. In the last two decades part of the mantel taken up by a huge private company Ineos and the Indian Tata Chemicals. Both are private companies which are not subject to the short term whim of the financial markets.

The image is of Celanese House, their head office in London

Return to Vehicles and Vaccines page

You can read more in Vehicles to Vaccines

From gypsum to granite

My journey began near to where Gypsum is mined in Leicestershire by British Gypsum now owned by the French St Gobain. My destination was Penmaenmawr overlooking Anglesey where some of the finest granite was quarried. En route I passed some icons of British Manufacturing. First came Rolls-Royce in Derby with the history of the WW2 […]

A sixteenth century mechanised mint in Segovia

Coins were traditionally minted by a stamp and hammer, and indeed had been in Segovia since Roman times. The invading Spanish discovered vast quantities of silver at Potosi in Peru in the late sixteenth century and mined it using first local slave labour and then, when mining killed them, slaves from Africa. The bullion was […]

Where has all the money gone?

Gaby Hinsliff writing in the Guardian observed with sadness that those little treats enjoyed by middle earners are becoming less affordable. I pondered why this might be. My mind turned to the larger stage of public expenditure and I see much the same picture as I have observed before. Schools are squeezed so PTAs have […]

The genius of Roman hydraulic engineering

In the First Century CE, the Romans brought fresh water to the city of Segovia over a distance of fifteen km from the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range. The first thirteen km are underground in a stone and concrete duct, but then it enters the city in this channel in what is first a low […]

Levelling Up – a layperson’s guide

In order the understand the concept and process of levelling up, it may be helpful to look at the reasons behind the un-levelness. Prosperity came to this country through trade and manufacturing. In the past few years I have been exploring the story of manufacturing, most recently manufacturing places. And therein I believe lies the […]