Manufacturing near me - What used to be made in your back yard

[Milkybars]

So who new that Ilford (Fairlop) had a tool manufacturer ... I certainly didn't until today

Vanished tool makers: L.A.L. Ltd. (Lehmann-Archer & Lane, Ltd.), Ilford, Essex, England

progress-is-fine.blogspot.com

 

[Maker]

I grew up in Colchester, I'm pretty sure there used to be a Lathe company there, can't remember what it was called though.

 

[Onoff]

Well they tested the Blue Danube tactical nuclear landmine casings in the gravel pits near me. Not sure if they were the ones they planned to heat with chickens.....

 

[Redsailor]

I was born ( many years ago) in Erith, a small town in Kent next to the river Thames ( sadly now part of Greater London) Nearby was Vickers Maxim & Co of machine gun fame. In the town itself was the Nordenfeldt factory that made many guns. The most notable being the so called "pompom" which was a small calibre rapid fire cannon. It was fed by a 24 round belt, and was highly transportable by a horse team. Poo pooed by our military it was licensed to the French, who sold a few to the Boers who used it to great effect on British during the Boer Wars. It gained the nickname in Africa due to the sound it made when being fired.

There used to be a pub in the town called the Nordenfeldt Tavern, it was known locally as the pompom.

T

 

[Porkypine]

When we used to make stuff... Fkg tragic

 

[Onoff]

There used to be a pub in the town called the Nordenfeldt Tavern, it was known locally as the pompom.

Used to drink in the pompom when at college in Tower Road and the old college up opposite the fire station.

Vickers at Crayford was massive, then all the stuff like GEC down Fraser Road.....

 

[Milkybars]

@Redsailor I got this out of a old workshop in Erith in 2019 no less ..



A very interesting clamp, this text only showed up after a dip in some kerosene to clean of the crud
I think G. Dept stands for Gun Department and V.S.M stands for Vickers, Sons & Maxim

 

[Redsailor]

Used to drink in the pompom when at college in Tower Road and the old college up opposite the fire station.

Vickers at Crayford was massive, then all the stuff like GEC down Fraser Road.....

My father was at the fire station and my cousin and myself used to play there, was great fun sliding down the pole. Did a maths course at the old college opposite and some time later used to be able to use the engineering workshop at the new college in Tower Road, despite not being a student anymore. Sadly the pompom was converted to flats many years back and the Tower road complex now seems to be a housing estate.

 

[Fastdruid]

Printing and manufacturing of tin boxes.

Cars (and during WWII ammunition, steel boxes, jerry cans, mines, depth charges, helmets, aircraft engines, fighter aircraft (Hurricanes), heavy bombers (Short Stirlings), bren guns, mortars)... All gone now along with thousands of smaller companies.

 

[Redsailor]

There must be lots of old Vickers stuff scattered all over the world. Mate of mine was a draughtsman there and I had a good look round when they finally closed. Managed to bag this, has now been sitting unused under a bench for the past half a century or so.

 

[Olderisbetter]

As i am in Wolverhampton i know so many of the old places well, Villiers is close by and i still go places and find new names and look them up, a sad shame there is no local museum here showing what used to be made here, the black country museum is good but could never cover all the places and document local history.

 

[prepman]

Where do you start with Trafford Park? Where I was apprenticed. Metro Vickers > AEI >AEG was the biggest employee of all. Turners Asbestos was thriving. Ocean going ships in Salford Docks towering above dock walls. Dock railway busy. Most of them do doubt moved to the then 3rd world to maximise profits. The ships moved out and BBC moved in. 'The Quays'

 

[prepman]

I was born ( many years ago) in Erith, a small town in Kent next to the river Thames ( sadly now part of Greater London) Nearby was Vickers Maxim & Co of machine gun fame. In the town itself was the Nordenfeldt factory that made many guns. The most notable being the so called "pompom" which was a small calibre rapid fire cannon. It was fed by a 24 round belt, and was highly transportable by a horse team. Poo pooed by our military it was licensed to the French, who sold a few to the Boers who used it to great effect on British during the Boer Wars. It gained the nickname in Africa due to the sound it made when being fired.

There used to be a pub in the town called the Nordenfeldt Tavern, it was known locally as the pompom.

T

Salford City > Greater Manchester

 

[Migmac]

Boats used to be built here but sadly no longer. A lot more whisky was produce too, only a handful of distilleries now. There used to be loads

 

[northwest]

I often have people tell me: "Oh, we are going to bring back manufacturing to the UK" After I tell them they are dreaming I then ask them the all important question: "Who, exactly, is going to be doing this manufacturing?" There never is an answer.

I remember well as a small boy my father taking me down to the riverbank in Stockton, There were still the remnants of shipyards and the Mill on the banks, then the council "regenerated" it, a disaster from beginning to end, now they are going to demolish the concrete monstrosity (designed by a Mr Poulson - so you just know there was a backhander) and "landscape" it for the Arts, whatever the Feck that is!

 

[Scalarocco]

Where do you start with Trafford Park? Turners Asbestos was thriving.

I didn't know they had a place at Trafford Park. TBA had a huge factory in Rochdale which is derelict now. The site owners want to build houses but apparently the ground is rather contaminated with some weird substance...

 

[optima21]

I grew up in Colchester, I'm pretty sure there used to be a Lathe company there, can't remember what it was called though.

they've moved, they're just down the road from me, as colchester lathes are now based in Elland.
and how they used to be made

ohh and Myford lathes have moved up here to Mytholmroyd (from nottingham)

 

[Kayos]

When we used to make stuff... Fkg tragic

I hate comments like this

Just because we don't build (as many) lathes, the UK is a world leader in manufacturing

One example I have recently been involved in

Last week, SSE Energy Solutions had privilege of visiting the Clade Engineering Systems (https://lnkd.in/eJmaY_hF) factory in Leeds, where they construct and produce Air Source Heat Pumps (#ASHPs)… | Ivana M.

Last week, SSE Energy Solutions had privilege of visiting the Clade Engineering Systems (https://lnkd.in/eJmaY_hF) factory in Leeds, where they construct and produce Air Source Heat Pumps (#ASHPs) using natural refrigerant - carbon dioxide. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Tim Rook for his...

www.linkedin.com

The UK manufacturers many, many, many things. All too easy to bemoan that we don't send children into mills and up chimneys any more

 

[northwest]

The UK manufacturers many, many, many things. All too easy to bemoan that we don't send children into mills and up chimneys any more

You are right, we let other multinationals use children instead then recoil in horror when it is "discovered" that this is happening:

Exposed: Child labour behind smart phone and electric car batteries

Major electronics brands, including Apple, Samsung and Sony, are failing to do basic checks to ensure that cobalt mined by child labourers has not been used in their products, said Amnesty International and Afrewatch in a report published today.

www.amnesty.org

Absolutely boils my **** when I see "Protestors" waving their phones about in their crusade for a "Cleaner, Greener Planet" It is just unbelievable, the depth of hypocrisy is breathtaking.

 

[bricol]

I hate comments like this

Just because we don't build (as many) lathes, the UK is a world leader in manufacturing

One example I have recently been involved in

Last week, SSE Energy Solutions had privilege of visiting the Clade Engineering Systems (https://lnkd.in/eJmaY_hF) factory in Leeds, where they construct and produce Air Source Heat Pumps (#ASHPs)… | Ivana M.

Last week, SSE Energy Solutions had privilege of visiting the Clade Engineering Systems (https://lnkd.in/eJmaY_hF) factory in Leeds, where they construct and produce Air Source Heat Pumps (#ASHPs) using natural refrigerant - carbon dioxide. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Tim Rook for his...

www.linkedin.com

The UK manufacturers many, many, many things. All too easy to bemoan that we don't send children into mills and up chimneys any more

Exactly.

Drive on the main road through where I am right now, and you would not know a mile down the dead end side road is a multi-million pound engineering manufacturing business, with a multi-million spares operation, with many engineers employed, a second site a few miles away, another a few more miles that is brand new refurb of an old factory.

All of which in turn keeps hundreds of suppliers in work up and down the country, some of those also in dead end streets you never go down.

We still manufacture stuff in the UK, we still send it all over the world, "Made in England" still means something in places around the world. I delight in telling US customs the reason I'm visiting - that we make stuff they can't . . . they mostly take it well

It's just different to what it was. Stop bemoaning a past most of us would not want to work in.