ICI Hillhouse
| ICI Hillhouse | |
|---|---|
  Location of ICI Hillhouse | |
 | |
| Built | 1941 |
| Location | Thornton-Cleveleys and Burn Naze, Lancashire, England |
| Coordinates | 53°52′57″N 2°59′52″W / 53.882483°N 2.9978532°W |
| Industry | Chlorine production |
ICI Hillhouse was a chlorine-production facility in Lancashire, England. A division of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), it was active between 1941 and 1992. Its triangular footprint spread from the banks of the River Wyre at Stanah in the east,[1] to Hillylaid Road to the southwest, to the southern edge of Fleetwood to the north. Its entrances were on Hillylaid Road (via the extant gate at the end of today's The Hawthorns) and on Butts Road in Burn Naze.
ICI Hillhouse expanded on a United Alkali Company venture begun in 1890.[2] ICI General Chemical Divisions purchased the assets of Hillhouse and Burn Hall Works from the Ministry of Supply. A power plant was built on today's Bourne Way in 1958, providing ICI with electricity and steam power.[3] A railway line—part of the Fleetwood branch line—was built to connect Burn Naze to Poulton-le-Fylde and beyond. The line still exists today, although the sidings at Burn Naze were removed after all freight traffic ceased in 1999.
Water from the Lancaster Canal, beside Nateby Hall bridge, was extracted by ICI Hillhouse via 25-year lease. Around 6,000 megalitres (1.3 million gallons) of water was obtained. The boreholes the facility previously used resulted in the water turning brackish due to a geological fault line which runs between Barrow-in-Furness and the Fylde.[4]
ICI Hillhouse closed in 1992, after which the Burn Naze area subsequently suffered a downturn in fortunes.[3][5]
Much of the land on which ICI Hillhouse stood was built over with housing.
An inscription on the Thornton-Cleveleys War Memorial honors ICI Hillhouse workers who served in the first and second World Wars.
References
- ^ "ICI – from a salt works to a chemical giant" – Blackpool Gazette, 22 May 2021
- ^ "The faces of Fylde's industrial era at ICI" – Blackpool Gazette, 14 May 2021
- ^ a b "Looking back at ICI: A rare glimpse inside the plants of the Fylde chemical giant" – Blackpool Gazette, 13 September 2018
- ^ ICI Hillhouse Works – Garstang & District Heritage Society
- ^ "Look Back into the History of Cleveleys" – Visit Cleveleys, 13 March 2021
