CWS Irlam Soap and Candle Works
CWS Irlam Soap & Candle Works
The factory was built in 1894 to take advantage of the new Manchester Ship Canal and of the proximity of the CLC Manchester-Liverpool railway. The factory was immediately to the west of the railway embankment, Irlam Steelworks being on the east side.
The works had its own internal railway system, with two Peckett saddle tank locomotives (built in 1951) and a Peckett fireless locomotive of 1955, the only such locomotive made by the company[1]. The latter is on static display nearby (alongside the A57 road in Cadishead). The internal railway system connected to the main line just west of Irlam station, using the track bed of the original CLC line. This stretch of the line had become redundant when the route was realigned to take it over the Manchester Ship Canal in the 1890s.
The CWS later added soap works at Silvertown (London) and Dunston upon Tyne.[2]
1925 Aerial photograph (zoomable) here[3]. In the left foreground is a short stretch of the River Irwell which survived well beyond the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, which can be seen in the left background. The river formerly continued eastwards, passing under the two CLC railway bridges. The nearest bridge and its embankment carried the original railway lines. Construction of the canal necessitated a deviation at higher level, hence the second embankment (the canal bridge is just visible on the left). The original line was retained for use by the CWS soap works, connecting to the main line behind Irlam Station. Beyond the embankment are the sidings and coal stacks of the Lancashire Steel Corporation's Irlam Works.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 'The Last Years of Industrial Steam Locomotive Building, Part 2' by Andrew Neale, Archive No. 81, March 2014
- ↑ [1] 'Building Co-operation: A Business History of The Co-operative Group, 1863-2013' by John F. Wilson, Anthony Webster, Rachael Vorberg-Rugh, Oxford University Press, 2013
- ↑ [2] Manchester City Council image collection: Aerial Views, Irlam, CWS glycerine, starch, candle and soap works, 1925. Image No. m67927