Points of interest

From gypsum to granite

Date: October 31, 2025Author: Philip Hamlyn Williams 0 Comments

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 Merlin engine and now a promising future. Then Burton on Trent and the home brewing. A little further on is JCB showing what privately owned companies can achieve.

We travel through Stoke and the potteries, then on to the Cheshire salt plain.

Middlewich is one of the ‘wiches’ and was where Bruner Mond produced soda ash using the Solvay process. This became a major part of ICI.

Runcorn and Widnes were in the chemical heartland again embraced by ICI. The landscape is now punctuated by wind turbines.

A little further on is Flint with United Alkali and where Courtaulds manufactured rayon. The local football team is known as the silk men.

Broughton is home to Airbus and was where Vickers built Lancasters in WW2.

We pass Stanlow oil refinery and Helsby where one of the founders of BICC manufactured cables.

Conner’s Quay was where Ruston Gas Turbines with GEC built one of the first power station fired by North Sea gas.

Shotton steel works now operated by Tata.

So on to our destination and what was the Welsh Granite Company which quarried granite in the mountains for rail ballast and sets, more recently for concrete. It was used in building factories for Courtaulds and the runway at Feltham for the giant Brabazon aircraft.

The granite was taken on a track down to the sea from the top of the hill. The lower section is shown in the image.

The quarry had its own clock mounted on the hillside.

Further reading

https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/3351c2ca-70e8-387c-9ff2-44a554c4076e

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