Report - Mount Manisty, Ellesmere port, December 2020

[Shaun]

Decided to Name this Report after the whole area as there are two other sites on show Beside the Main Factory.

Starting off we have a look at this small Roadside cafe, Most likely was commonly used when industry including the former now long gone watermill was active in the area

Former railway leading towards the paper mill.
Moving onto the Main attraction of the Factory, this was called Bowater Sacks Factory they made cartons and boxes. Opening in 1951, the factory was originally owned under the same company as every other building in the wharf It looked to have closed around the millennium. Good snippet of info in the comments of Chemists report.

Brilliant photos and well done with the research! I worked there for 20 years and turned the lights out when I left. The whole site was originally owned by Bowaters and was sold bit by bit until all the separate factories were owned by separate entities. The sack factory pictured, opened in 1951 (the phone number used to be 051 355 1951) The main factory barrel roof with all of the glass windows was built to catch the rising sun bringing natural light into the huge factory, so less electricity was used to light it. The factory was specifically designed so that reels of paper came in at one end of the factory, the reels were printed, tubed and then sewed or bottomed in the main factory hall, before going out as completed paper or plastic sacks for chemicals, foodstuffs or anything else for that matter, right at the other end. The factory had its own printers, maintenance department, canteen and office staff and at its height employed over 400 people over three shifts. It was a hugely successful producer of paper sacks which were exported worldwide. It was purchased by AssiDoman (owned by MoDO) from Bowaters, then purchased by Papropack as an order book buyout, kept open for the minimum amount of time then closed, with the loss of all jobs. The factory ceased production in April 1997, stripped of all machinery (some going for a short time to other Papropack sites and a lot of it, printers, tubers and bottomers being sold to factories in Turkey.) The site was sold to Manisty Wharf in 1998. The building is now spilt into 4 separate stores and the main factory hall and offices have fallen in to the sad disrepair you see in the photos above. The main reception you can see with 'Enquiries' on the window. There is also the old surgery (with the green curtain, some pictures of the paper laboratory, the ladies toilets, Managing Directors office (with the tree in the middle of the floor) Glue plant (big metal tanks) Print Shop offices (metal staircase) General Stores (Blue caged areas and lots of cables, where I was the Stores Manager) and the Accounts Office (Trees throughout and power poles from the roof to the floor. I remember Jack Barton & John Pyke putting those in - great electricians). Brilliant memories and the procedures and pay there were well ahead of their time. The people who closed it down then went on to oversee the closure of the other Papropack factories in the UK, Hull, Ayelsbury, North Wales, and Dundee. The managers imported from Hull who closed them all down then moved on to another Sack Manufacturer who, unsurprisingly ended up with the majority of the UK sack production. I hope they are happy of denying hundreds of a living. Fortunately, good unions got good payouts but I am pleasantly surprised the factory is still standing. I did get told that he Barrel roof is somewhat unique and 'someone was' was trying to get it listed by English Heritage. Apparently if this happens they cannot demolish. In the meantime not repairing it means it will become unsafe and will need to be demolished for H&S reasons which will mean the huge site can then be redeveloped. I have been back, and some of the signage, wage collection times and fire evacuation procedures did bring memories back and although sad to see, still think it would make a great concert or studio site. The phrase 'Leave only flowers...' is sufficiently poignant. From the comments here.

Finally shots from Inside a remnant Shed of the paper mill.

Cheers for reading, Finally getting around to putting these up now.

 

[host]

Nice report. I enjoyed it here, found it quite photogenic.

 

[Mikeymutt]

That's rather nice. Really nice colours and decay..

 

[Calamity Jane]

Nice set there. I do like the images of peel, with decay and flora. Very photogenic

 

[urbanchemist]

See those purple containers above the 'femaeles only' sign? They're for wildflower seeds.
Myself and junior got some out-of-date ones for nothing a couple of years ago, spread them around, but not much happened.

 

[Bikin Glynn]

See those purple containers above the 'femaeles only' sign? They're for wildflower seeds.
Myself and junior got some out-of-date ones for nothing a couple of years ago, spread them around, but not much happened.

dont u have to plant son=me seeds first?

 

[urbanchemist]

dont u have to plant son=me seeds first?

These were the scattering type - some came up, but it was around March which is a bit late, and the seed was old stock in the first place.

 

[blackmetallic]

That first building wasn't a roadside cafe, it was the gatehouse, thus it became the gatehouse cafe, I used to use it a lot on my walks along that railway line, which was used by Vauxhall motors. I last used that cafe ten years ago, maybe 12. It had so many owners as the passing trade was minimal. I went in on a Friday and got served by one owner, on Monday was served by the new owner, and he didn't last long, maybe a month.