Lancashire Steel Corporation plant, Irlam

Image: © Ben Brooksbank Taken: 21 Jun 1957

View southward, from main Cheshire Lines railway (Manchester Central - Liverpool Central), between Irlam and Cadishead - a typical industrial scene of the time. Right at the back, left of the lighting tower, are the three blast furnaces, the right-hand one being rather indistinct. In mid-distance to the right is the coking plant, with its two tall chimneys. In front of the right hand chimney is the coal bunker from which coal would be fed in a travelling carriage to the battery of individual coke ovens partly visible behind the base of the lighting tower. To the right of the bunker, the tall cylinders with pipes attached are part of the cleaning plant for the gas extracted by the coking process. Both gas and coke go into the blast process, the gas to help pre-heat the furnaces, the coke to be mixed with the iron ore for smelting. The sheet-covered building right in the centre is a tippler shed, feeding the conveyor which angles off to the left, probably for the coking plant. In view of the isolated sections of track-work at the bottom of the picture, it is likely that this area was being redeveloped.

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