IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Fairhills Industrial Estate, Woodrow Way, MANCHESTER, M44 6BL

Checkout area in the Tesco Extra store, Irlam.

Recycling facilities relocated temporarily at the Tesco hypermarket at Irlam following introduction of a new facility. See Image

The long derelict site of a former CWS Soapworks has been cleared and levelled ready for the construction of a number of light industrial/warehouse units. See Image

New, state-of-the-art recycling facility at the Tesco Hypermarket, Irlam. See Image

A relic of World War II, this pill box was located within the grounds of a CWS factory that occupied this site until the 1970s. The Cooperative Wholesale Society (CWS) operated several factories in this locality (a Wines and Spirits Depot, a Soap Works - site of this pill box-, a Glycerine, Starch and Candle Works and, a little further away, a Margarine Works). Also close by was Irlam Steelworks. Since taking this picture the pill box and surrounding area have been cleared to make way for the construction small industrial/warehouse units. See Image

Located on Fairhills Road, Irlam this bungalow and several others like it replaced a row of "prefabs" that had been built here after the Second World War. One of the prefabs remains and part can be seen to the right of this building. See also Image

A prefabricated house on Fairhills Road, Irlam. This type of house construction was used in many areas in the years immediately after the Second World War to alleviate the chronic housing shortages. They were expected to have a lifetime of no more than 20 years. This one still stands on Fairhills Road, its neighbours have all been replaced with modern bungalows during a redevelopment of the area in the 1990s. See Image

Sign giving directions to location of an emergency supply of water for fire fighting. Dates from the Second World War.

Located on Fairhills Road.

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.