St. Andrew's Road: Fuming Acid Plqnt

The plant includes a large concrete base,pillars and beams for chambers for the fuming acid process. The site 155 feet x 85 feet is at right angles to the Colne on the west bank, and part of a much larger footprint.Read Hollidays expanded production to meet wartime needs, gradually taking over most of the available land in and around St Andrew's Road. The company began on a site near the gasworks, where dyestuffs were extracted from waste coal tar products. With the outbreak of war in 1914,REad Hollidays converted the plant to the production of chemicals for explosives. During the Great War, in order to control supplies, British Dyes was established. This was later to become ICI. As the demand grew, all the available land on St Andrrew's Road was occupied by Hollidays or other manufacturers undertaking to supply the War Office. A new site was found further along Leeds Road, which allowed for long-term expansion, a site still occupied by chemical plant.