Hillington (, )
is an area on the southwestern edge of the Scottish city of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

comprising a residential neighbourhood and a large

industrial suburb An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban ...

. While the residential area (close to Penilee to the west and directly adjoining North

Cardonald Cardonald (; ,
) is an outlying suburb of the Scotlan ...

to the east, primarily consisting of cottage flats) is wholly within Glasgow, the greater part of the industrial estate on the other side of the Inverclyde Line railway tracks falls under the jurisdiction of neighbouring Renfrew, although uses a Glasgow

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

History

World War II shadow factory

With the developing political situation in Europe in the mid-1930s, the

British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

set up a plan to treble the output of the British aircraft industry. Under a plan managed by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

, the Shadow factory plan was managed by industrialist Herbert Austin, with the aim to create nine new factories, and invest in enabling existing motor vehicle manufacturing plants to expand capacity and make the switch to aircraft production more easy.

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

were key to the plan, and specifically production of their

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

engine. Having developed a new facility themselves in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

, production director Ernest Hives was looking for a northern-based greenfield site with easy transport access, an available skilled workforce, and a local authority willing to build the required associated housing: Rolls had been let down in Crewe, and didn't want to repeat the experience. With its ready-built housing areas, easy access to the Glasgow to Paisley railway line, and in need of commercial activity, Hillington proved an opportunity not to be missed. The Air Ministry funded the factory construction, with the facility opening in 1937. The industrial estate was opened in 1938 by Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), and was the first of its kind in Scotland. The first Merlin engines were produced two weeks before the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. By 1943, output had reached 400 engines each week, with production peaking at 100 engines in one day, and 1,650 a month. By the end of the war, the plant had manufactured 23,500 new engines during the war, 14% of the total Merlin production worldwide.

Post war

Taken over by Rolls-Royce themselves directly on 1 April 1947, the factory initially repaired and overhauled both Merlin and Griffon engines as well as producing spare parts. Increased requirement for the Avon

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

for the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

meant that it switched totally to fanjet production, and in 1965 became a specialist compressor component manufacturing facility. The factory closed in December 2005, with all production moved to either the new facility at Inchinnan next to Glasgow Airport, or the redeveloped East Kilbride plantEnd of era for Rolls-Royce plant
BBC News, 15 December 2005 (which itself closed little over a decade later). In 2015, Glasgow distillery commenced production in Hillington.

Transport

The area is served by two railway stations, and (at Penilee). Junction 26 of the M8 motorway is located to the north of the industrial estate.

Business

* Instyle Furniture (1983)

References

External links

* {{Areas of Glasgow Economy of Renfrewshire Business parks of Scotland Areas of Glasgow Industrial parks in the United Kingdom