ICI Hillhouse was a

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...

-production facility in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. A division of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

(ICI), it was active between 1941 and 1992. Its triangular footprint spread from the banks of the

River Wyre The River Wyre is a river in Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, which flows into the Irish Sea at Fleetwood. It is approximately 28 miles (45 km) in length. The river is a County Biological Heritage Site and has a sheltered estuary ...

Stanah Thornton-Cleveleys is a conurbation consisting of the village of Thornton and the town of Cleveleys. The two settlements formed a joint urban district from 1927 until 1974, before becoming part of Wyre. The two settlements constitute part of ...

in the east, to Hillylaid Road in the southwest, to the southern edge of Fleetwood in the north. Its entrances were on Hillylaid Road (via the extant gate at the end of today's The Hawthorns) and on Butts Road in Burn Naze. Burn Naze Halt served those arriving by train. ICI Hillhouse expanded on a

United Alkali Company United Alkali Company Limited was a British chemical company formed in 1890, employing the Leblanc process to produce soda ash for the glass, textile, soap, and paper industries. It became one of the top four British chemical companies merged in ...

venture begun in 1890. ICI General Chemical Divisions purchased the assets of Hillhouse and Burn Hall Works from the

Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...

. A power plant was built on today's Bourne Way in 1958, providing ICI with electricity and steam power."Looking back at ICI: A rare glimpse inside the plants of the Fylde chemical giant"
– ''Blackpool Gazette'', 13 September 2018 A railway line—part of the Fleetwood branch line—was built to connect Burn Naze to

Poulton-le-Fylde Poulton-le-Fylde (), commonly shortened to Poulton, is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. In the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,264. There is evidence of human habitation ...

and beyond. The line still exists today, although the sidings at Burn Naze were removed after all freight traffic ceased in 1999. Water from the

Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria (historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River Ribble was never completed, a ...

, beside Nateby Hall bridge, was extracted by ICI Hillhouse via a 25-year lease. Around 6,000

megalitres The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3). ...

(1.3 million gallons) of water was obtained. The boreholes the facility previously used resulted in the water turning

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

due to a fault line which runs between

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

and

the Fylde The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills t ...

. ICI Hillhouse closed in 1992, after which the Burn Naze area, where most of the workers lived, subsequently suffered a downturn in fortunes. The chlorine plant was demolished in 1994. The power station was demolished in 2007; its chimney followed on 7 November 2009. In 1999, Glasgow-based NPL Estates reached a £50 million agreement with ICI to create new housing, leisure, supermarket and shopping facilities on the Burn Naze portion of the land. Another section became the Hillhouse Enterprise Zone. An plaque beside the Thornton-Cleveleys War Memorial at Four Lane Ends honours ICI Hillhouse workers who served in the first and second World Wars. Poulton & Wyre Railway Society have placed a plaque honouring the wars' soldiers at Burn Naze Halt.

Fire

On 26 July 1963, a fire broke out in an electric furnace at ICI Hillhouse. The furnace was used to heat

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...

to make

carbide In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece. Interstitial / Metallic carbides The carbides of the ...

electro paste. While local brigades (Blackpool and Lancashire) also attended, the fire was fought by the on-site ICI Works fire brigade. A rush of flames injured seven firefighters, with Raymond Pearson, 40, dying a day later in hospital.

References

{{Borough of Wyre buildings 1941 establishments in England Chemical plants of the United Kingdom Borough of Wyre Companies based in Lancashire