How man-made area outgrew industrial past

tion of the Woodend area of Widnes from the town’s remainder creating Spike Island.

Sitting between the Mersey and the Sankey Canal, Spike Island allowed Widnes to become the epicentre of Britain’s 19th century chemical industry.

The St Helens and Runcorn Gap railway opened in 1833 and Widnes Dock was built on the island in the same year.

It was the first rail-to-ship facility in the world, meaning that materials could be transferred directly from trains to ships.

Several chemical factories popped up in Widnes thereafter.

Chemist John Hutchinson built his first factory on Spike Island in 1847, which was used to make alkali.

The canal, the Mersey and Widnes’s railway links meant that raw materials could be transported to the factory easily and finished products could be transported with similar ease.

Other factories popped up on the island and in Widnes as the century continued. The town’s chemical industry meant that products like soap, bleaching powder and glass could be mass-produced for the first time ever.

Widnes’s population grew as the factories increased demand for workers. There were 45 major chemical factories located in Widnes by the 1950s, due to growth in the chemical industry following World War Two.

However, by the 1970s most of these factories were abandoned. Changes to environmental laws and advancements in alkali production led the chemical industry elsewhere.

The Spike Island of the 1970s was littered with the legacy of its industrial past, as abandoned factories, disused rail lines and the docks remained.

However, the island was cleaned up between 1975 and 1982, as the chemical plants were removed and it was reclaimed as green space.

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