EAW048617 ENGLAND (1953). The McVitie & Price Ltd Biscuit Factory on Wellington Road North and environs, Heaton Chapel, 1953. This image was marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing.

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Nearby Images (19)

EAW048617
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EAW048620
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EAW048613
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EAW048610
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EAW048612
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EAW048616
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EAW048618
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EAW048614
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EAW048611
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EAW024179
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EAW024180
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EAW048619
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EAW024182
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EAW024176
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EAW024175
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EAW024181
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EAW024178
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EAW024183
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Details

Title [EAW048617] The McVitie & Price Ltd Biscuit Factory on Wellington Road North and environs, Heaton Chapel, 1953. This image was marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing.
Reference EAW048617
Date 3-April-1953
Link
Place name HEATON CHAPEL
Parish
District
Country ENGLAND
Easting / Northing 387874, 393044
Longitude / Latitude -2.1825396953692, 53.433781447369
National Grid Reference SJ879930

Pins

Vast 2ndWW air raid shelters.

redmist
Thursday 9th of January 2020 11:25:52 PM
Entrance to 2ndWW air raid shelter. Emergency exit can be seen to the left.

redmist
Thursday 9th of January 2020 11:24:43 PM

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:50:37 PM
Originally Crossley Motors, then Fairey Aviation (yes they built aircraft here) and known for a spell as "National Aircraft Factory No 2" this is now a light industrial estate, with a small part used by the engineering successors to Fairey, now making bridges. Products from here included the Fairey Beaufighter, and many Crossley engines and some cars. The Fairey Band retains their rehearsal room in this estate which is known as "Errwood Park Works"

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:48:00 PM
Football pitches / cricket pitch. Now fully built upon.

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:41:06 PM
Four track railway line - former LMS To the north lies Levenshulme Station and then Manchester Piccadilly. To the south lies Heaton Chapel station and then Stockport. From Stockport lines diverge to Buxton, Crewe, Stafford and London. The goods sidings seen here no longer exist.

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:40:49 PM
Wellington Road North

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:33:08 PM

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:30:12 PM
Black Brook Much of the small stream is culverted but this section remains open.

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:27:25 PM
Black Brook Farm

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:19:38 PM
Dobsons Dairies - later Express Dairies Bottles exist with the Dobsons name and address moulded into the glass.

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:16:44 PM
Monarch Laundry. This site is now occupied by two international fast food outlets with associated car parking.

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:09:31 PM
A white roof with a dark red band below marks this as a Stockport Corporation Transport Department Bus. Probably a 92 (later became 192).

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 04:01:43 PM
Manchester Road, once the main road between Manchester and Stockport, leading to the Lancashire Bridge over the River Mersey. Once the Wellington Bridge was built, Wellington Road took most of the traffic.

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 03:56:52 PM

User Comment Contributions

McVitie and Price



Attached image is from Wikipedia [[McVitie's]] showing McVitie's Biscuit Factory, Wellington Road North, Stockport close to the border with Manchester. Looking north towards the Manchester suburb of Levenshulme in May 2008. The image is copyright Slbs, licenced under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike licence.



This factory specialises in the chocolate covered biscuits, especially the famed Penguin bars and the (not a biscuit) Jaffa Cakes (at a rate of 2000 per minute). The old red brick buildings on the A6 remain from this image - between this building and the railway there has been much modernisation and rebuilding.



All McVities Jaffa cakes are made here, the production line is over a mile long and the Jaffa Cake facility covers an acre. The local air is much improved by the smells from the factory when sponge is cooking.



The road to the North is the boundary between Manchester (Levenshulme) and Stockport (Heaton Norris - this part is now called Heaton Chapel).



The site is known as McVities, and is now part of United Biscuits, formed from "McVitie and Price" and "MacFarland and Lang".



Robert McVitie was an apprentice baker in Edinburgh whose son, also Robert, specialised in biscuits (they kept longer).. Charles Price, a salesman for Cadbury, joined McVitie in 1888.



The Manchester factory originated in the need for more capacity to supply the troops in World War 1 with hard biscuits.



World War 2 and a lack of ingredients drove the cooperation with MacFarlane and Lang, and the number of biscuit types reduced from 370 - to ten. On the death of the then managing director Robert Grant after the war the need to pay death duties was an additional driver to full integration of the two companies (1948).



William McDonald, of Glasgow, known for McDonalds Penguin chocolate covered biscuits, was added to the United Biscuits family. McDonalds was from Glasgow, and first produced the Penguin bar in 1932.



The Jaffa Cake was invented by McVitie and Price in 1927, and there are now many replica biscuits which use differing recipes.



In 2000 United Biscuits was sold to a consortium which included Nabisco, and there were a number of changes to brand ownership in the many international markets. There was a further sale in 2006 to a differing consortium.



These Britain from Above images show an active works sports facility with football pitches, tennis courts and a bowling green. The bowling green remains, with a car park between the green and the A6 road. Up to the green, where the image shows football pitches, there is now a full housing development. What shows here as two football pitches is shown on some old maps as a cricket pitch and the area probably saw both uses.



The railway line runs from Manchester to the North to Stockport to the South and then on to Buxton, Crewe, Stoke, London etc. The sidings for the Erwood Park Works across the lines from McVities has been removed.



The other side of the tracks from McVities was used by Crossley Motors and Fairey Engineering for aircraft and car production. Much of the site is now light engineering, with two small bus companies depots. The Fairey Band still has its rehearsal rooms there but is now self financing.

totoro
Friday 27th of June 2014 03:51:02 PM