1. The History
The roots of Octel date back to the second world war as a producer of anti-knock compounds for aircraft fuel. Engine “knocking” was a common problem, when the mixture of air and fuel didn’t burn efficiently. Set up in Northwich in 1940, it was initially owned by the government and operated by ICI. It then became the Associated Ethyl Co before later being renamed Asociated Octel.
After their purchase of a new site in 1948, Octel looked for a site to produce bromine to supply the works with. Amlwck was considered a suitable site so in 1952 a plant was set up there to extract bromine from seawater. The site was chosen because of the depth of the sea in the area, the strong tidal flow and Gulf Stream sea temperatures and was the largest bromine plant of its kind in the world
For more than 50 years the plat produced bromine and at its peak the plant employed 120 workers. In 1994, one of the biggest fires ever seen on Anglesey started at the Octel plant. Around 5 people were injured, and a 15-mile exclusion zone was declared around the island’s north coast after rubber sheeting in one of the plant’s towers caught fire.
The development of unleaded petrol when the health effects of lead in vehicle exhaust gases became better understood reduced the demand for Octel’s anti-knock additive. Hence the Octel factory diversified into other bromine products and was taken over by Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. In 2003, the corporation decided to close the works with the loss of more than 100 jobs. Two years later in 2005 the plant was shut completely. The site then went through a 9-month process of decontamination.
Old site plan:
For an excellent report from August 2015, prior to a number of buildings being demo'ed, check out @Speed 's report HERE
2. The Explore
Had this place on my list for a while. Ended up on our holidays literally 5 minutes down the road so it was a no-brainer to pop over to see what was left. I knew that a large part of the site had been demo’ed but was surprised at the extent of what remained. The place is a complete walk in. Even in its pretty trashed state there was still a lot to see and hold your attention for a couple of hours.
3. The Pictures
Started by going to the far side of the site and looking at the seawater pump house:
Only one of the blowing out towers (BOT1) remains after BOT2 burnt down:
On to what’s left of the process labs:
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The main sub-station has got a lot of stuff in it still:
Sub-station No.2:
The roots of Octel date back to the second world war as a producer of anti-knock compounds for aircraft fuel. Engine “knocking” was a common problem, when the mixture of air and fuel didn’t burn efficiently. Set up in Northwich in 1940, it was initially owned by the government and operated by ICI. It then became the Associated Ethyl Co before later being renamed Asociated Octel.
After their purchase of a new site in 1948, Octel looked for a site to produce bromine to supply the works with. Amlwck was considered a suitable site so in 1952 a plant was set up there to extract bromine from seawater. The site was chosen because of the depth of the sea in the area, the strong tidal flow and Gulf Stream sea temperatures and was the largest bromine plant of its kind in the world
For more than 50 years the plat produced bromine and at its peak the plant employed 120 workers. In 1994, one of the biggest fires ever seen on Anglesey started at the Octel plant. Around 5 people were injured, and a 15-mile exclusion zone was declared around the island’s north coast after rubber sheeting in one of the plant’s towers caught fire.
The development of unleaded petrol when the health effects of lead in vehicle exhaust gases became better understood reduced the demand for Octel’s anti-knock additive. Hence the Octel factory diversified into other bromine products and was taken over by Great Lakes Chemical Corporation. In 2003, the corporation decided to close the works with the loss of more than 100 jobs. Two years later in 2005 the plant was shut completely. The site then went through a 9-month process of decontamination.
Old site plan:
For an excellent report from August 2015, prior to a number of buildings being demo'ed, check out @Speed 's report HERE
2. The Explore
Had this place on my list for a while. Ended up on our holidays literally 5 minutes down the road so it was a no-brainer to pop over to see what was left. I knew that a large part of the site had been demo’ed but was surprised at the extent of what remained. The place is a complete walk in. Even in its pretty trashed state there was still a lot to see and hold your attention for a couple of hours.
3. The Pictures
Started by going to the far side of the site and looking at the seawater pump house:
Only one of the blowing out towers (BOT1) remains after BOT2 burnt down:
On to what’s left of the process labs:
The main sub-station has got a lot of stuff in it still:
Sub-station No.2:
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