50 years ago this week a devastating fire ripped through the Synthetic Supplies factory on Silk Street in Eccles, causing half a million pounds-worth of damage and razing the building to the ground.
100 firefighters were called in to tackle the huge blaze, which incinerated tonnes of valuable electrical instruments throughout the three-storey building.
Incredibly, none of the 200-strong workforce was injured, despite the fact that next door at Lankro Chemicals hundreds of drums were stacked with highly flammable compounds.
20 fire engines were called to the scene on Thursday 4 November 1965 after office manager Bernard Tolhurst raised the alarm.
When he started to notice smoke coming through the floorboards of his ground-floor office he gave orders over the tannoy to evacuate the building.
Despite workers shutting fire prevention doors before they hurriedly filed out, the blaze quickly spread and onlookers reported flames leaping 30 feet into the air.
Each of the 100 firemen were hampered by the confined spaces they had to work in – and although ten water pumps were brought to the scene only three were able to help contain the blaze.
Firecrews ran hose reels from the hydrants at Eccles Cross which caused huge traffic jams and pile ups with traffic backed up to Stott Lane in Salford.
As the heat became more intense the owner of Lankro Chemicals Dr Kroch told his entire workforce to “take an early dinner”, offering the company’s emergency water tanks to the fire crews, who were also forced to pump water from the nearby Manchester Ship Canal.
Teams of men in breathing apparatus pushed their way into the burning building to discover a broken gas main on fire under the main entrance to the factory.
Gas engineers were called in to cut off the gas supply and dig up Silk Street to reach the necessary pipes.
Silk Street as it is today – demolished and replaced with Morrisons car park
It would appear that the firemen had contained the blaze in the nick of time because in the cellar they found 50 tonnes of rubberised paper, felts and waxes used in packing purposes, all of which were highly flammable.
Sadly there was little left of the factory to rescue at this point other than a steaming pile of blackened rubble. The factory was demolished after visits by the Health and Safety who condemned the building.
SalfordOnline.com did some further research into this building and found out that it was originally called The Albert Mill, whose workers actually made the material for Queen Victoria’s wedding dress when she married to Prince Albert in February 1840.
All of the workers who were involved in the making of the dress were invited to London for the wedding, but too be honest I doubt if any of the low paid workers would be able to afford the cost of a trip to London, a nice gesture though.
When Synthetic Supplies took over the building in 1946 there was still on site a stone plaque which marked the spot were the loom that made the material stood. It’s presumed this was destroyed in the fire which is a terrible shame as it would have have been a wonderful reminder of Eccles’ industrial heritage.
Plans were set up to replace the building with a new factory which would cost £400,000 and open in April 1966 with the bonus of employing an extra 100 staff.
Do any of our readers know what happened to these premises? It’s possible they became the property of plastic piping manufacturer Ward and Goldstone’s, which closed in the early 1980s. If you can confirm this please contact tonyflynn@salfordonline.com.
