WHILE today the land is home to a business park, Thames Board Mills is one of the most famous names in Warrington's history.
In 1936 Thames Board Mills expanded its operation from Purfleet in Essex by opening its huge purpose built factory at Arpley and creating almost 300 new jobs locally.
The Warrington Examiner described the scale of their operations: “Hundreds of tons of raw material such as wood – pulp and waste paper arrive by barge and lorry, to be picked up by gantry cranes and run into the huge storage sheds. Then the raw materials proceed directly to the first process of manufacturing.
"The whole mill is thus a model of industrial planning and secures a direct flow-through from raw materials to the finished product.”
Inside the mill the latest machinery was installed and the Examiner again enthused: “The new machines at Warrington run at higher speeds than have previously been secured on plant of their type.
"The entire mill is marked by the latest technical features.”
Increased speed of machinery and the sheer scale of the operations brought increased risk of injury.
Thames Board Mills was proud of its Health and Safety record and its personnel relations.
By the twenty first century Thames Board and the associated Thames Case works like Alliance Box and Chadwick’s had closed down as a result of changes in the market for goods and globalisation of production.
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