Thursday 26 February 2015

Signs at the entrance to ABC Wax


Yesterday I posted a photo of Godley Brook looking upstream from the entrance to the former dyeworks at Hoviley.

Today's post is of the signs at the entrance to ABC Wax.

Ashton Brothers built Newton Bank Printworks in Hyde in the early 1800s. In 1899 F.W.Ashton became part of the Calico Printers association (CPA). In 1908 the first wax prints (production Batiks using handblock) were produced. In 1959, CPA purchased the Swiss trading company A.Brunnschweiler, and in 1970 that became the company name replacing F.W.Ashton.

A.Brunnschweiler & Co was soon abbreviated to ABC which later became the brand name of its wax prints in West Africa. ABC was purchased by the Cha group in 1992. In 2005, production of the standard ABC product was transferred to another group factory in Ghana called Akosombo Textiles Ltd (ATL)

All production ceased at Newton bank printworks in December 2007 and all the necessary machinery was transferred to ATL in Ghana. The site was then decommissioned and cleaned up prior to demolition which began in 2014.

A full record of the demolition of the dyeworks with photos and videos can be found on the Demolition of ABCWAX blog created by site manager David Bradley.

A contribution to signs, signs.

8 comments:

  1. One wonders what will become of the place.

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  2. There's room for a few more! Tom The Backroads Traveller

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  3. Plenty of reading material there!

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  4. Many signs here. I love the "Dead Slow" sign. That is not one we ever see in the U.S.

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    Replies
    1. I was thinking the same thing when I saw the "Dead Slow" sign. If it were over here, I bet they would turn that area into apartments or flats.

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  5. ABC has gone the same way as many UK firms I'm afraid. Very sad.

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