“In the summer with packing the sugar well, they need all the windows open, because obviously it was hot in the refinery”

“And then the railway, the railway started at 6 in the morning”

“The war came, that opened it up for women, gave them a life… so there was a lot of work. But people just got used to it”

“Talking about the sugar refinery - possibly about 200 people. Possibly about 100 in the rope works, and in the Merino Mill obviously about 1000 down to 500, that’s a lot of people”

”And there’s the rope works up behind that. The rope works employed a lot of people - they made the big, big ropes for ships and all sorts of things. They had to walk for miles with them, the ropes were spread out for miles”

Q. Were you not tempted to work in the Merino Mills?

”No, didinae fancy a factory at all but my sister went in to what they called the workroom first, then she ended up with an office job because my sister was very clever so she ended up in what they called the invoice room and then she ended up as a pay clerk. She was sharp. She was wasted, but you see my mother couldinae afford to send her to university because they didn’t have the money”

Industry

Broomhill was the site of the Merino Mill, Tate & Lyle factory and the Westburn Refinery, the Caledonian Foundry and the Shaws Water Works, all powered by the Greenock Cut, an aqueduct which was a ground-breaking feat of engineering and is now designated an ancient monument.

With the children at school, paper weaves were made inspired by the work carried out at the Merino Mill and tracings were made of iconic industrial buildings.

At the Art Flat, members of the local community shared their memories of working for Tate and Lyle and the Merino Mill as well local stories such as that of the fire at the refinery started by a bomb dropped in the Blitz.

In addition to the previously mentioned industries, the now unused and largely forgotten railway lines with tunnels running through Broomhill was also explored. The freight trains carried passengers and cargo to Greenock’s Princes Pier to be shipped across the world. As well as the importance industrially of these train lines, they also hold massive personal significance; many older Broomhill residents remember playing in and taking shortcuts through the unused ‘haunted’ double tunnels.

Special thanks to residents, Malcy & Annie for their stories and quotations.

Truck delivering to the sugar refineries in Broomhill.