Fiddlers Ferry, Warrington
Anyone who has so much as passed through the centre of
Warrington and its’ surrounding areas, will have been struck by the town’s
industrial heritage. You would have to walk through the town blindfolded not to
notice. The rows of industrial era terrace houses, the renovated breweries now
turned into flats, and the Manchester Ship Canal which slices through the towns
landscape. The industrial environment of the town however goes beyond the remnants
of a time that has mostly gone, it’s also integral to the local identity.
This identity revolves around the towns industrial heritage
and if you look closely, it can be seen everywhere. The local rugby team
nicknamed The Wire and the local radio station Wire FM are just
two examples of how Warrington’s long tradition of wire production is
remembered. Embracing the industry, as well as many others, Warrington
flourished during the industrial revolution. However, with over 200 years of
wire production to its name, the town hung up its boots in 2007 as its largest
producer, Carrington Wire, shut its doors for good.
Like many towns in the North West, Warrington has largely
moved on from its past as an industrial powerhouse. Although more people in
Warrington still work in manufacturing and construction when compared to the UK
average, the local economy is now dominated by service sector jobs, a trend
which has occurred throughout the UK since the mid-1960s. Since this
development the town has changed accordingly. During the 1980s the Cockhedge
Mill was turned into a shopping centre, in 2007 the towns other shopping centre,
the Golden Square, saw a major expansion, and the new Time Square offers
shoppers a new market, retail and parking space.
In competition with major retail giants in nearby cities Liverpool and Manchester, the landscape of Warrington is undeniably changing. Despite this, Warrington’s strong industrial heritage is something it has pledged to retain, and the new project “The Wire Factory” aims to do just that. The project, set up by Warrington Borough Council, will attempt to include an oral history of many locals who had a personal or family link to the town’s history of wire production. Made possible by a £45,300 grant offered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), the project is a promising attempt to engage the public in their local heritage and the regions wider industrial history. While ‘The Wire Factory’ offers an exciting new way for Warrington to retain its industrial heritage, Warringtons landscape continues to change.
When discussing the industrial landscape of the Warrington
area, one landmark which defines this aesthetic is the long standing Fiddlers
Ferry power station. Situated along the River Mersey between Warrington and
Widnes, Fiddlers Ferry generated enough energy to power 2 million homes when it
first began full operations in 1973. The coal powered station boasts eight
cooling towers which stand at 114 metres high, and a 200 metre high chimney
which can be seen from as far away as the Pennines and the Lake District.
On the 13th of January 1984 perhaps the most
dramatic event in the history of Fiddlers Ferry occurred when one of the
cooling towers collapsed due to high winds. While this spectacle may have been
slightly overshadowed two years later by a similar event in Ukraine, it highlighted
the dangers experienced by the people working on the site. The significance of
Fiddlers Ferry however, doesn’t come down to one spectacular event such as the
one at Chernobyl, rather its significance comes from its contribution to the
landscape and the subsequent identity of Warrington and the North West as a whole.
The Fiddlers Ferry power station has been used within
popular mediums to express a dreary, greyness often associated with industrial northern
towns. For example, the British sit-com Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of
Crisps which was set in Runcorn, another industrial town sitting in between
Warrington and Liverpool, used footage of Fiddler Ferry in its opening credits.
The show ran from 2001-2011, following the lives of working class 18-30 year
olds as they engaged in activities such as getting drunk, sleeping around, and looking
for work. Two Pints received mixed reactions but it’s attempt to portray life
in the working class areas of the North West was undoubtably a success, albeit extremely
stereotypical. As the title of the show suggests it used cliché northern
imagery to create this portrayal, and the use of Fiddlers Ferry was by no means
a coincidence.
Another example of this can be seen through the music video
of the 2016 song “Boys That Sing” by Warrington band, Viola Beach. All of the
members of the band and their manager tragically died later that year in a car
crash while on tour in Sweden. However, during their short career, Viola Beach
were able to excellently use the landmarks if Warrington to create a similar
portrayal of the region as seen in Two Pints. Black and white footage was used in
the music video of local factories as well as Fiddlers Ferry to express a
dreary greyness which encapsulated the way towns like Warrington are often
perceived.
However, despite its contributions to Warrington’s industrial landscape and identity, much like the long standing wire industry, Fiddlers Ferry will soon cease to play its part. As part of the UK’s wider move towards green and renewable energy, coal plants such as Fiddlers Ferry are quickly becoming redundant, with its closure being announced earlier this year and plans for its demolition already underway. The power station owner’s, SSE, have stated that the plant was losing £40m a year and wont be in their plans as they move towards more renewable forms of energy. The closure of the site is clearly understandable, and with land being far from plentiful in the area it’s unsurprising that Fiddlers Ferry won’t be left standing.
Although the reasoning behind the sites demolition may be sound, the sad reality remains that this development points to a wider trend which has been occurring in Warrington over several decades. With many of the industries such as wire becoming extinct, this news comes in the same year that Unilever announced that it will be closing its Warrington factory after 130 years. While the site hardly compares to the monolithic cooling towers of Fidler’s Ferry, the factory is situated near to the towns Bank Quay train station, offering visitors and commuters a clear signifier of the towns industrial heritage. This development is of course not specific to just Warrington, rather the towns move from it’s industrial past acts as a microcosm to the region as whole.
As Warrington and the North West continues to move beyond their past as an industrial powerhouse, the question of how they remember their heritage and maintain their identity is raised. Without the landmark signifiers such as Fiddlers Ferry, it’s not clear that the identity which is the bedrock of many northern towns will live on. While the councils attempt to preserve Warrington’s heritage through 'The Wire Factory' my be a start, only time will tell whether it succeeds.
Jordan Harris
References
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/15465604.lost-landmarks-warringtons-wireworks/
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/wire-firm-faces-closure-1108719
https://www.warrington.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2019-09/2011-census-economy-profile-warrington.pdf
https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/14962680.from-mill-to-mall-the-history-of-cockhedge/
https://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/2020/02/18/wanted-memories-of-warringtons-wire-industries/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/31/fiddlers-ferry-sse-coal-power-station-warrington
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30XMm85YOtg
https://www.retroheadz.com/classic-tv/two-pints-lager-packet-crisps/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN7jEzk7ocs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38241365
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38241365
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