Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Oleo Works

oleos were some form of shock absorbers, I think it is a generic for the air / oil / piston arrangement, but I've also known rubber donut oleos used in railway wagon buffers.

nice one!

emmmmm look like a interesting place

yeeeerrr!

In 1909 it is simply listed as OLEO WORKS. And even then the outline of the building show it to be an odd shape, the brickes must have had a field day when they where building it. Like some of the houses that are built these days and extensions added on and added on, till the ouline takes up a weird shape. Who knows in a 100 years some one will be saying look at the shape of these house its defo odd.

Found some old reference in a Trades Directory...

National Oil & Hide Co. Ltd. (oleo).Vittoria dock, Birkenhead & Wood-sido lairags, Shore road,Birkenhead

Found this on National Archives to do with the name Oleo:

'Oleo-chemical manufacturers. Bromborough Pool, Wirral. A subsidiary of Unilever International. Formerly called Price's Patent Candle Co. Ltd., 1847-1936, and associated during that period with a London-based company which still trades under that name; Price's (Bromborough) Ltd., 1936-67; and Price's Chemicals Ltd., 1967 - 77.
The origins of the company now known as Unichema Chemicals Ltd., date back to the early years of the nineteenth century. The company was founded by William Wilson, the son of a Lanarkshire landowner, who in 1812 moved to London and established himself as a merchant importing Russian goods. His original capital was £100. The importation of tallow for use in the manufacture of candles led to his becoming interested in the commercial possibilities of candlemaking, and in 1830 he built his first factory for this purpose at Vauxhall, London.
Although largely owned by Wilson, and his sons James and George, the venture was called "E. Price and Co." in order to preserve their anonymity (it was at that time possibly considered demeaning for gentlemen to enter into industry). The name was retained when Price's Patent Candle Co. became a joint stock company in 1847.
Price's soon began both to refine the processes involved in candlemaking and to expand its range of products. Methods of distilling tallow to produce pure white, non-odorous stearine were adopted. Coconut oil, palm oil, and later petroleum were developed as substitutes for tallow. Two important by-products of the distilling process were a liquid called oleine, which became a successful "cloth oil" for use in the manufacture of wool, and glycerine. The latter was produced commercially from 1854, both as a basis for medicines and for use in various industries. Soap production was also begun in 1854. During the late 1850's the company applied its distilling processes to petroleum and became the first large-scale producer of petroleum based lubricants in the world. The production of engine oils and paraffin wax were logical developments.
The 1843 the company acquired a second factory at Battersea (known as the "Belmont Works"). This was progressively enlarged, and the original Vauxhall factory was sold in 1864. In the meantime, however, a third factory had been founded at Bromborough Pool in 1854.
The Bromborough Pool site was ideal as the bulk of African palm oil imports arrived at Liverpool, and as the Company's main customers for oleines were the northern textile manufacturers. However, it was some distance from the nearest population centres, and for this reason the Company decided to build a village for its employees alongside the works. The Wilson family had always been interested in the welfare of their workers, and they saw to it that the Bromborough Pool settlement was designed as a garden village with open spaces, recreational facilities, a school, and a hospital. In 1859 there were seventy cottages in the village. By the turn of the century this number had been doubled, though without destroying the original concept. For some time church services and meetings were held in the school, but following the building of a chapel in 1890, and a new school in 1898, the older building was converted into a village hall.
By 1936 the fatty acid processes carried out at Bromborough had become far removed from the more traditional production of candles and lubricants at Belmont, and it was decided to sever the connection between the two branches. The Merseyside works became part of the Unilever group under the name Price's (Bromborough) Ltd., and have since concentrated on the production of fatty acids, fatty alcohols, and other oleo-chemicals, while Pricr's Patent Candle Co. Ltd., Belmont Works, Battersea, have remained an independent concern. In 1967 the title Price's Chemicals Ltd was adopted for the Bromborough company, but this has now been changed to Unichema Chemicals Ltd.'

Doesn't mention Birkenhead or Canning St though.

1914 Kelly's Directory entry:

National Oil & Hide Co. Ltd. (oleo).
Vittoria dock, Birkenhead & Wood-
side lairages, Shore road,Birkenhead
Price's Company Limited, Brom-
borough Pool works, Birkenhead ;
26 & 27 Bath street, Liverpool
(Telegrams, " Enginole, Liver-
pool; " Telephone 0311); head
office, Battersea, London SW

So I assume they provided products to the tanning industry.

Oleo - maybe this was a by-product of tanning - fat?

It'll be demolished soon enough. You can rely on the council to do that.
"Old building? History involved? Great architecture? Pull it down, no one on Wirral's interested in that sort of thing. Let's build some shi**y shoeboxes there instead."

Sadly, you're probably right. (An unexplained fire seems favourite). If the housing market were more buoyant, it would convert into some nice flats.

nice place need some pix

cool place

Oleo is a type of purified cooking oil used for making biscuits. The chances are, this building was an edible oils factory.

Usually animals intestines were brought from Woodside or Tranmere Lairage and processed into fat, then purified by putting it though a press. This would produce Oleo oil and Stearine was the bi product which was used to make grease proof paper. I know this because I worked in a factory that did this.

Oleo oil was also used as a lubricant for the axles on railway wagons. Some wagons had a box at the end of each axle where a block of fat was placed.

Oleo Oil has now been replaced by vegetable oil by most bakery companies.

There was another factory in Cathcart Street called British American Products which also rifined Oleo. This company moved to new premises in Duke Street/ Cleveland Street in 1967 and the building is now used as Happy Als bus garage.

In the first picture,you can see some white double doors on the first floor.Around 1982/83 I delivered a very large drying table there for screen printing.We had picked it up from a factory in Blackpool took there and craned it up to that floor,I've often wondered if it is still in there as it was not the easiest of things to move,it was a creepy place then and I don't think the printer stayed there very long after,as he had a new business on Argyle st and then other stuff kept him occupied for a couple of years later.

Chris.