Exploring Plumley, Cheshire - An explosive history?

Join me on a 5 mile run around Plumley in Cheshire. Lots of beautiful paths through the countryside, our route takes us past the Golden Pheasant pub, the river Peeover Eye and the site of the old Calcium Nitrate works.

A fascinating bit of history I knew nothing about until I ran it and realised it was obviously old industrial land. Brine was found on the Holford estate at the turn of the 20th century and a soda ash plant was but up but in 1915 Brunner Mond were tasked by the ministry to put up a Calcium Nitrate works on the site. This was extremely important to the war effort as mixing Calcium Nitrate with readily available Ammonia produced Ammonium Nitrate needed for high explosives.