In pictures: Remains of Marchon’s Solway gatehouse

Photographer Dave Wilson has been to the former Solway gatehouse of Whitehaven’s Marchon plant, which has been gutted by fire.

Dave, who is well known for his photos of abandoned and empty buildings across West Cumbria, visited the Kells site this morning, May 22, to capture the aftermath of the blaze.

It caught fire yesterday. It is not known what caused the blaze.

It was the last remaining building on the Marchon site.

Thousands of workers – and generations of the same families – at the 133-acre plant, run by Albright and Wilson, would have passed through the gates to and from work.

The plant produced chemicals from the 1950s and was the world’s largest single-site producer of sulphuric acid in Europe and at its height employed 2,500 people.

Rhodia took over Albright and Wilson in 1999 and in 2001, American firm Huntsman bought the Whitehaven site. It finally closed in 2005 and the site was cleared.

Thanks to Dave Wilson for the photos.