A major project to shift BAE Systems from a munitions factory dating from the First World War has thrown up some surprises - and some benefits for charities and small businesses in the region. Karen Dent reports.
SHIFTING BAE Systems in Birtley from its 1916 factory to state-of-the-art, purpose-built premises less than a mile away in Washington has proved an enlightening experience in more ways than one.
Priceless historic artefacts from the Great War, ranging from photographs and documents to period bricks and signs from the site, are all being preserved as part of the region’s industrial heritage.
But more recent additions to the site, that are no longer required, are also heading to new homes after being offered to small businesses instead of being dumped.
The very bricks from the Birtley factory are being donated to museums, so they can be used in restoration projects, along with signs and other artefacts.
Local historian and retired BAE Systems employee Brian Armstrong is collating the site’s history in a book combining archive material with memories from employees and their families.
Armstrong, who worked at the site for 37 years until retiring in 2007, said: “The site was built by Armstrong- Whitworth, who became Armstrong- Vickers.
“They had a massive Belgian workforce, who were skilled tradesman and were injured servicemen who couldn’t go home but wanted to help the war effort.
“They built a housing estate called Elizabethville for 6,000 people, which was named after Elisabeth who was the Queen of the Belgians at the time. They brought their own families with them because they were refugees.”
Initially the factory was two sites separated by a brick wall – the Belgian-run factory producing projectiles – or shells – and the Armstrong-Whitworth section, employing local women to make cartridge cases.
In 1919, parts of the factory were bought or rented out by other local companies ranging from chemicals firms to car manufacturers.
But as war again approached, in 1936 the factory was reopened and employed 4,400 women and 2,000 men making munitions.
Armstrong said: “The Angel of the North site was the factory sports field and they had their own social club on Harris Bank which shut in the 60s. After the war, it was re-equipped to make steel buildings but it wasn’t a success. Then they made filing cabinets and office equipment.”
But at the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the factory returned to its roots and has made ammunition ever since.
Other relics from the more recent past, which normally may have ended up in landfill, are also being preserved and sold on to small and start-up businesses in the North East.
