Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 a tobacco factory was a major employer running some of the fastest machines in any industry, with leaf stripped and graded by hand by rows of…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 the candle industry had already lost the thing it existed for. Electric light had been general for decades, and what remained was churches, emergencies, decoration and…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 a tyre factory was black - the carbon black that makes rubber strong was handled loose, and it covered the floors, the machines and everybody in…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 making malt meant soaking barley in a cistern, shovelling it out wet by hand, spreading it a few inches deep across a stone floor the length…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 a brickworks dug its own clay from a pit beside the kilns, dried the green bricks in open sheds for weeks depending on the weather, and…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 white paint was made with lead, the solvents evaporated into the workroom, and the whole site was a fire risk managed mainly by hoping.
The pigment…