Artificial Silk Works, Old London Road, Flint

THE PATENTS ACT: GERMAN WORKS FOR FLINT. Messrs Briggs and Wolstenholme of Liverpool and Blackburn have been commissioned to prepare plans for the erection of a big works at Flint for the manufacture by a German firm of a patent lustre silk. The cost of the building will, it is stated, be about £50,000, and the industry is expected eventually to give employment to about 1,000 people. [Manchester Guardian 16 January 1909 page 9]

In 1910 the British Glanzstoff Company, a subsidiary of Vereinigte Glanztoff Fabriken of Germany, opened a factory in Flint to produce artificial silk from wood pulp. In 1913 they changed to the superior viscose process, giving a better yarn. About 1916 the Company (being German owned) were forced into receivership because of government legislation enacted during the First World War and in 1917 the factory was taken over by Courtaulds who renamed it "Aber Works" and developed the site considerably. The site was linked to the London and Noeth Western rail network using the private siding which originally served New Flint Colliery. In 1957 the works, by then producing rayon, was closed and the buildings demolished in 1980.

Reference    Builder 23 January 1909 page 98 - proposed building work
Reference    Manchester Guardian 16 January 1909 page 9
Reference    Building News 7 October 1910 page 505 and illustration