Ketton Cement Works

By the week ending 8 November, the wage bill had risen to over £600 for around 250 men and boys, who worked on the site.

A major part of the construction of Kiln Three was its new chimney built out of reinforced concrete, as opposed to brick.

The chimney stood at an impressive 338 feet (103 m) high and was the tallest structure in the south of England, visible for as far as 50 miles away.

As production increased, the transport of limestone and silica clay from the quarry to the plant needed to become more efficient.

The standard gauge railway that had operated since the opening of the factory was replaced initially by dump-trucks, before being superseded by conveyor belts.

Two large stores with capacity of 43,000 and 10,000 tonnes each were constructed to enable storage of raw materials to feed the kilns.

The economic downturn hit Ketton hard, and with a reduction in the output of cement, Kiln 7 was mothballed in September 2008 with no prospect of restarting in the near future.

Following a shake-up and cost-cutting exercise in 2012, many office functions including planning and distribution for the prepacked aggregates business were moved to Ketton.

One of the initial factors in the location of the plant, other than the high quality of lime and silica clays present onsite, was the proximity of the LMS Birmingham to Peterborough Line to the south of the factory.

Now shunting is handled by British Rail Class 08 shunters on hire from DB Schenker, who also provide traction for outbound cement and inbound coal trains on the main line.

Cement has always been transported by road, however with the growth of ready-mixed concrete plants from the 1960s onwards, and the rationalising of the railway network, road haulage has grown in importance, with both Ketton's own fleet of trucks as well as external hauliers used to transport finished cement products both in bulk tankers and palletised in curtainside vehicles.

In the 1990s, Castle Cement embarked on a programme reducing the amount of coal burnt by Ketton works.

Profuel, a recycled fuel product consisting of shredded paper and plastics that would otherwise go to landfill was introduced in the mid-1990s.

Much was done by Castle Cement and the staff at Ketton to communicate with its neighbours and to be open about its activities at the plant including local meetings, visits and newsletters.

Hanson Cement held an open day at the Ketton production facility every year in July.