The Society and guests were given an interesting 2-part Talk by Garry Crossland about Immingham Docks history, and Malcolm Cullum about the growth of the town from its agricultural roots to the current day.
Malcolm, a self-confessed ‘Immingham-ite’ and ex-mayor, started by establishing from his audience just what their experience of Immingham was. Many families of the town had been so for generations, with the museum increasingly a focus for memories (and an excellent museum it is - including an illustrative model railway!). A photographer for Immingham News in the 1970s combined with his current role as volunteer in the museum, stimulated Malcolm to become the keeper of many photographs which eventually became a published book of 150 local images - with a 2nd one on the pipeline - and these were the basis for his talk.
Early history includes a ‘promise’ by the older, nearby settlement of Killingholme to help build the now 800 year old church of St Andrew. However, there is no evidence that this ‘help’ actually happened and is perhaps why the church’s gargoyles’ bottoms face the older settlement! In 1608 a group of separatists found shelter in Immingham from bad weather before sailing down Immingham Creek and onto The Netherlands – and later still, on The Mayflower - to escape and set up a Puritan colony in America. A monument put up in 1924 to commemorated Immingham Port’s part in this story, was moved to a more accessible site opposite the church in 1970.
Being a farming community - one tantalising story related to us was that Immingham was where Batchelor Peas began - fluctuating fortunes persisted in the area until dock building attracted labourers to the town in the 1800s. This brought about the building of a Tin Town to house labourers in the main, though a further 6 tin Bungalows were later built for the Docks’ bosses and more importantly the baker! Despite them being supposed to last for only 10 years, these bungalows were homes for many families well into the 20th Century but though fondly remembered they were in fact not pleasant and warm to live in! The one remaining is Listed and hopes are that it will one day be opened to the public.
From his work on Immingham Docks, Garry became very interested in its history and we were left in no doubt about his knowledge on the subject. Grimsby had been a coal port long before its prominence as a fishing port (up to 1.6 million tons handled by 1898) and owners Great Central Railway sought expansion. The engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry suggested Immingham as a better site for a new dock due to its position on the Humber. In addition, because coal seams extend under Lincolnshire, Immingham was deemed to offer closer and therefore cheaper transport routes.
Towards the digging out of the dock in 1906, trams enabled navvies to travel between Grimsby and Immingham. From all over the UK, these experienced dock basin diggers followed work around the country with their families. The official opening in 1912 was by King George VI and Queen Mary and at the same event, Sam Fey the Port’s General Manger was knighted. At its peak, the New dock boasted 7 coal hoists along the south wall and 170 miles of train track for the regular handling of 3500 coal waggons.
Blue Star Cruise liners also became a regular at Immingham for a short time, attracting passengers from all over the UK – and they too came by rail with the track running alongside the ships.
Since the mid-20th century, Immingham has seen a variety of commercial enterprises come and go including Fisons, meant to be the first of many to process raw materials coming into the dock and export a finished product from the same dock. Imported Iron ore for Scunthorpe came into Immingham – and general cargo for the far east and Australia went out as exports. Whereas all cargo used to be transported by rail, with a massive amount of infrastructure the likes of which we are extremely unlikely to see again, since the 1960s this has gradually decreased and replaced by road haulage – but still 72 trains leave the Renewable Fuels Terminal weekly, transporting Biomass fuel to Drax power station. Today, Immingham is the UK’s largest port by tonnage trading via the Port’s Bulk Terminal, Gas Jetty, Humber International Terminal and Outer Harbour and the Oil Terminal, built to serve the oil refineries, subsumed the Immingham Creek of the fleeing Puritans of the early 1600s.
This was a well-attended event and the very knowledgeable Garry and Malcolm were thanked for a very interesting evening.
SM
Garry Crossland and audience of members and guests during his talk