Wigan Album

Pottery Road. Not sure about the initials but a testament to the building surviving the "clearances".

It reminds me of the old Co-op buildings but I would have thought the initials would be CWS. This is just a complete guess but could it be a building that was once used for Scouts/ Girl Guides? (I'm thinking "Baden Powell" with the initials).

Andy got it Now I need to know what/who it was initially built for??

I was always told it was one of the first petrol stations- BP

pecks co ltd.Think they manufactured canvas covers

David. That was J.H. Peck and Co, however the building is directly opposite from where their premises were in the 1970's

David, what decade was Pecks operating?

Stu, I checked everything to do with British Petroleum who only became known as such in 1954.

The BP stands for British Petroleum. This was an oil depot
Andy is correct that the overall company was only called BP from 1954 but BP existed well before that, there are loads of adverts online from the 1920's for BP motor spirit and BP standard lamp oil.

Pottery Oil and Grease Works is shown in this position on a 1889 map.

Pottery Road, old Turner's - Burns car premises. Presumably a British Petroleum Depot sometime in the past.

I contacted the BP archives and this is the reply. The search continues...

Hello Ron,
Thank you for your email.
I really do not think this is a BP Company one as in the 1920s, BP was known as Anglo-Persian Oil Company Limited.
If you do find out – please let us know.

Brittania Pottery

Shaun any info. on the company?

Ron & Shaun, on web searches that I did on BP and Co Ltd Pottery Road Wigan, Britannia Pottery kept being flagged up, however it was a pottery in Glasgow and not Wigan. See info on links below.
Typical Backstamps & Marks
“B.P. & Co. Ltd”, “Britannia Pottery & Co. Ltd, Glasgow”, “Cochran Glasgow”, “C&F”, “B P Co Ltd”, “Fleming” , “Cochrane & Fleming”
https://www.scottishpotterysociety.org.uk/britannia/
https://www.silvercollection.it/tazzin5.jpg

In Past Forward August/November 2013. pages 14 and 15 Brian Parr discusses pottery making in Roman Wigan. Coccium and its origins. https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Docs/PDF/Resident/Leisure/Museums-and-archives/archives/Past-Forward/pf64.pdf

also see pages 10 and 11, A German Pork Butcher in Wigan, Mynekymes butchers shops was mentioned on Wiganworld recently which were on Wallgate and Standishgate, and how after racial tension before the war they changed their shops names to Marsden's. It hasn't anything to do with Pottery Road, but with being mentioned recently and being in the same magazine it's a good read and with a lot more information.

Eric Marsden( Butcher) was a member of the Subscription Club back in the 1980's. He was a nice man.

If you look up the, BP Spirit logo, you will see it used in 1920.

There was a peaks tarpaulin company in wallgate they lived in Southport there only son was killed in ww1

Ron, with similar initials and incorporated in 1890 the British Burmah Petroleum Co Ltd supported APOC in searching for oil. They later amalgamated with Castrol and then later still with BP.

It is quite possible the building and the former company on Pottery Road had nothing at all to do with the supply of oil and motor spirit that's been suggested, but there must be a record of the company and also the building, somewhere?

Also there is some fascinating history in the adventurous search for oil, and the sad cost in lives for it since.

Share documents Burmah Petroleum.
https://www.scripoworld.com/records/india/british-burmah-petroleum-company-limited/
Burmah and APOC oil searches
https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/who-we-are/our-history/first-oil.html
APOC/BP company History
https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/who-we-are/our-history/early-history.html
APOC/BP company History At A Glance
https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/investors/bp-foi-2006-2010-introduction-and-history.pdf

Oil, history and subsequent wars.
https://militaryhistorynow.com/2016/11/09/of-blood-and-oil-how-the-fight-for-petroleum-in-ww1-changed-warfare-forever/

Cyril I posted a 1898 map showing the Swan meadow pub on pottery Road and you can see the pottery and grease co opposite. Phil Taylor is correct. In 1920 these premises became a very early motor spirit dealer, when there were very few ?motor vehicles on the road and I would think very few ' petrol stations'. Possibly the only one in Wigan.

Sorry, I meant the Oil and Grease Company. The letter style is the same as the 1920 BP logo.

There is a couple of photos on wigan album
Enter john peak also one showing on Newtown you can see the works Peter also one in wigan history shop

Peter, not only is there evidence that the BP as a company that we know today wasn't in existence in 1920, even BP's own archives have stated to Ron that BP only became to be known when they changed their name from Anglo Persian Oil Company to BP or British Petroleum in 1954. There is no evidence either at BP's own archives or online to say that what you posted to be on Pottery Road belonged to British Petroleum Co Ltd. There is no record that can be found online of this oil & grease works or company even though it is shown on a drawn map from 1890.

The map you posted was from a Wigan Archaeological Project and from a Town Plan of 1890. The building Ron was enquiring of is a lot lower down from this site and also the mineral railway to the canal, which on the map information states that this railway and tippler were demolished in 1929, a row of houses became to be built on this site if you remember them. This row of houses were then demolished in the 1990s with Elizabeth House then being built in 1998.

The building that Ron photographed is opposite to where the Wall's ice cream depot was, later being Sarah Lynn, now it's Nissan car sales.

Thanks Cyril, for all that info. I'l try anfd pop inti the Histry Shop next week and see if I can find any information . I have some old Wigan Directories but they are pre 1900 or 1950's on wards. I'll have a look if there is a listing of companies in Pottery Road which maybe could tie in with the initials .

Ron, The BP is for Banks Pier after Meyrick Banks it is the end of the Winstanley colliery railway. Cyril, your lead about the position lead me to more research.

Peter thanks for your research,, but would Banks Pier have been a Limited Company?

Ron, I would think it was. It would be a busy area and would have employed quite a few people, weighing the coal and loading the barges.Plus the office work and general control of the site. The building you photographed I think was next to the weighing machine on the map.

Cheers Ron and Peter, there's a bit of info on the Album of Meyrick Bankes and the Winstanley Colliery line, and Rev. David Long mentions that records show that Meyrick in 1850 bought 'Thompson's Pier Head.' https://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/photo.php?opt=5&id=33912&gallery=Goose+Green&page=28

I've no doubt that it shall come to light what the building was actually built and used for, it's quite interesting.

Not conclusive I admit but the British Pathe film from 1929 showing the BP (British Petroleum) signage on this building does go a long way to backing up my call.

So Ron it seems that the initials on the building were for the oil and motor spirit company British Petroleum after all, though it was a trade name used in Britain by a ***German company of long standing before being stripped of its assets by the British government during WW1. They then sold these assets to APOC.
*** "Despite its name, the British Petroleum brand name was originally created by a German firm as a way of marketing its products in Britain. During the war, (WW1) the British government seized the company’s assets, and the Public Trustee sold them to Anglo-Persian in 1917. With that, Anglo-Persian had an instant distribution network in the UK, including 520 depots, 535 railway tank wagons, 1,102 road vehicles, four barges and 650 horses."

*** From here. https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/who-we-are/our-history/early-history.html

It was that APOC only began using BP as their trade name in December 1954* which complicated searches, and the fact that a German company originally owned it until 1917 and was seeming not a well known fact.
* https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/who-we-are/our-history/post-war.html.

Great piece of research Cyril. I'm just curious though - although the website says APOC only began using BP as their trade name in 1954, this site, clearly established in 1920, was still using the BP name - 3 years after the take over (even a photo on the BP website shows a woman filling BP cans in 1923).