Taking advantage of the remoteness of the Ardeer Peninsula, the British Dynamite Factory was built in 1871 by Alfred Nobel, later taken on by ICI and becoming the largest explosives factory in the world at one time. It was a global supplier employing thousands of local workers. The factory had its own jetty on the River Garnock in Irvine Harbour, serving ships importing materials for the works or disposing of time expired explosives.
We have a good selection of objects from ICI in our collection, relating to the different aspects of the factory and to the social aspects of ICI, which were many and varied. We also have lots of information for those of you who are doing research or just wondering what happened in the factory.
Keep checking in, we’ll be adding to these pages regularly.
