Pyrimont Wharf

Pyrimont Wharf was developed in 1861 by the Asphalte de Seyssel Company of Thames Embankment (later known as the Seyssel Asphalte Company). Early factory buildings included a cauldron shed, a chimney shaft, an engine and boiler house, along with workshop, stores, lavatories and a two-storey dwelling house.

In the 1870s the asphalt production business was taken over by Claridge’s Patent Asphalte Company, which had been producing asphalt for the building trade since the 1840s. The manufacturing process employed at Cubitt Town involved the heating of bituminous limestone in six large uncovered cauldrons, producing vapours considered offensive by many local residents. The material was used predominantly for covering and protecting the foundations of buildings. It was used for example, at the Tobacco Stores at the Victoria Docks.

Claridge’s was wound up in 1917 and in the following year, the Cubitt Town Estate Company sold its interest in Pyrimont Wharf to F. J. Power, as noted on the Plymouth Wharf page. After a brief occupation in the 1920s by the Cargo Fleet Iron Company, Pyrimont Wharf became part of Plymouth Wharf.

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