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Patons and Baldwins
(Trademark was a beehive with P&B inside its outline)
Going back to the 1770's, the founders were James Baldwin of Halifax, England, and John Paton of Alloa Scotland whose businesses merged in the 1920s.
Construction on this site commenced in August 1945. The site was 140 acres, next to the Stockton-Darlington Railway. Wool from Australasia was delivered by rail and the finished goods went out by rail.
Initial plans were for 40 acres of buildings, 50 acres of sports and recreational use, and 40 acres spare (the odd 10 acres was for roads etc).
Built by John Laing and Son and completed 1951 as the worlds largest wool factory. Output was yarn.
The site included
the long modern Lingfield House
and bearby The Beehive (looking like a row of terraced houses which served as a canteen and a concert hall
The workforce of 3500 to 4000 enjoyed football and cricket pitches, tennis courts, bowling green, and the company built workers houses and the Heathfield School.
In 1975 reduced demand led to one third of the site going to Rothmans (later BAT) who closed their operations on the site in 2005.
In 1961 P&B merged with Coats to become known as Coats Patons, shortly afterwards adding Jaeger to the company. Coats remains on site occupying a portion of Lingfield House. The Beehive auditorium has been converted into several offices.
By 1998 much of the site was unused and in need of attention and redevelopment has now taken place including new housing and recreation facilities.
Sources: The Lingfield Point Story (Lingfield Life. A Marchday development)
Image- 1954 advert from www.gracesguide.co.uk, under GNU Free Documentation Licence, compliant with Creative Commons Attribution license. '
