Courtaulds

Didn't see it myself so if anyone else missed the demolition, this and other clips are on YouTube: Courtaulds Chimney, Little Heath, Coventry. 7th March 2010

Hey, thanks for that - I didn't even realise it was being demolished! Not something we get to see everyday. Cheers.

Please can somebody help? When I was an apprentice I heard a rhyme about Courtaulds chimney, the only bit I can remember Courtaulds chimney gets rid of all the smoke, it takes the stink from Foleshill and dumps it down in Stoke If anyone can supply the complete verse it would be appreciated

Here's the chimney !

Thanks for the photograph, I knew it was the biggest, it's the verse I'm after.

Needed to find it ! Courtaulds built a chimney It wasn't built for smoke But to take the stink from Foleshill And dump it down in Stoke

Hey! That's my line! Hope you ok. There were three stacks on the Great Heath site. I was told on good authority that on a clear day, the Black Mountains could be seen from the top. The swing tolerance at the top was over six feet from the centre in high winds.

Thank you Midland Red - I have asked dozens of people over the years and never found anybody who knew what I was talking about.

That is a whopper! Whereabouts was it - and when did it (presumably) go?

Hello. The base of the chimney is still intact & was the subject of a preservation order. It can be seen from either near to the Stag pub or from Kingfield Rd. This is the copied google street view from Kingfield Rd. If you go on street view to Kingfield Rd close to Pridmore Rd junc, you can see it on street view. This is a pic of a pic off my pc. That is the base of the original chimney still a few feet up. This is a quote from Wiki. In July 1905, Courtaulds Ltd opened its factory in Foleshill and grew to become a world leader in the production of artificial fibres requiring a considerable expansion of the facility over the following years. The now-demolished Courtaulds chimney was reputed to be the tallest in England when it was erected in 1924. It stood 365 feet (111 m) tall, was built on 15 feet (4.5 m) - deep foundations, had a base diameter of 26 feet (8 m) tapering to 16 feet (5 m) at the top, and consisted of 917,000 bricks weighing a total of 4,000 tons (4,064 metric tons). Tower Court, formerly one of the Courtaulds buildings, is now used as offices. What I do know is that of the three chimneys on the Great Heath site, two the tall one & the boiler house one were quite close together. Looking at Google from above, I can't be a hundred percent certain which actually is the base of the 365' chimney as there are two circle structures from the air either of which could be the chimney. The demolition was undertaken brick by brick, so I might need help to identify whether what we can see from Kingfield Rd, is the former boiler house chimney or the 'stink', or tall one. ps, They were both tall. HELP???????????????????????????

Regards the poem about the chimney, I was once shown sheet music of a very old song called 'It ain't no fault of mine'. The song had several verses which went-: If Friday fell on Saturday night, it ain't no fault of mine. It ain't no fault of mine. Now, Courtaulds built a chimney, it was not built for smoke. It took the stink from Foleshill, & dropped it over Stoke. Well it ain't no fault of mine (then repeats & goes on to other odd verses). The last person to have sung it on record, I have been told was Sandy Powell, well before the war. Next week's choir rehearsal will be in the 'Drill Hall' Don't be late.

Thanks for the info Philip My mate has a factory on Kingfield and I've never knew it was there/about it! Where would that postcard have been taken from?

Was the chimney at the main Courtaulds' site, or at what was the British Celanese factory?

If you take a look at the postcard above picture and take into account no smoke came out only a stink this must be the stink one, as the furthest chimney away photo postcard MidlandRed has put up has smoke coming out of it. The information on the card also states it was built in 1923

Not only that, but if you look at the tall chimney, it has brick corbelling of two rings above rooftop level, whereas the one in the "cut-down" photograph doesn't, only what looks like metal walkways. So I'd deduce that the "cut-down" one isn't the tall chimney.