PHOTOS: 70 years since Esso Oil Refinery was put into action

This year saw the Refinery mark her 70th anniversary of when she was put into action on September 14, 1951 by Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee.

Coming just six years after the end of the war in Europe, the Refinery represented one of the national feel-good projects and pointed to a wave of optimism pervading the country at the time.

H E Bates, in Fawley Achievement, 1951, described what its new staff would find, “ . . . by the ancient squat-towered Church; a new city – not a city of brick and tile and stone and glass, but a city almost entirely in towers of silver, looking very much like a combination of a strange conception by Henry Moore and the minarets and towers of a stranger Babylon.

“It would represent to them a clean and shining orderliness of pattern beyond their conception: a pattern of rectangular streets intersecting a city of spires and spheres and ovoids and towers and tubes of swanlike grace endlessly curving.”

Fawley was selected as the site of an original refinery in 1921 by the Atlantic Gulf and West Indies Oil Company (AGWI).

history - Shepherd and sheep.

Fawley was – at the time – reasonably undeveloped; had good access to Southampton Water and provided a deep water draught to welcome tankers from around the world.

With a need for increased refining after the Second World War, the Fawley site was chosen for redevelopment. It was estimated the new refinery would contribute an annual $100 million to the balance of payments.

Work commenced in the summer of 1949, after three years of detailed planning.

With no pool of skilled workers nearby, most construction workers were recruited from outside the direct area, and a construction workers camp housing 750 set-up on site.

Outside of the refinery, clubs were built for the benefit of employees, including the Waterside Cinema (later the Waterside Theatre), sadly demolished in 2020 and to be replaced by a community garden.

Esso, Fawley - First tanker arrives. 16th aug 1951. © THE SOUTHERN DAILY ECHO ARCHIVES. Ref - 9875

The project was delivered two months ahead of schedule, despite 1950/51 seeing one of the bleakest winters on record.

On the opening day “the largest luncheon in Britain . . . considered to be the biggest held under canvas in the world” was served to some 5000 guests.

Fortunately, the weather on the day was favourable – the previous day had seen strong winds and heavy rain, with concerns about the marquee structure.

“Kept feverishly busy, with tent poles falling down around them and canvas tearing, every available man was rushed in to help steady the marquee and to reinforce its flailing structure.”

Pictures of the building of the Esso Oil Refinery. The pictures are taken from a pictorial book that was issued to mark the opening of the refinery September 14, 1951.

The guests – representing the British and American workers involved in the construction of the refinery - heard a witty welcome address by Esso Petroleum Chairman Mr Leonard Sinclair who, addressing Attlee, noted, “I must confess, Mr Prime Minister, that not the least of our problems as this refinery neared completion, was how it should be officially opened. It does not go off with a bang – at least, we hope not.”

Viewed today, the Refinery’s 368m long dock has nine berths and can welcome supertankers up to 244,000 tonnes displacement. The oil terminal sees 2000 or so ship movements a year – significantly more than the 550 or so cruise ships Southampton welcomes per annum.

The refinery processes some 270,000 barrels of crude oil a day, much reduced from peak capacity levels of 1973, when 400,000 barrels were processed, reflecting our reduced demand for oil.

The refinery remains one of the region’s largest employers, accounting for some 1000 jobs.

Heritage. chemicals from oil plant at the Esso oil refinery at Fawley. 25/2/1958

By way of contrast, adjacent to the Refinery is the now redundant Fawley Power Station, herself once supplied with heavy fuel oil from the refinery prior to closing in 2017.

With plans to demolish the 198-metre-high Power Station Chimney, and develop the disused estate into a maritime village, this part of the Southampton Water skyline will change irrevocably.

The Power Station was only completed in 1972, at a cost of £100million, the embodiment of Harold Wilson’s plans to embrace the ‘white heat’ of technology.

Meanwhile, the adjacent “city of spires and spheres and ovoids and towers and tubes of swanlike grace endlessly curving”’ continues to endure.

Nigel Philpott is a tour guide with SeeSouthampton.co.uk .