Visit to a Cable Factory

Enter the world of heavy industry a century ago - Glovers Cables in Trafford Park.

This fascinating look at industry in the early years of the last century takes us to the Glovers Cable Factory in Trafford Park, where men in shirtsleeves and waistcoats operate heavy machinery to produce enormous reels of electrical cable. This is skilled work, but hard and hazardous. Finally, the huge cable reels can leave the factory, transported by rail, horse and cart, and canal barge.

The cable firm of W. T. Glover was founded in 1868 in Salford, and moved to Trafford Park in 1898. Trafford Park was the first purpose built industrial estate in Europe, attracting many large and successful companies. World War II saw peak employment in the Park, with 75,000 people working there as factories turned to war production.