Heathhall


Dumfries and Galloway

A location in Dumfries and Galloway, Heathhall lies on the A701 road between Dumfries and Locharbriggs. The Arrol-Johnston Car Company moved to Heathhall from Paisley in 1913 and built a manufacturing plant using designs by German-American architect Albert Kahn. This was the first factory in Britain to be constructed of reinforced concrete and bears considerable similarity to the Highland Park plant which Kahn had designed for Henry Ford in Detroit four years previously. It manufactured aircraft engines during the First World War and one of Malcolm Campbell's record-breaking Bluebird cars was built here in 1929. The company was bankrupt by 1930. The factory was extended in 1957 after it was acquired by the North British Rubber Co Ltd., who designed and manufactured the green Hunter wellington boots here, which became a style-icon of the 1980s. This company became Uniroyal, then evolved into the Gates Rubber Company, manufacturing power transmission belts, the Hunter Rubber Company, which eventually stopped making its famous boots at Heathhall in 2008, and Interfloor, producing carpet underlay.

Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum is located here, occupying the control tower of the former RAF Dumfries, which was established here in 1940 and closed in 1957. The substantial Heathhall Industrial Estate occupies several former RAF buildings as well as purpose-built modern premises. The street names recognise the aviation heritage of the area; namely Hercules Lane, Hurricane Road, Lancaster Lane, Spitfire Road, Tiger Moth Road and Wellington Lane.


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