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Last word on lard?
Some of you have questioned whether we should be talking about lardbergs. After all, unlike mobile phones causing petrol forecourts to explode or planes to veer violently off course, lard will never affect shipping. How wrong you are.
‘My grandfather, George Lingard, was MD of the famous Kilvert’s Lard which was based in Trafford Park, Manchester, in the 1940s and 50s,’ says Kevin Lingard, in a story which simply has to be made up, except there really was a Kilvert’s Lard company. ‘Most of the lard was produced in Canada and shipped in tankers. Once in Trafford Park, up the Manchester Ship Canal, the heaters in the tanker would warm the lard and melt it, thus allowing it to be pumped into the factory for processing and packaging.
‘One night the pipe split, pouring thousands of gallons of molten lard into the Ship Canal. People turned up for work the next morning to find most of Manchester Docks under several inches of now-solidified lard.’
Here’s the deal: if anyone can confirm this story, we’ll return to talking about technology.
I've done a little bit of research about N Kilvert and Sons, Lard Refiners of Trafford Park, but I haven't heard about the Lardberg. (but of course there could have been a spillage). It's true that Kilvert's imported lard from Ireland and America. This "raw material" was then refined to produce Kilvert's Pure Lard. (the US import contained a lot of cotton seed oil impurity, for instance).
Kilvert's factory was not on the quayside, it was located on Trafford Park Road, and backed onto the Bridgewater Canal. (In some of the old photographs of Old Trafford Football Ground you can see the factory in the background).
Thanks for the interesting anecdote. If Kevin has any more info about Kilvert's Lard, I'd love to hear from him. P.Kilvert
Posted by :Peter Kilvert | September 24, 2005 12:00 AM