Ford Dagenham

Ford Dagenham stands on 475 acres of former marshland beside the Thames estuary in east London. The plant opened in 1931 after Ford bought the land in 1924 for £167,700 to replace its Trafford Park factory. Its first vehicle was a Ford AA van, and wartime production included Bren gun carriers and tractors that made up 95 per cent of UK tractor output. The site once housed a steel foundry and a coal-fired power station modelled on Ford’s Rouge River plant in Detroit. More than 10 million cars and 39 million engines have left its gates since 1931. At its peak in 1953 the factory employed around 40,000 workers. The plant’s history reflects wider shifts in British industry and trade. Ford moved tractor production from Cork to Dagenham in 1933 after tariffs made Irish imports uneconomic. Post-war models like the Zephyr, Cortina and Anglia helped Ford lead the UK market. A £75 million redevelopment in 1959 added 50 per cent more floor space and doubled capacity. Yet by the 1970s industrial unrest disrupted output, including a three-month strike in 1971 that delayed the Cortina Mk III. Ford’s decision to build the Escort in Saarlouis and the Fiesta in Valencia spread risk but also highlighted cost differences across Europe. Today the site focuses on engine assembly and employs about 2,000 people. It remains the world’s largest producer of Ford diesel engines, turning out around 1.4 million a year. The stamping plant closed in 2013 with the loss of 1,000 jobs, marking the end of vehicle assembly that ceased in 2002. The remaining complex covers nearly half a square kilometre of flat industrial ground. Visitors see rows of machining centres and test cells rather than assembly lines. The skyline is dominated by the power station’s tall chimneys and the broad Thames beyond.