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Old Photographs of Troopers Hill
Set P - from Ian, Recovering a tanker from the River Avon

These photos kindly donated by Ian Moorcraft, former resident of Troopers Hill Road, show the aftermath of an incident in the 1970s at Butlers Tar Works which was then owned by the British Steel Corporation (BSC) under the name of 'Bristol and West Tar Distillers'.

It seems the tanker had failed to stop when reversing onto or near the loading ramps that ran onto a quay for the loading and unloading of boats. It may have been using a nearby weighbridge.

Ian says:

"The driver did escape with no injuries, the windscreen popped out as the tanker sank and he swam out through the hole! I am not really sure of the date, the works was still open at that time as I was talking to one of the British Steel employees helping with the crane people."

The company named on the cab of the tanker is 'Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation' (ARC). Road tar was an important part of the Tar Works business and from the 1920s to the 1940s Butlers part owned companies which operated quarries in the Mendips that supplied the stone used in road construction - tar was collected from Butlers to mix with stone to produce tarmac. Butler's companies merged with others to form Roads Reconstruction Ltd, which in turn merged with ARC in 1967.

The last two photos show the location today, parts of the ramps can still be seen beside the towpath.

Please contact us if you have more information about this event or can tell us the date it happened.

Read more about the history of the Tar Works >>

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