Location:
- Grid reference: TL3846546895
- x=538465
- y=246895
- 52°6'11"N; 0°1'18"E
- Civil Parish: Meldreth, Cambridgeshire
Clinker manufacture operational: 1891-1926
Approximate total clinker production: 160,000 tonnes
Raw materials: Chalk Marl (West Melbury Marly Chalk Formation: 97-100 Ma) from pit at 538500,246800
Ownership:
- 1890-1902 Cam Portland Cement Co. Ltd
- 1902-1926 Cam Blue Lias Lime and Cement Co. Ltd
- 1926-1948 Eastwoods Cement Ltd
Initially bottle kilns were used with dry process on unground marl from a pit originally dug for "coprolite". The layout indicates that four kilns were installed successively (68 t/week), then a bank of five (69 t/week), and a second bank of five (100 t/week). The marl was somewhat better than that at plants such as Standard and Meldreth, and in the late 1890s it was changed to wet process using slurry backs and drying flats. The second, larger kiln bank may correspond with this. It may be that the earlier kilns were then kept for lime. Six small chamber kilns were installed around 1905, with capacity of 120 t/week (Davis' list). The plant was on the Great Northern railway. Remaining independent, the plant struggled on until it came to a standstill in 1926, and was bought out by Eastwoods. Lime production was re-established, finally ending in 1948, but no more cement was made. The plant site was abandoned, and was finally demolished in the late 1960s. It is now waste ground, with some ruins remaining. The quarries are flooded.
The later company name is an example of the inaccurate use of language a hundred years ago. Blue Lias Lime had a reputation for high quality not shared by Cambridgeshire products, and the company's product was so called to suggest a similar quality (as was that of other Cambridgeshire plants), although Blue Lias was never used as a raw material in Cambridgeshire. In 1900, Charles Nelson & Co (Stockton) brought an action against them on behalf of the Warwickshire Blue Lias lime manufacturers. The action failed, the judgement stating that “the term Lias covers a multitude of materials”. Following the judgement, the company twisted the knife by re-naming itself the Cam Blue Lias Lime and Cement Co. Ltd. Eastwoods in the late 1920s continued calling the plant's product "Cam Blue Lias Lime".
Power supply
The raw and finish mills were direct-driven by a 75 HP steam engine.
Rawmills
The original plant probably burned as-dug material. For wet process, a single washmill was used.
No rotary kilns were installed.
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