Editing North East England (section)

===Alkali manufacturing===
{{overly detailed|section|date=May 2023}}
[[File:Friars Goose Alkali Works Engraving.png|thumb|Friars Goose Alkali Works had the highest chimney in England to disperse hydrochloric acid fumes]]
Before the Industrial Revolution alkali was mostly used to aid the bleaching process of cloth. As the [[Industrial Revolution]] took hold, increasing demand for alkali came from higher production of dyestuffs, and bleach. In 1798 John Losh and the Earl of Dundonald took out a lease for a rich supply of brine pumped from a nearby coal mine, the Walker pit, becoming the supplier of raw material for The [[Losh, Wilson & Bell]] Alkali works. The works were established at Walker-on-Tyne in 1807 and bleaching powder manufacture began there in 1830, Losh Brothers soon manufactured half the soda in England. By 1814 the [[Leblanc process]] of making alkali from common salt was introduced to Britain. Alkali works using this process opened at [[Tyne Dock]] 1822, Felling shore [[Tyneside]] 1826, Friars Goose [[Gateshead]] 1828 and again on Felling Shore in 1834. Such works also produced soda, alum and Epsom salts.

The river frontage at South Shore of the [[River Tyne]] at Gateshead was one of the main locations for the chemical industry such that in the 19th century, which led to a cluster of iron, soap and alkali manufacturing.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=ISee Gateshead|title=Chemical Works Friars Goose 1851|url=http://isee.gateshead.gov.uk/detail.php?type=related&kv=2522&t=objects|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130829140209/http://isee.gateshead.gov.uk/detail.php?type=related&kv=2522&t=objects|archive-date=29 August 2013|access-date=29 August 2013}}</ref>

By 1828 the alkali works had a large problem controlling emissions of [[hydrochloric acid]] fumes which devastated the neighbouring countryside. One solution was to build tall chimneys to drive the fumes further away and in 1833 the tallest chimney in England was built at the Friars Goose Alkali Works.<ref name="Simpson" /><ref>{{cite web |first=I.&nbsp;C.|last=Carlton|title=A Short history of gateshead – Chemical Works in Gateshead |website=Gateshead Local History Society |url=http://www.gatesheadlocalhistory.org.uk/resources/270920/chemicalworks.pdf|access-date=29 August 2013}}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The passing of the [[Alkali Act 1863]] in the UK Parliament brought about a further reduced pollution from these processes and was the first industrial environmental legislation to come into practice globally.