Refinery in Miniature and Refinery at Work

Synopsis: Two films about the Hawley oil refinery on Southampton Water in Hampshire.

REFINERY IN MINIATURE (1951, B&W, 9 mins 35 secs). In 1950, as thousands of workers descended on Fawley to build a new refinery, a much smaller construction team set about building a model of the same thing. This film documents the making of the 1:384 scale miniature refinery which took three men over a year to complete. It was then exhibited at Southampton’s Festival of Britain Show in 1951 before being installed in the refinery Administration Building.

REFINERY AT WORK (date unknown, B&W/colour, 21 mins, 58 secs) An educational film about the processes behind oil refining, shot partly at Esso’s new Fawley Refinery. The chemistry is explained with the use of some quirky colour animations set in an otherwise black and white film. Music is by Benjamin Frankel and narration is by Maurice Denham.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 1951
Subjects: Chemistry; Energy; Geography
Keywords: educational films; Festival of Britain; industrial films; petroleum industries; oil; oil refineries

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