Description and History of Site:-
The Briggs Manufacturing Company was established by Walter O Briggs in Detroit, USA, in 1909. Subsequently they had large contracts to build motor bodies for Ford. In 1930 Briggs Motor Bodies Ltd established a factory in Dagenham, Essex, next to Ford UK to build bodies for all Ford's cars. In 1946 Jowett Cars Ltd, of Idle, Bradford, introduced the Javelin car and Bradford van. Not having the capacity to build bodies in sufficient quantities for the Javelin or Bradford production was out-sourced to Briggs who, in 1946, built a new factory on Carr Hill / Balby Carr Bank. In April 1953 Ford acquired Briggs Motor Bodies Ltd to build solely for Ford; work for Jowett ceased. Briggs produced for Ford, employing c1,300 people, until 1964 when the factory was sold to tractor manufacturers International Harvester. In 1965, to increase manufacturing capacity, all "wheeled" farm tractor production was transferred to Carr Hill from Wheatley Hall. In c.1985 the factory was closed, demolished and redeveloped as industrial /commercial premises.

Further Reading and References:-
Culshaw, D and Horrobin, P. The complete catalogue of British cars. Macmillan, 1974.

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Key Words :- cars motor vehicles bodywork jowett tractors manufacturing

Address :- Carr Hill, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN4 8DP
Grid Ref :- SE 57100 01500
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.507096 , Long -1.140526
Local Authority :- Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1946 -
Record Date :- 15 December 2016

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Robert Vickers