Bakelite Xylonite Limited

Bakerlite Xylonite Ltd were a plastics and engineering company based in Manningtree, Essex, with roots in the British Xylonite company, which was established in 1877.

Bakelite Xylonite was formed in 1963 when British Xylonite Co. and Bakelite became part of a new grouping, established

jointly with Union Carbide, and including plants at Birmingham, Aycliffe and Grangemouth.

Several sales and mergers took place in the 1960s and 1970s, in 1973 Distillers Co. sold its 50% stake to Union Carbide. The most significant merge being the sale of the Brantham and Aycliffe sites in 1966 to British Industrial Plastics, a subsidiary of Turner and Newall Ltd., who were in turn purchased in 1977 by Storey Brothers of Lancaster, formerly a major commercial rival. In 1978 BP bought the company from Union Carbide, including the remaining Bakelite Xylonite plants.

The Brantham operated under the name of Wardle Storeys, manufacturing limited quantities of xylonite using traditional processes and equipment until the 1980's. The site closed in 2007.