Earlier this year, Anglia Ruskin was presented with a memento of part of our industrial heritage in Chelmsford.

Richard Butter, a member of the public with an interest in local history, presented Steve Bennett, University Secretary and Clerk, with a framed ground plan of the Hoffmann Manufacturing Company's works' site.

Hoffmann was registered as a company in 1898 by cousins Charles and Geoffrey Barrett, who purchased the patent rights for the manufacture of steel balls from Ernest Gustav Hoffmann. The Barretts bought out Hoffmann's share in 1903 and expanded to become the largest employer in Chelmsford. The company became part of RHP in 1962, and the Chelmsford site finally closed in 1988.

Now, the only remaining building of the Hoffmann Manufacturing Company's ball-bearing works is Ashby House, formerly Globe House, which, along with the Marconi Wireless Telegraph and Signal works, on the opposite side of New Street, is a tangible reminder of Chelmsford's major role in the development of 'hi-tech' industries in the early years of the 20th century.