The company produced soda ash used in various processes in the chemical industry. Originally set up by John Tomlinson Brunner and Ludwig Mond in 1873 at a place called Winnington, near Northwich in Cheshire. They built the Winnington works on the site of Winnington Hall and produced their first soda ash in 1874. They chose the Northwich area due to the large deposits of salt found there, an important ingredient in manufacturing alkalis. The two men worked well together, and as the business grew it expanded its range of products using new methods of chemical extraction from the soda ash. The company took over other chemical companies in the area or induced them to stop soda ash production. By 1911 it had acquired two large soap manufacturers located in Warrington, Joseph Crosfield and Sons along with William Gossage and Sons. During the First World War it turned its attention to producing ammonium nitrate for the munitions industry and purified TNT for use by the military and provided synthetic phenol. During the period 1911 to 1926 the company had acquired a number of smaller chemical companies. In 1926 it merged with three other companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries the plants created by Brunner, Mond to produce soda ash became the Alkali Division. In 1991 Brunner Mond Holdings Ltd was formed resulting from the break of the UK and Kenyan soda ash business from ICI. A holding company Brunner Mond Holdings Ltd was formed and once again traded as an independent company, it acquired the soda ash production facilities from Akzo Nobel. Eventually in 2006 the company was purchased by Tata Chemicals.