Bamberton is located on the Saanich Inlet

Saanich Inlet

Saanich Inlet is a body of salt water that lies between the Saanich Peninsula and the Malahat highlands of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Located just northwest of Victoria, the inlet is 24 km long , has a surface area of 65 km2 , and its maximum depth is 225 m . Great...

, just south of Mill Bay

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Mill Bay is a commuter town of about 3,200 people located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada about north of Victoria, the capital.Mill Bay was founded in the 1860s with lumber and milling as its primary industries, done at the mill on the bay...

, 45 kilometers north of Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

 on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

.

Bamberton is named for H.K.G. Bamber, a cement

Portland cement

Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world because it is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco and most non-specialty grout...

 manufacturer from Gravesend, England, who was original owner of the land upon which Bamberton is located and was the managing director of British Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd.

The cement works had their origin across the Saanich Inlet at Tod Inlet in 1904 when the Vancouver Portland Cement Company established operations on the site now occupied by the Butchart Gardens

Butchart Gardens

The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, located near Victoria on Vancouver Island. The gardens receive more than a million visitors each year...

. The demand for cement in the building boom of the times outstripped the capacity of the Tod Inlet operation and leading the company to construct a further plant at Bamberton which opened in 1912 under the name Associated Cement Company

Blue Circle Industries

Blue Circle Industries was a British public company manufacturing cement. It was founded in 1900, and was bought out by the French company Lafarge in 2001.-History:...

. Both companies were operated by B.C. Cement Company Ltd. of Victoria. The outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 ended the real estate boom leaving both plants idle for seven years. The plant at Bamberton resumed operations in 1921. By 1927 the Bamberton plant was producing 3,000 barrels per day and used 40,000 tons of Vancouver Island coal each year. It was an isolated, self-contained community owned by the company that operated the mill. At its peak, it employed 180 men all of whom resided on company property. The community was well equipped and included a recreation hall with a dance floor as large as that at that of the Empress Hotel

The Empress (Hotel)

The Fairmont Empress is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Located on Government Street facing the Inner Harbour, the Empress has become an iconic symbol for the city itself...

. The construction of the Island Highway

Island Highway

The Island Highway is actually a series of highways that follows much of the eastern coastline of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada....

 brought road access to the site but over the last 20 years of operations production declined, costs increased and a protracted strike occurred. Operations came to an end 1980. In October 1982 the owner, then Genstar Cement Company, put the property up for sale.

The site shares its name with the nearby Bamberton Provincial Park

Bamberton Provincial Park

Bamberton Provincial Park is a provincial park located in Mill Bay, British Columbia, Canada. The park area consists of a beach that borders on Saanich Inlet, and is connected to a camping area by several trails. It shares its name with the now abandoned settlement of Bamberton.-External links:...

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External links

• Bamberton Historical Society
• Three Point Properties Real estate development company.
• First Nations, Lands and Environmentalism in British Columbia Dr. Karen Wonders, Research Fellow, University of Goettingen, Germany