In 2010 the chimney was shown on Astro TV, on the History channel, in a series called Hidden Cities.The presenter, Anthony Morse, went to see the chimney. He was told the chimney was used by the Japanese to manufacture carbide for bombs. The heat from the fire melted the carbide - this is technically incorrect. There was a Japanese arms factory. The Japs lived in a building by the river, it was on 2 levels and had reinforced concrete. It was 30 x 40 m and was probably the Japanese Imperial Forces HQ, from which they could monitor the tin mines.
-------------
UPDATE 2014
Ipoh World blog had an interesting piece about this Japanese carbide factory, posted on 13 June.
-------------
© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission
More like a rubbish incinerator
ReplyDeleteVery interesting indeed.
ReplyDeleteWish I could find more about the history of the place. The chimney is very well built, good brickwork and looks to be perfectly circular.
ReplyDeleteHai Liz,found your site while looking for details of this chimney,looks like history of what Japanese did in Malaya is all lost,no body wants to keep a record of the suffering years under them.
ReplyDeleteHello Thomas, it's a pity there seems to be little known about these chimneys. And you are probably right that the history of the Jap period is "lost".
ReplyDeletethanks,i am asking because i blog on chimneys in Malaysia.
ReplyDelete