ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Portland Cement Works Precinct

The Portland cement works precinct is a big place where people used to make something called cement. Cement is a special kind of powder that you mix with water to make things really strong and hard.

The precinct has lots of big buildings and machines that were used to make the cement. There were big furnaces where they would heat up special rocks until they turned into powder. Then they would mix the powder with water and mold it into big blocks called "clinkers."

Once the clinkers were cooled, they were crushed into fine powder and mixed with more water and some other special ingredients. Then, it was put into big machines that would spin around really fast to make sure everything was mixed together well and that there were no lumps.

Once the cement was all mixed up, it was put into big bags and sent to places where people needed it to make things like buildings, roads and bridges really strong and sturdy.

Nowadays, the Portland cement works precinct is a really cool place to visit and learn about how things used to be made. You can see all the big machines and buildings and imagine what it was like for the people who worked there a long time ago.