EDITORIAL

Another year, another Newsletter and the end of another successful Lecture Programme. I was pleased to note that lecture attendances were increased over previous years and averaged 27. Many thanks to all our speakers for their talks which are reported on as usual later in the Newsletter.

The 2002 AGM was held on 9 March. Sheila Bye was proposed as Section Chairperson but preferred to carry on as Vice Chair. Bill Slatcher was unable to attend the meeting but had indicated that he was willing to continue if there were no other nominees and so was elected unopposed. I agreed to continue as Membership Secretary and Newsletter Editor but again requested not to be Lecture Secretary feeling that we really did need new blood and ideas for this role. I am pleased to report that David George agreed to organise the 2002/3 programme. David is already approaching speakers but would still welcome offers from members. In my Annual Report to the meeting I raised the question about the future of the Section, wondering whether, in spite of a healthy membership of around 120, we were fulfilling our role as a section by only arranging 4/5 lectures a year, producing two newsletters and the occasional excursion. The question produced a good debate with the outcome being that the meeting felt it was worthwhile continuing. The proposal was agreed that we should extend our lecture programme into April (which has been done) and look for ways to publicise our existence and develop links with University Departments of Further Education. The Section Officers will be considering how to take this forward.

David George has also agreed to organise a walk around Batley on 11th May, following the walk leaflet produced by the Section. Details are given later in the Newsletter. While on the subject of walk leaflets, it was reported at the AGM that walks 2 &3 around Hebden Bridge have now sold out, so we have reprinted a further 200 copies. It is fairly easy to produce and copy walk leaflets, but what is needed is the research and subsequent text. If any member is willing to produce text let me know and we can take it from there.

Also required is a member living in Leeds who would be willing to represent the Section at the monthly meetings of EYE on the Aire. The Section remains affiliated to this group whose aims are to protect the environment, including the industrial history, of the Aire Valley from Calverley to Castleford. We have not been represented at meetings since I left Leeds five years ago but receive minutes of meetings and other documents which are placed in the YAS Library. If you are interested please contact me and I can provide further details.

Please note that following the financial demise of my previous email provider, I have changed my email address which is given at the end of the Newsletter.

I am pleased to welcome to the following new members who have joined since the last Newsletter: Mr K Budd; Mr A Bailey; Mr J Driver; Mr C Wordley; Mr A Longbottom and Mr D Williams. A reminder has been included with the Newsletter if any existing member is overdue with their subscription which was due in January.

The date for the first lecture of the extended 2002/3 programme is 12 October 2002, so I hope to see many of you then if not on the Batley walk on 11 May. Let me have your news and any other items for the next Newsletter by 31 August. Enjoy your summer!

Margaret Tylee

NEWS FROM CLAREMONT

The request for volunteers to help in the YAS Library resulted in new offers of assistance and there is now a waiting list for volunteers. Extra help however is still required when the main YAS Newsletter is sent out three times a year. If anyone can spare any time for that activity please contact the Librarian, Robert Frost at Claremont (? 0113 2457910 ).

Also required are donations of books that can be sold in the regular book sales. The strategy now is to hold the book sales over a 2 month period rather than on one day. The proceeds from the sales go to support the Library’s book repair programme. The Librarian is always willing to consider recommendations for books to purchase for the Library.

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NEWS FROM THE NORTH EAST INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY PANEL

The Panel brings together people from various organisations connected with industrial archaeology in a region stretching from Newcastle to Sheffield. It meets twice a year to discuss matters of local and regional importance and can attempt to influence the treatment of industrial sites and archives by those responsible for them. The Panel has produced a Guide to Sources of Advice on Industrial Archaeology (copy in the YAS Library). It is currently looking at regional priorities for industrial archaeology and contemplating the production of an updated bibliography of IA in the north east. The meetings also receive regular updates of activities from around the region. From the last two meetings such items include:

The North of England Museum at Beamish has completed restoration of the Steam Elephant locomotive and should have the Sunderland 16 tram ready for 2002.
Coal drops at Maiden’s Walk Gateshead are to be restored with lottery funding.
The Bowes Railway Co. has restored the Springwell Wheel Pit in Sunderland and other areas of the site have been made accessible to visitors.
Fulwell Mill, Sunderland has been restored and opened to visitors.
The Cleveland Industrial Archaeology Society has recently published a volume including work on the alum industry, Joseph Banks and a medieval bloomery. Their Research Report No.7 covers Blowing Engine Houses.
The West Yorkshire Archaeology Service has received completed reports on buildings at Dean Clough, Halifax, one of the largest mill complexes in the region.
Excavations in Sheffield last year included the 18th and 19th century White Lead Works in Leadmill Road and Low Matlock Rolling Mill where there may be a buried water powered tilt hammer.

The Section representative on the Panel is Bill Slatcher and I have taken over from Margaret Tylee as the Association for Industrial Archaeology representative. The next meeting of the Panel will be on 25 May.

David Cant

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HELP WANTED

At the AIA Conference in Cambridge last year, Ian Mitchell gave a member’s contribution on his work on researching the history of the Midland Railway Sheet Stores at Long Eaton in Derbyshire. Sheet stores were where the tarpaulins used for covers on railway wagons were made and waterproofed. At one time around 200 people were employed. The site was sold by British Rail in the late 1960s and is now the Sheet Stores Industrial Estate, but most of the buildings have survived. Ian has estimated that there were probably about a million tarpaulins in use by the railways at the end of the 19th century which led him to think that other railway companies must have had similar stores and whether any have survived. He is aware of a railway tarpaulin factory near Peterborough but are there others? Doncaster or York perhaps?

He would be interested in hearing from any member who has information about the Midland Railway Sheet Stores or any other examples. He can be contacted at 68 Myrtle Avenue, Long Eaton NG10 5LY or email imitchell@ukonline.co.uk.

Mr R Ledgard has written to the Section asking for information about the village of Mountain near Queensbury. He is researching for a historical survey of the area of Mountain and is particularly interested in the following:
Photographs of the premises of Paul Speak, worsted manufacturer of Mountain
Information concerning Mortons Brickworks of Halifax which had premises near West Scholes, Queensbury
Coal mining in the area of Thornton and Mountain
Pre-1964 photographs of the village of Mountain.

If any member can help, please contact Mr Ledgard, Mountain Hall, Brighouse & Denholme Road, Queensbury, Bradford, BD13 1LH

I have been in correspondence with Mr B Burnell of Southampton regarding work carried out at the Olympia Works, Roundhay Road, Leeds, now the site of a Tesco supermarket. Mr Burnell worked as a junior design engineer on a variety of defence related projects at the factory in the 1950s and has been carrying out research in the Public Record Office. He has unearthed documents relating to Hudswell Clarke and their involvement in the production of the Blue Danube casing designed to accommodate an atomic bomb, the Blue Streak missile and other weapons. He has suggested that a Yorkshire based historian may be interested in following this up and would be willing to help. He can be contacted at 71a Oxford Avenue, Southampton, SO14 0DP.

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NEWS ITEMS

Saltaire near Bradford has been added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites. It includes Sir Titus Salt’s mill and the model village built for his workers.

In Bradford the grade II listed Wool Conditioning Warehouse, which checked imports for anthrax and other problems is to be converted into a shopping centre and offices. The grade II* listed Manningham Mills South of 1873 are being converted to residential use

Garden Street Mill in Halifax, a cotton mill of 1833 is being converted into flats after a long history of neglect, vandalism and demolition proposals. Longer standing members may recall that some years ago the Section formally objected to proposals to demolish the mill.

The grade II Leeds City Tramways depot at Guiseley, a 1914 building by architect Stanley Kitson, latterly used as a DIY centre is being converted to a leisure centre and flats.

A survey of lime kilns in the Yorkshire Dales National Park recorded over 536 before it was put on hold by the foot and mouth epidemic. This also delayed the first stage of an umbrella programme called Dales Living Landscape funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which includes an interpretative programme for the extractive and manufacturing industries of the Yorkshire Dales.

The Pontefract & District Archaeological Society in association with the YAS and Council for British Archaeology are planning to hold a regional symposium on the archaeology and history of waterways. The primary purpose of the event is to help finance a publication on the St Aidan’s project. The symposium is planned for November 2002. More details in the Autumn Newsletter.

Long standing members may recall a visit some years ago to the Springhead Pumping Station, Anlaby, Hull which later became the Yorkshire Water Museum. The Pumping Station contained a Cornish waterworks steam pumping engine made by Bells, Lightfoot & Co., Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1876. The museum was open by arrangement only, but had to close because of the cost of upkeep. Recent plans by a local businessman to re-open the museum have sadly been rejected by Yorkshire Water because of security reasons.

There have been extensive repairs to the waterwheels and machinery at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet. A new interpretation gallery has been opened with interactive displays for children and disabled access. Abbeydale is open between 31 March–6 October, Monday-Thursday 10am-4pm, Sunday 11am-4.45pm. Note it is closed on Fridays and Saturdays.

Also in Sheffield, the area around the 1842 water powered Low Matlock Rolling Mill in the Loxley Valley has been scheduled as an ancient monument. The new owner is rolling bar by electric power in the mill but there is still work to be done in restoring the wheel and providing a viewing area.

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FUTURE EVENTS

13 Apr
Brighouse to Low Moor Tramway. Railway Ramblers 5 mile linear walk with pub lunch led by Brian Slater. Meet 9.45am at Brighouse Station. Details from Jane Ellis ? 0113 249 4644

20 Apr
Transport in Cumbria. Day Conference in Ambleside organised by the Cumbria Industrial History Society. For details and booking form send SAE to CIHS Bookings, Broombank Cottage, Lindal-in-Furness, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 0LW

29 Apr
Tunnels and Tunnelling – Paul Sowan. South Yorkshire Industrial History Section lecture. Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield. 7.30pm.

4-5 May
Waterways Festival & Canal Heritage weekend. Skipton. Organised by British Waterways and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal Society. Details from British Waterways ? 01274 611303.

11 May
IHS Visit to Batley. Meet Batley Railway Station. 10.30am

12 May
Spring Steam Gathering. Traction Engines from 10am–4pm. Kelham Island Museum, Alma Street, Sheffield S3 8RY. ? 0114 272 2106

18 May
The Skipton-Colne Railway. Railway Ramblers 8 mile circular walk with pub lunch Foulridge to Colne led by Eric Myers. Meet Foulridge Canal Wharf car park (grid ref 888426) at 10.30am. Details from Jane Ellis ? 0113 249 4644.

20 May
The Sheffield-Chesterfield-Derby Turnpike - Howard Smith. South Yorkshire Industrial History Section Lecture. Kelham Island Museum. Sheffield. 7.30pm.

8 Jun
EERIAC 12 “Industrial Archaeology from the Air”. Norfolk Rural Life Museum, Gressenhall. For details and booking form send SAE to Mrs B Taylor, Crown House, Horshal St Faiths, Norwich, NR 10 3JD.

13 Jun
Buildings of Huddersfield. National Trust organised walk. Meet David Wyles outside Huddersfield Central Library, Princess Alexandra Walk, Huddersfield at 7pm. Details from NT Marsden Moor Estate Office ? 01484 847016.

23-26 Jun
Industries in a Rural Landscape. Residential course at Dillington House, Ilminster exploring IA in west Dorset and south Somerset. For details contact Dillington House, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 9DT. ? 01460 52427.

4-7 July
Manchester Region IA Society Summer Study Weekend. Van Mildert College, University of Durham. Details and booking from Jill Champness, 108 Woburn Drive, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire WA15 8NF. ? 0161 980 7612.

5-8 July
NAMHO 2002 “The Application of Water Power in Mining”. Weekend Conference at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth hosted by the Welsh Mines Society. To register interest send SAE to John Hine, The Grottage, 2 Cullis Lane, Mine End, Colford, Glos GL16 7QF

19-21 July
Leeds Waterways Festival Thwaite Mills

28 July
From Packhorses to Juggernauts. A 6 mile walk organised by the National Trust exploring the various attempts to cross the Pennines. Meet at Marsden railway station 10.15am. Details from NT Marsden Moor Estate Office. ? 01484 847016.

24-26 Aug
IWA National Waterways Festival. Huddersfield

24 Aug
Festive Waterways. An 11 mile linear walk organised by the National Trust along the towpaths of the Huddersfield Narrow and Broad canals to the National Waterways Festival at Huddersfield. Meet at Marsden railway station 9.30am. Public transport available for return to Marsden. Details from NT Marsden Moor Estate Office. ? 01484 847016.

6-12 Sept
AIA Annual Conference. Edinburgh. Organised by the Scottish Industrial Heritage Society based at Heriot-Watt University. Details from Tony Parkes ? 0780 3033909 or email tonyparkes@yahoo.com.

14-16 Sept
Open weekend at the St Aidan’s site, Swillington near Leeds

Dates for theYAS Industrial History Section 2002/2003 Lecture Programme are as follows: 12 October 2002; 9 November 2002; 14 December 2002; 18 January 2003, 15 February 2003; 8 March 2003. Lectures will be given at 11am on all of these dates. The AGM will be held on 5 April at 2.30pm.

Undecided about what to do about a holiday this summer? Why not think about a study week with the Summer Academy. Accommodation is in University Halls of Residence and the cost includes all meals, tuition and visits. I spotted the following courses in their current brochure that have an industrial theme.

Wales on Rails
University of Wales, Aberystwyth 22-29 June

Road, Rails, Ports and Mines: Industrial Archaeology of North Wales

University of Wales, Bangor, 8-15 June

A World made by Railways: the Social and Economic Impact of the Coming of the Railways to Britain.
University of Sheffield, 29 June-6 July

There are many other courses covering topics including literature, natural history and landscape. For details contact The Summer Academy, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, C12 7NP. ? 01227 470402.

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FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF

 

South Yorkshire Pits. Warwick Taylor. Wharncliffe Books. 2001.£9.99. ISBN 1-903425-84-3.

The book contains a concise record of the sinking, operating and closure of pits in South Yorkshire. At the turn of the century, Yorkshire had almost 450 pits, by 1945 this figure was reduced by half. All the pits described in this book were among those taken over by the National Coal Board in 1947. The author has made every effort to include all the collieries in South Yorkshire, but accepts that records of some of the lesser known, smaller pits may not have survived and will have been omitted. There are separate chapters on the collieries of Barnsley, Doncaster and South Yorkshire mining areas. For each pit the author gives details of the owners, location, date of sinking, size, manpower, closure date and any accidents. There are also numerous photographs and maps. As well as the details of the pits, there are chapters dealing with the Commission on Employment of Women and Children in Mines; the major coal owners, railways in and around Barnsley and the Trade Unions.

The book claims to be an indispensable work for all those interested in South Yorkshire’s mining industry and I would agree with this. Informative and good value for money.

The Great Workshop: the Buildings of the Sheffield Metal Trades. Nicola Wray, Bob Hawkins and Colum Giles. Published by English Heritage and Sheffield City Council. 2001. £5. ISBN 1-873592-66-3.

The book summarises the history of Sheffield’s metal trades, describes the processes involved and illustrates the special environment produced by the buildings of the industry. From the Industrial Revolution and for much of the 19th century, Sheffield was a world centre for steel production and cutlery and edge tool manufacture. Despite many changes, the book shows how many of the industrial building associated with Sheffield’s metal trades still survive in one form or another.

The book contains some excellent colour photographs, as well as cut away drawings showing, for example, the arrangement of a cementation furnace and a small rolling mill. Personally, I found some of the photographs rather small, making for a very stylish production but rather hard on the eyes. The book was positive in its approach to the preservation and re-use of industrial buildings and stated the Council’s commitment to finding ways of keeping the buildings in use as a physical reminder of Sheffield’s past. It gave a good summary of the metal trade industries and certainly made me want to explore and take a closer look at the remaining buildings.

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REPORTS OF LECTURES/VISITS

Reports from 2001/2002 Lecture Programme

 

A History of J&H McLaren: Traction and Diesel Engine Manufacturers – John Pease
13 October 2001

John started his talk by explaining that his grandfather had spent all his working life at McLarens and as a result he had become interested in finding out more about the history of the company, which at its height had employed more than 4.000 people. He quickly discovered that all the company records had been destroyed and so had to use trade catalogues, publications and patents as his research material. The brothers John and Henry McLaren were born in 1850 and 1854 respectively near Sunderland. They founded their Midland Engine Works in 1876 at Jack Lane, Hunslet. The two acre site had originally been part of the EB Wilson Railway Foundry. The first traction engine was built in 1877 and the following year they made their first exported traction engine going to the Sultan of Zanzibar. In addition to engines, McLarens also built ploughing implements, road wagons and small self contained drive units for steam powered roundabouts.

Using detailed drawings taken from patent specifications, John explained the details of a famous patent case in 1881 when Thomas Aveling accused McLarens of infringing one of his patents. McLarens won the case. In 1891 the firm produced their first triple expansion vertical stationary engine for electricity generation. The first was for Harrogate Corporation and they supplied a triple expansion engine rated at 3000 horsepower in 1902 to Leeds Corporation for the Whitehall Road electricity works. By now McLarens were exporting worldwide to places such as New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. During the First World War large numbers of traction engines were sent to France to assist the troops and McLarens became involved with munitions work. John McLaren was knighted in 1919 for his work as Chairman of the Management Board and Board of Control at the National Ordnance Factory at Barnbow, Leeds and he died soon after in October 1920.

After the war, McLarens constructed their first internal combustion vehicle. This was a petrol driven windlass, designed primarily as a cable haulage unit for ploughs. This was very successful and large numbers were exported particularly to countries with an arid environment. In 1926 the Benz diesel engine was introduced and the name McLaren-Benz was formed following an agreement for McLaren to manufacture the Benz airless injection engine. Following the death of Henry McLaren in 1929, John’s son Henry became chairman of the company. The McLaren engine was used by a wide range of manufacturers associated with road, rail and water transport, including the Hunslet Engine Company and Hudswell Clarke. During the 2nd World War, the Midland Engine Works took on additional work such as components for Boulton Paul Defiant aircraft and McLaren diesel engines were used by the RAF for standby power for airfields and by the Royal Navy as power plants and electricity generation for surface and submarine vessels.

After Henry McLaren’s death in 1943 a family feud resulted in the company being taken over by Associated British Engineering. In 1946, McLarens took over Kitson’s Airedale Foundry and the site was renamed the Airedale Works. There followed a number of mergers and acquisitions eventually coming under the control of Hawker Siddeley. In 1959 the McLaren operations in Leeds closed. A separate company, McLaren Fabrications, continued fabrication and welding activities for the Brush Group until 1965.

Several questions followed the talk ranging from detailed technical aspects of the engine manufacture to where John had found his sources. An interesting and informative talk which deserves wider publication as a company history.

 

John Blenkinsop and the Patent Steam Carriage – Sheila Bye
10 November 2001

Sheila began by suggesting that it was surprising to learn from Samuel Smiles’ biography of George Stephenson that at the start of his career as “Father of the Locomotive” Stephenson considered his first efforts to have been overshadowed by those of another Tynesider. John Blenkinsop was born at Felling, County Durham in June 1783. Whereas the “disadvantaged” George’s father was a pit engine fireman, the “educated” John’s father, grandfather and uncle were stone masons. John did not join the family trade but was apprenticed to John Straker of Felling Hall. From Straker he learned the basics of colliery management and surveying. His apprenticeship probably lasted until at least 1804, and he is likely to have seen the trials of a Trevithick locomotive constructed at a Gateshead foundry a mile or two away from Felling.

In the autumn of 1808, aged 25, Blenkinsop arrived in Leeds to take charge of the Middleton estate and its colliery. Middleton was owned by Charles John Brandling, a fellow Tynesider whose family had lived at Felling and later Gosforth. They also owned the Felling Pit where John had served his apprenticeship. Brandling obviously had faith in Blenkinsop, as he paid him the large sum of £400 a year, from his own account. By comparison the most skilled pit surface workers earned no more than £80 a year. Brandling was often short of cash, and payments were irregular, and usually in arrears. From 1812, when the arrears had been paid, John’s salary was paid from the colliery’s accounts. Sheila explained that the colliery accounts are part of the collection of Middleton business records at West Yorkshire Archives, Leeds, which are a valuable source of information.

The Middleton waggonway had been built in 1758 to improve the transport of coals to Leeds. By 1808 wartime demands had increased the price of horses and fodder and transport costs had to be reduced. Blenkinsop decided steam was the answer. His main problem was to build a machine strong enough to pull a commercially viable load without being too heavy for the brittle cast iron rails. John’s solution was to use the rack and pinion principle. He asked Matthew Murray to build the steam carriage. Another Tynesider, he had come to Leeds as a young man and in due course set up a foundry, Fenton, Murray & Wood. The successful basic design of the locomotive was undoubtedly Matthew Murray’s. During 1812 the waggonway was prepared for steam working, and on 24 June the locomotive was delivered to the Middleton Colliery and undertook its first journey, pulling 8 coal waggons, “witnessed by thousands of spectators”. By early August the engine was in regular use, transporting over 300 tons of coal a day. The engine had a number of interesting features. It had 2 cylinders, and safety valves, which were Murray’s innovations, and the use of high pressure steam was Trevithick’s design. It had an oval boiler, an unusual design, to give the largest possible capacity while keeping the length short. This was necessary to deal with the waggonway’s sharp curves. A later locomotive had a long cylindrical boiler which must have been built after the line at the Leeds end had been re-routed to remove the tight curves (explained in Ron Fitzgerald’s lecture of 11 December 1999, reported in IHS Newsletter 51).

The transfer from horse power to steam had been surprisingly easy, but Sheila pointed out that there a number of problems to be dealt with e.g. who should drive the engine and how much should he be paid? It appeared that James Hewitt was the first regular driver, and Sheila claimed that he must be the world’s first named locomotive driver. Initially the driver was paid a daily rate, somewhat higher than a pit surface worker. After trying piece work rates, payment reverted in 1815 to a flat daily rate. There were other problems to deal with. The locomotive was too strong for its train, and waggons broke away. This was solved by using heavier coupling chains. The original wooden waggons were unsuitable for a heavy train and iron framed waggons were introduced. The cast iron boiler was at risk from the elements and from its steam exhaust. The original solution was to put a canvas awning over the boiler, but later black leading and wooden cladding were used. Provision of water to the engine while on the line was another problem. At first a small water tank was fitted in front of the boiler but later a track-side pump was provided. The loud panting noise of the exhausting steam caused complaints from the railway’s neighbours so John fitted a wooden cistern between the cylinders, with a discharge pipe on top, to act as a silencer.

By 1815 the Middleton railway had 4 engines, and over the next few years Blenkinsop developed a fully mechanised transport system. By early 1825 the system started at the pit’s coal face and by way of a waggon hoist, inclined planes and locomotives coal was taken down to Leeds staith and discharged directly into road carts without being lifted manually. The transport system had a human cost, at least 6 members of the public being killed by the trains. Drivers also suffered. In February 1818 Salamanca exploded because the driver ignored instructions and kept the steam at too great a pressure. His body was found 100 yards away in an adjacent field. James Hewitt was killed by another explosion in February 1834, an unfortunate end for the pioneer driver.

John Blenkinsop died on 22 January 1831. The last of his engines finished work towards the end of 1835, being replaced by steam-powered rope haulage. Sheila pointed out that the fame and influence of John Blenkinsop’s locomotives were immense and international. They were visited and written about by travellers from home and abroad. Significantly, George Stephenson saw the engine which Blenkinsop had sent to Kenton and Coxlodge Colliery near Newcastle in 1813, and by copying and developing the design he reaped the glory for decades.

Sheila’s well researched talk, which deserves publication, raised a number of interesting technical questions about locomotive construction. It was suggested that the migration of so many Tyneside engineers to Leeds warranted further study, and Blenkinsop’s lack of public acclaim compared with George Stephenson’s was queried. Sheila has provided a postscript to the latter point – see page 13.

Robert Vickers

 

Textile Warehouses – David George
8 December 2001

David’s talk focused on his study of textile warehouses comparing examples from Manchester, Leeds, Bradford and Batley. He started by considering the development and use of textile warehouses in Manchester where the trade was primarily cotton. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the warehouses belonged primarily to yarn dealers and merchants who arranged for cotton yarn to be woven into cloth. In 1815/20 Manchester was the market place for cloth production and was dominated by warehouses. The merchants became prosperous enough to develop factories for the production of cloth. Others began to specialise as packers and shippers. The first warehouses were town houses converted by the merchants or added on to existing dwellings. From the 1850s onwards the warehouses became purpose designed and built to house storage space, examination benches, sample rooms, pressing and packing departments and offices.. It was claimed that around this time Manchester had 1400 warehouses in the central district. The dominant building style was Venetian palazzio.

In contrast Leeds’ warehouses originated in the small cropping, shearing and cloth finishing shops for the wool trade. By 1781, 75 merchanting firms (still known as clothiers or wool staplers) were involved in foreign or home markets. Each employed perhaps half a dozen packers, pressers and clerks. These warehouses and dressing and finishing shops were often conversions or extensions of existing merchants’ dwellings. By 1805 there was evidence of more integrated factories. The Park Square/East Parade area of Leeds became a district of counting houses and warehouses. St Paul’s House, John Barran’s Moorish style building was part warehouse and part clothing factory. David showed examples of Leeds warehouses in differing architectural styles including Venetian Gothic, Scots Baronial and Moorish. Basinghall Street and Wellington Street have some particularly fine examples. The RCHME survey of Leeds for the Leeds Development Corporation identified “backside” warehouse in courts off Briggate e.g Queen’s Court where there are 18th century buildings originally used for finishing, bailing and dispatching cloth. Hirst’s Yard has early 19th century buildings with 3 storey loading doors and cranes. David also referred to a list of scheduled buildings in central Leeds, including warehouses, which was produced by the Industrial History Section in 1989. He wondered how many of these buildings still existed.

Turning to Bradford, the famous area for textile warehouses was Little Germany, an area now well researched and rejuvenated over the past 20 years. Bradford specialised in the worsted trade, i.e. the smooth cloth made from the “tops” or long strands of wool. The “noils”, or short fibres, going into other types of cloth. Selling on the noils to other Yorkshire towns or abroad was one of the functions of Bradford merchants. The key workers were the wool sorters, whose skill determined the quality of the finished products. The raw wool was sorted and stored in the warehouse before sale. It then had to go to the conditioning house where the wool quality was tested before it could be sold. Canal Street, off Forster Square and Cheapside contain examples of these buildings. Warehouses for the high quality worsted cloth were situated in Little Germany. Here the German merchants imported continental wool, made it into cloth (commonly known as “stuff”) and exported it back to Europe. The warehouses are of similar Italian palazzi style to those of Manchester.

Finally, David considered warehouses in Batley. Here the warehouses were adapted for the trade in waste wool and rags for the shoddy industry. He referred to information contained in the Section’s Batley walk leaflet. Some of the warehouses, particularly those near the railway station, were built originally as selling houses or showrooms for the woollen manufacturers but in general the buyers preferred to visit the mills direct so the buildings became rag warehouses.

Today warehouses in city centres are in great demand for studios, offices and loft apartments and have been the subject of studies by English Heritage and the University of Manchester Archaeology Unit. David concluded his talk by showing a selection of slides illustrating some fine examples of textile warehouses. A talk which gave a different aspect of the textile industry and will be followed up by an excursion following the Batley walk leaflet. Members who would like to read more about warehouses in the Manchester area are recommended to read The Heritage Atlas No. 3 Warehouse Album published in March 1987 by the University of Manchester, Field Archaeology Unit (ISBN 0952781352)

 

Missions to Railway Navvies on the Settle-Carlisle Railway – Di Drummond
19 January 2002 (joint with the Local History Section)

Di began by giving a brief outline of the construction of the Settle-Carlisle line which the Midland Railway built 1870-1876 for its route to Scotland. It was one of the most difficult railways built in the UK, passing through steep, often boggy, isolated and exposed countryside. Its 73 miles included 20 viaducts and 14 tunnels. Construction was hazardous not just for the navvies but also their families, living in the shanty towns, with names such as Salt Lake City, Jericho and Belgravia. Over the 6-year period 17,500 men and families were employed in the work. Sources for Di’s research included contemporary newspapers and letters and official records, and a number of works by WR Mitchell who has written extensively on the Settle-Carlisle.

Navvies had a reputation for lawlessness from the earliest days of canal and railway construction and the national newspapers gave much publicity to their moral degradation. Railways were often opposed for despoiling the countryside, and those connected with building them were also disliked. The Lancashire constabulary increased its strength in the towns along the line to deal with the anticipated difficulties, and the records of Sedbergh Petty Sessions describe the cases heard.

The shanty towns built by the Midland Railway and its contractors consisted of wooden huts that afforded little shelter against the elements. The huts typically had 3 compartments, one for the workman and family, one for lodger(s) providing rent income and one for cooking. Conditions were insanitary and overcrowded. Shift working on the viaducts resulted in “hot bedding”. The 1871 census illustrates the conditions: in one hut there were 6 family members and 5 lodgers. The Sedbergh Medical Officer of Health reported a lack of drains and sewers, and the prevalence of intestinal and lung diseases. The Parish registers at Chapel-le-Dale record just 2 burials a year before 1870. These peaked at over 50 per year during the 6-year period. Navvies and their families were killed or injured by explosions and other accidents e.g. in 1874 a mother and child were crushed by a narrow gauge locomotive used in the construction work.

The lawlessness of navvies was a problem for the Christian Church, which felt it should tend to their moral and spiritual well-being. Di explained that there were 2 phases to the missionary work. Initially navvies were perceived as a disruptive alien force - stereotypically Scottish or Irish - posing a sexual and racial threat to the nation. In fact few Scots or Irish were employed on the Settle-Carlisle. Missions to navvies developed from the 1840s both locally and from national evangelical movements. Local clergy took the lead, firstly non-conformists and then Anglicans, particularly vicars’ wives and daughters. Missions gave women some independence and a chance to do something by fulfilling their Christian duty. Christian employers, such as Samuel Morton Peto, saw it as their duty to give spiritual support to their workers. In 1870 the Midland Railway sponsored a mission hut at Dent Head, though other companies made no provision.

By the 1880s, as the result of the missionary work of Elizabeth Garnett and others, attitudes to navvies had changed and they were seen as the heroic builders of England. Their immorality was not inherent but a result of their difficult conditions. If employers insisted on paying them in pubs, drinking was encouraged, and their susceptibility to disease was caused by poor living conditions. Prompted by the construction of Lindley Wood reservoir, near her home in Otley, Elizabeth Garnett founded the Christian Excavators Union in 1875. Unflinchingly evangelical, the Union aimed to overcome the Church’s neglect of Christian duty. It set up missions, schools and reading-rooms, savings banks and dispensaries in navvy settlements. Although the Union never had more than a few hundred navvies as members it had wide middleclass support. It produced many evangelical publications in which Mrs Garnett acted as the voice of the navvies, seeking changes in employment law and child conditions.

Di’s interesting talk generated a number of questions and lively discussion, ranging from a comparison of death rates in cities to those of the navvies to the problem of stereotyping which gave navvies a worse reputation than they deserved.

Robert Vickers

 

The Landscape of Textiles: the Impact of the Textile Trade in the West Riding – Alan Petford
16 February 2002 (joint with the Local History Section)

Section member and WEA Tutor Alan Petford’s talk examined the evidence of the various processes of textile manufacture still to be found in the landscape of the south west of the old West Riding. He showed slides of examples of wuzzing holes and of wool walls that were stepped and south facing, both used for drying the wool. The names of roads were also an indication of where textile processes had been carried out e.g. Stretchgate Lane and Tenter Lane. Dean Head, Saddleworth had good examples of weavers’ cottages from 1799/1800 which housed handlooms and spinning jennies. Possibly the most famous handloom weaver, Timothy Feather was born in 1828, there are many photographs of him at work and his loom is now in the Cliffe Castle Museum, Keighley. After being spun and woven, the woollen cloth was fulled in a fulling mill, then tentered. There are still stone tenter posts at Marsden and an examination of early Ordnance Survey maps will show the site of tenter fields. After finishing, the cloth was taking to market using packhorses. Alan showed examples of the Market Halls in Leeds and Huddersfield, the façade of which can be seen in Ravensknowle Park, near the Tolson Museum. The Halifax Piece Hall was a later development whereby the merchants had their own individual rooms for the display and selling of cloth.

With the development of the factory system came the landscape of mills, beginning with small carding and slubbing mills of the 1790s and then growing in size with some spectacular mills designed to make statements in the landscape about the prosperity of their owners. Examples such as Dean Clough Mills in Halifax, Salts Mill at Saltaire and Manningham Mills in Bradford were shown. Such statements were not confined to industrial towns, there were fine examples in the rural landscape such as the Globe Worsted Mill in Slaithwaite.

Following the talk, there were questions concerning the development of model villages for textile workers, design of weaving sheds and how to recognise a wool wall. The talk was very well illustrated and gave members much to look for when out and about.

 

Newcomen Society North West Branch visit to Leeds
30 September 2001
Report provided by Bernard Champness

On 30 September, 12 members of the North West Branch of the Newcomen Society and friends enjoyed a two part guided tour of industrial sites in Leeds with Dr Ron Fitzgerald. Starting in Water Lane, south of the River Aire, the group first visited the former Marshall’s flax spinning mills developed 1817-1840. The main three multi-storey blocks are set out in a “U” plan and one of the features of the fabric is the inverted brick arches above the foundations to prevent subsidence. The inside ground floor of the 5 storey 12 bay “C” block was visited to examine the cast iron fireproof structure attributed to Matthew Murray. The columns have an unusual cloverleaf profile and have clamps fixed to their tops because the beam to column connections were not entirely reliable.

Moving on to Foundry Street, the remainder of the morning was spent on a tour of Murray’s Round Foundry where his firm built textile machinery, steam engines and locomotives, including the first ones for Blenkinsop’s rack railway at the Middleton Colliery (1812). The Round Foundry building has been demolished but an archaeological dig has tested the site. What remains are a series of forges, foundries and multi-storey erecting shops on three sides of a yard with a house and offices at the front to which is fixed a commemorative plaque. A building of note here is a former open sided foundry supported on cast iron columns which carry brackets for overhead crane rails – an innovative arrangement in 1840.

After lunch, the party moved on to inspect the surviving structures of the Leeds and Thirsk Railway (1846). There is a fine stone built approach viaduct by Thomas Grainger, a locomotive roundhouse adapted for road transport use and a semi circular extension added by the N.E.R. There is also a carriage, wagon and loco repair shop complete with several forge chimneys and an entrance on the side of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. The wagon hoist tower in the former Wellington Street goods yard was also seen. The final part of the day was by cars to the former centre of locomotive building in south Leeds and Hunslet. The main arched entrance of Kitson’s railway foundry has been retained. A front building and two cast iron gateposts mark Manning Wardles’s Boyne Engine Works of 1858. The Hunslet Engine Company’s main office building of 1864 stands, whilst at Fowler’s steam traction engine works there is rather more to see on site with six bays of workshops remaining, one with attractive cast iron columns for the crane rails.

 

The National Coal Mining Museum

Report of a Yorkshire Archaeological Society Lecture given on 12 January 2002 by Dr Margaret Faull, Director of the NCM

The theme of the lecture was the development of the Museum at Caphouse Colliery (situated between Huddersfield and Wakefield), past, present and future. With the massive closure programme of pits in the early 1980s, English Heritage decreed that only one coal mining museum should be supported in each of the old NCB regions. Caphouse was chosen because it was a remarkable survival of a small 19th century colliery. The depth of the shaft is only 450 feet, so underground tours were also a possibility. There was a steam winding engine and house, hand picked screens, a lamp room, blacksmith’s forge and other remains on the site. With the support of British Coal and the two local authorities, additional coal cutting machinery and man riding trains were collected. The Lound Hall collection was transferred to Caphouse and the canteen converted into a classroom for educational visits. Redundant miners were re-employed for maintenance work and as guides. Visitor numbers have been encouraging and now with Lottery grants and European funding, a conference centre is being established, together with new educational facilities and new interpretation rooms. The lecture was illustrated with slides of the surface installations and underground displays.

David George

(For members with internet access, more information about the NCM can be found on its website: www.ncm.org.uk)

Visit to Magna 26 December 2001

On Boxing Day a small party of IHS and Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society members visited Magna, described as a Science Adventure Centre in what was part of the Templeborough Steel Works near Rotherham. The works were owned by Steel, Peech and Tozer and the first melt was in 1917 for shells used in the 1st World War. By 1918 11 furnaces were working with 3 more added later. The 14 furnace chimneys became a famous Rotherham landmark for the next 40 years. In the 2nd World War, Templeborough produced 3 million tonnes of steel for shells, guns and the floating Mulberry harbours used on “D” Day. In 1959 the programme began to replace the 14 old open hearth furnaces by six electric arc furnaces. By February 1965 the conversion was complete and Templeborough became the world’s largest arc plant. Throughout the 1970s, world wide overproduction of steel and falling demand led to cutbacks and redundancies with two of the arc furnaces closed down. However in 1977, E furnace broke the world record for liquid steel output in one week producing 74.2 tonnes per hour. In spite of continued modernisation through to the 1990s, the plant succumbed to market forces and closed in 1993. Almost immediately plans were started to develop an Iron and Steel Heritage Centre on or near the site. This eventually became Magna.

The Centre consists of four pavilions representing the four elements of air, fire, water and earth, all situated within the old melting shop. The building is enormous over a quarter of a mile long and 42 metres high at its highest point – and it was cold – too expensive to heat! There are also displays giving the history of steel making and social aspects of the steel community. Each pavilion contains interactive displays related to the appropriate element; for example in the air pavilion you can make music, see how a Dyson vacuum cleaner works and watch a tornado. In the fire pavilion you can melt steel and watch a fire tornado; in the water pavilion there are displays showing how water wheels and lock gates work and you can get wet! In the earth pavilion you can operate a digger (very popular). The most spectacular of the effects is the Big Melt a representation of the melting process in E furnace, almost as good as the real thing.

I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed the visit. I was initially interested to see inside the works and there is much to see that is still left of the old works - once your eyes became accustomed to the gloom. However the displays are well done and there is a permanent maintenance team on hand to repair them as result of enthusiastic treatment. You may not learn too much about steel making, there are information panels but somewhat difficult to read. Magna is situated in Sheffield Road, Templeborough and well signposted from the M1. Details from ? 01709 720002 or check the website at www.magnatrust.org.uk.

Margaret Tylee

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INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION VISIT TO BATLEY 11 MAY 2002

David George will lead a walk around Batley using the Section’s publication Industrial Archaeology Walks in Yorkshire No. 1 as a guide. It will be an opportunity to look in detail at some of the splendid mills and warehouses built for the shoddy and mungo trade for which Batley is famous. We shall start the walk by visiting a warehouse in Rowse Mill Lane near the station which is now owned by new section member Adrian Bailey. Adrian warns that there are some steep stairs in the building, so sensible shoes are recommended.

Meet at outside Batley Railway Station in Station Road at 10.30am. According to the current timetable there are trains from Leeds at 9.42 and 10.12 which arrive at Batley at 10.15 and 10.27 respectively, but members are advised to check nearer the time. Lunch will be taken at a suitable point and the visit will end around 3.30pm. No need to book but suggest confirming with David ? 0161 790 9904 if you intend to join the walk. Also recommended that you bring a copy of the walk leaflet if you have one.

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PR IN THE 1800s: a postscript to the November lecture

After the Blenkinsop lecture in November, a member asked why John Blenkinsop was not as well known as George Stephenson. My answer that George Stephenson had a better ‘publicity machine’ was far more trivial than the question deserved, but I don’t think so quickly these days . . .

In the early 1820s, as malleable iron rails came into use, Blenkinsop’s rack and pinion system became irrelevant - until it was rediscovered mid-century for use in mountain railways. Malleable iron rails would bear the weight of much heavier locomotives than would cast iron rails, which tended to break under sudden impact. A heavy locomotive could gain enough purchase on smooth malleable iron rails to enable it to move a commercially viable load, and so there was no longer any need to find ways of giving extra tractive power to a locomotive of strictly limited weight.

The Middleton locomotives were still well-known, and visitors still came to see this successful pioneer application of steam power to transport but, after the mid-1820s, George Stephenson’s Stockton & Darlington locomotives and, a few years later, Liverpool & Manchester locomotives, became universally famous. They were in use on public, passenger carrying, railways, and so were seen by and heard of by many more people than were the much earlier rack locomotives then still in daily use on the short private colliery railways at Middleton near Leeds and Orrell near Wigan.

By 1835, Sir George Head was writing of a Middleton locomotive that “This crazy, rickety, old engine continues to trundle along day after day at the rate of about five miles an hour, and affords an extraordinary instance, by comparison, of the improvements in machinery that have taken place within the last fifteen or sixteen years.” Two years after that, Queen Victoria came to the throne. It’s well nigh impossible to avoid the clichè that ‘a new era had begun’.

George Stephenson’s locomotives (soon more correctly his son Robert’s) by then were increasingly widely used and, before long, Victorian England enthusiastically seized upon George as an icon: a prime example of a humble man who became famous and prosperous through diligent hard work. That Stephenson had stayed in the railway business, unlike his predecessors, was probably an important factor: Richard Trevithick had disappeared to South America after demonstrating that steam locomotives could be made to work in limited fashion, and John Blenkinsop had continued to pursue his distinguished career as a colliery viewer.

Samuel Smiles’ biography of George, first published in 1857 and republished a few years later as part of his ‘Lives of the Engineers’, was full of detail provided by Robert Stephenson, and would supply inspiring anecdotes and information for a host of later biographies, railway histories, and schoolbooks. It is difficult to unlearn a fact soundly learnt in childhood, and schoolbooks probably became the most important factor in the posthumous promotion of George Stephenson as ‘Father of the Locomotive’. I have a small collection of Victorian and Edwardian schoolbooks, and none of the history books or ‘object lesson’ books mention John Blenkinsop; I don’t recall that they mention Richard Trevithick either. By the time larger numbers of schoolbooks were being written, to cater for the rise of public education, Trevithick and Blenkinsop were definitely ‘yesterday’s men’.

George (and Robert) Stephenson had set the basic general design of steam locomotive which went into universal use, and their names were linked to the building of several ‘intercity’ railways. It was probably only natural that the writers of schoolbooks should discard the earliest attempts to apply steam power to rail transport, however successful they were, and concentrate on the man they considered to be responsible for the development of the modern 19th century railway. The fact that George had been a man of humble origins who had acquired fame, riches, big house etc. etc. through diligent hard work, must have seemed a godsend to educationalists trying to bludgeon the ethos of hard work into the younger generation. Trevithick and Blenkinsop didn’t stand a chance!

Sheila Bye

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