NEWSLETTER 81 EARLY SPRING 2011
EDITORIAL
Another year and another Newsletter; I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year and managed to cope with the snow and bitter cold. It was unfortunate that we had to cancel the December lecture due to the bad weather and Claremont being closed but the good news is that the speaker Christine Ball has agreed to give her talk on Water Power on Sheffield’s Rivers in the 2011/12 programme. Jane Ellis is already working on the next programme but it is not too late to send her any suggestions for speakers and topics covering aspects of the industrial history of Yorkshire. If you have been attending the recent talks you will be aware that we have decided to change the date of the walk around Keighley originally planned for Sunday 15 May. When Robert Vickers and Alan Longbottom started their detailed planning for the walk, their view was that although Sunday would obviously be less busy for a walk, there were far fewer amenities available for refreshment breaks. Consequently the date for the walk will now be Saturday 30 April starting at 10.30am and the good news is that we will be able to see inside Knowle Mill as guests of the Keighley Model Railway Club – I hope that many of you can make it.
Robert and I were concerned that the walks that have been organised so far have not been very well attended and at the November lecture we asked the members for their views on whether it was worthwhile and of interest to continue to arrange walks. The view of the meeting was to carry on and it was suggested that one reason for the lack of interest was that people needed a reminder nearer the date and that perhaps email messaging could be used to alert members to activities between Newsletters. An email circulation list would certainly have been useful to alert members about Claremont’s closure and the cancellation of our lecture in December. The idea is being followed up and enclosed with this Newsletter is a re-issue of the remainder of the rest of the programme together with a request for email contact details. We can only send you alerts if we have your contact details and you can be assured that these details will not be passed on elsewhere.
Also enclosed is a subscription reminder for those Section only members who have not yet paid for 2011. Section members who are also main Society members receive their reminders direct from Claremont. Another reminder is that the Section’s AGM is coming up in April when the officers are elected for the coming year. I’m happy to hear from any member who would like to play a more active role in the Section, perhaps you would like to organise a walk or present a topic at the Members’ Session even if you don’t want to stand for a position.
In the last Newsletter I made the proposal that the Section could donate £300 to the Claremont Windows appeal. I received no responses either for or against and put the proposal to the first meeting on October. There was a suggestion that we should wait until the AGM to formally propose such a donation but the view of the meeting was that since the money was needed now we should go ahead with the donation. I subsequently informed the YAHS Treasurer of the meeting’s decision and have been told that the money has been transferred from the Section’s account to the Windows account. I have received the thanks of the YAHS Secretary for our generous donation and many thanks to members for their agreement. I’m sure that we will all appreciate Claremont not only looking better but less draughty for those using the building.
Welcome to new members Mr D Fattorini and Northern Archaeological Associates, and welcome back to Wakefield Libraries.
I shall be producing the next Newsletter in mid/late April after the Section AGM on 2 April, so please let me have your news, information and any requests for information in good time.
Margaret Tylee
NEWS FROM CLAREMONT
Those of you who have been to Claremont over the past few months will have noticed that Janet Senior and her team of volunteers have been rearranging material in the Library. The aim is to bring together the stock in a more logical way. This has meant Industrial History material that was previously housed in the Octagon Room has been moved upstairs to the Henry Jenkins Room. Trade Directories remain in the Octagon Room, which is where the majority of Family History material can be found. Work continues to ensure that the catalogue entries reflect the new stock locations. If members have any difficulties in finding material just ask Janet or any of the Library helpers.
Janet also wishes to remind Library users that access to the Library catalogue can now be searched via a pc in the Library as well as the traditional card catalogue.
The current 5 year strategic plan for the Society comes to an end this year and the incoming President Sylvia Thomas has set up a small group to work on developing a new 5 year plan. I am involved in the group with my Management Board responsibilities as Publicity Officer and we have held the first meetings establishing the areas of activity that need to be covered. These include the overall management of the Society; maintenance of the building; reviewing the function and image of the Society and the need to improve the Society’s finances; as well as other areas. Good progress has already been made with the development of the Society’s website which is seen as a key part of the strategy. If you have access to the web, don’t forget to check it regularly for up to date news and information.
Also a small group has been set up to review and update the Society’s Bye Laws to ensure that they meet current activities.
Looking ahead to the Society’s 150th anniversary celebrations, in 2013, another group has been established to plan for activities during this important year. All Sections and Affiliated Societies will be asked to consider hosting an activity in 2013 so that we can ensure the year is a memorable one.
HELP WANTED
I have been contacted by Alan McEwan who is researching steam crane making firms in West Yorkshire. He is keen to find out more about the firm of Isles & Co. of Stanningley. Alan has produced a number of books published by Sledgehammer Engineering Press, details from their website www.sledgehammerengineeringpress.co.uk. If anyone can provide any information please contact Alan at [email protected].
The National Association of Mining History Organisations (NAMHO) has been commissioned by English Heritage to produce a Research Framework for the Archaeology of the Extractive Industries in England. The aim is to collate information on research carried out into mining and quarrying, assess current knowledge and plan future research. As part of the project a series of seminars are being held to bring together those with interest and knowledge to discuss their work and learn from others. The first meeting focussed on stone and aggregates and was held in November 2010 at the National Stone Centre in Derbyshire and the next will be on 19 February at the National Coal Mining Museum at Caphouse Colliery, near Wakefield, the subject being the archaeology of coal, clay and ironstone. If any member feels they can contribute to the work please email Peter Claughton at [email protected] or Phil Newman at [email protected]. Further details of the project can be found on the NAMHO website www.namho.org.
NEWS ITEMS
An article In the North York Moors National Park Historic Environment Review No 2 published in 2010 described the reconstruction works at Low Mill, Chop Gate, on the River Seph, near Stokesley. The river wall which protects the watermill has been reconstructed together with the adjacent bridge over the river. The watermill is grade II listed, rebuilt in the 18th century as a corn mill and is important because it retains 18th and 19th century timber and iron machinery that remain in working order following a major restoration in the 1970s.
Also in the same newsletter there is information about the Newgate Bank Alum Works situated on the edge of Guisborough Forest. The works operated in three short periods in the early 17th, late 18th and finally in the mid to late 19th centuries. The remains of the open pits used for steeping the alum shale have been exposed by motorcycle scrambling, but with the support of the Guisborough and District Motor Cycle Club they have been fenced off for their protection and preservation. You can read the articles on line at www.northyorkmoors.org.uk. The Field Studies Council is running a couple of courses at their Malham Tarn centre in August that may be of interest to members. “Settle-Carlisle & Steam in the North” will be held 8-15 August, price for sole occupancy room is £705 and on 15-22 August David Johnson will be leading a course entitled “Exploring the Historic Landscape of the Yorkshire Dales”, price for sole occupancy room is £595. For more information and booking contact Field Studies Council, Preston Montford, Montford Bridge, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 1HW ? 0845 3454071 or go to the website www.field-studies-council.org.uk where you also find details of FSC courses in other parts of the country.
At the end of 2010, the Victorian Society published their list of the top ten endangered buildings as nominated by Victorian Society members. Number 2 on the list was the Grimsby Ice Factory, Gorton Street, The Docks, Grimsby. This grade II* listed building dating from 1900 was viewed externally by the AIA Conference when it was based in Lincoln in 2009, but we were unable to get inside to see the early 20th century ice making machinery. The factory produced ice for the Grimsby fishing industry and closed in 1990 as a result of most boats having their own ice making facilities on board. The factory and the land it occupies are owned by Associated British Ports who have no plans to demolish it but the building is no longer watertight and subject to neglect and decay. Local campaigners would like to see it restored as part of a wider scheme to regenerate the area around the docks but there is little progress so far.
Scarborough Council has approved Network Rail’s proposal to remove the grade II listed signal gantry at Falsgrove as part of the rail improvements to the entry to Scarborough Station. The gantry dates from 1911 and was the last cross track semaphore signal gantry in use on a main line. The gantry will be shortened by 5.6metres and then re-erected on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Grosmont Station.
The Colne Valley Museum at Golcar, near Huddersfield, will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The Museum was officially opened in November 1971 by the Yorkshire novelist Phyllis Bentley and is run entirely by volunteers. It occupies three handloom weavers’ cottages built in the 1840s and a fourth cottage and an adjacent former butcher’s and chip shop was bought in 2008. The museum has a plan to restore and integrate these latter buildings into an expanded museum. The total project is estimated to cost £900,000; the first stage is to weatherproof the buildings using £50,000 secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The Museum is open Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays 2- 5pm and there is a special exhibition launching the 40th anniversary which is running until 27 February. For more information see the website www.colnevalleymuseum.org.uk.
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is working with Tarmac Ltd to organise a series of visits to two of Tarmac’s working quarries in North Yorkshire. The main purpose of the visits is an educational one to show how wildlife can thrive in an industrial setting and what can be achieved for the environment when quarrying activity ceases, but the visits also offer an opportunity to see a working quarry in action. Swinden Quarry near Skipton is a limestone quarry operated since the 18th century and is one of Yorkshire’s deepest quarries. Some of the quarried limestone is transported using a freight only line to Skipton which was once part of the Grassington to Skipton railway. Nosterfield Quarry, near Ripon, is a sand and gravel quarry which provides 25% of North Yorkshire’s sand and gravel requirements. Booking is essential with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust for the guided tours and question sessions and the events are free. For full details and dates see Forthcoming Events below.
The First White Cloth Hall in Leeds was built in 1711 in Kirkgate, and as the trade increased a Second White Cloth Hall was built in Meadow Lane in 1755, followed by a Third in 1775 behind the Corn Exchange. The First Hall was described by Ralph Thoresby as “a stately hall built on pillars on arches in the form of an exchange with a quadrangular court”. The remains of the Hall were discovered some years ago behind the street frontage of 98-100 Kirkgate and the Hall is listed Grade II*. Work has started on a £1m development of Kirkgate funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and this includes the restoration of the Hall; however, initially, part of it has had to be demolished when it was found that adjoining building was unsafe. The material has been stored with the intention to rebuild at a later date. Kirkgate will be on the itinerary of the Section’s industrial history walk on 2 April.
Leeds City Council has created a conservation area in Buslingthorpe, regarded as an area of local and national interest centred on the 19th century Broadhead and Conyers leather manufacturer’s works Buslingthorpe Tannery. The building is to be redeveloped into flats with other industrial building on the site in Education Road, Sheepscar being demolished and replaced by housing.
Still in Leeds - have you been to Beckett Street Cemetery in Leeds? If not it is well worth a visit to search out some interesting last resting places of those associated with industry (and other things), including John Barran the wealthy cloth manufacturer who donated Roundhay Park to the city of Leeds. The YAHS holds the Burial and Grave Register on microfiche as well as the Index to Burials 1845-1992 complied by the Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery. The cemetery opened in 1845 as the Leeds Burial Ground which makes it the oldest public cemetery in the country and it is listed Grade II on the English Heritage’s Parks and Gardens Register. It is open every day from 9am until dusk and is situated opposite the Thackray Museum on Beckett Street.
The Pocklington Canal in East Yorkshire is a remainder waterway that is gradually being repaired and is navigable for about a half of its nine and a half mile length. The Pocklington Canal Amenity Society received a grant of £45,000 from the Rural Development Programme to go towards a £90,000 scheme to provide landing stages at locks and bridges on the navigable sections of the canal. The first two landing stages have been completed in or near the Melbourne Arm where the Society operates a trip boat the New Horizons. Trips on the boat will start again on the first Sunday in April and continue on Sundays and Bank Holidays until October. The 30 minute trips are free but donations are welcome. For more information about the canal and the Society see www.pocklingoncanalsociety.org.uk
The former ironworks and colliery workshops of the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam’s Wentworth Estate at Elsecar were developed as a Heritage Centre by Barnsley Council after being purchased by the Council in 1988. A new Visitor Centre and shop has now opened and the former Iron Works rolling mill is being refurbished as a concert and events venue. A new Friends group has been set up to provide help and support to Barnsley Council in further development and they would welcome new members to get involved with the group. If anyone is interested they should email [email protected] or write to The Visitor Centre, Elsecar Heritage Centre, Wath Road, Elsecar, Barnsley S74 8HJ. A £400,000 grant has been secured for work on the 1785 Newcomen engine on the site. Also owned by Barnsley Council, it was built to extract water from the Elsecar New Colliery and the only one to survive in its original engine house. The intention is to restore the engine to running order and provide interpretation and publicity. The engine will not be steamed since the boiler and boiler house have long gone but it will be good to see it working again.
The 2010 volume of the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal contains an article on Lime Kilns in the Central Pennines: Results of a Field Survey in the Yorkshire Dales and Contiguous Areas of North and West Yorkshire by David Johnson. David is a section member who is an expert on the limestone industry of the Dales, he is the author of a comprehensive book “Limestone Industries of the Yorkshire Dales” published by Tempus in 2002 and gave a lecture to the Section in 2009 on Lime Burning in the Gritstone Pennines.
The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) Yorkshire has published Forum 2010, its annual roundup of archaeological activities in Yorkshire (copy available in YAHS Library). There are a couple of items of an industrial nature, the most extensive being a detailed report of a rare slipware site discovered during an excavation of a site at Lazencroft, 5 miles east of Leeds by the Leeds Archaeological Fieldwork Society. The excavation found the foundations of a medieval manor house belonging to the Gascoigne family but the group also found a significant amount of material associated with slipware production. Desk research indicated that it was worked in the 1740s-70s, predating the Leeds Pottery works in Hunslet. Since only five slipware production sites have been excavated in England, finding an industrial kiln mass producing slipware in the Leeds area is of national historical interest. The author of the article Kathy Allday will be talking about the Leeds Pottery Dig at a Thoresby Society meeting on 1 March, details below.
Also in the CBA’s Forum 2010 of industrial interest are brief reports of surveying and recording work at the Providence Smelt Mill, near Greenhow by John Buglass Archaeological Services; recording work at Dam House, Boston Spa by the Boston Spa Archaeology and Heritage Group and archaeological building investigation at Troy Mills, Horsforth, by Field Archaeology Specialists Ltd.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS 28 January Swinden Quarry Tour. Guided tour of the quarry with quarry staff and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. 11am -1pm. Meet Swinden Quarry Visitor Centre, Swinden Quarry, near Skipton, BD23 6BE. Free but booking essential with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust ? 01904 659570 or [email protected]
1 February Walking the Leeds Liverpool Canal- Pat Clarke. Thoresby Society lecture. Friends Meeting House, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. 7.15pm
10 February The History of Rolls Royce – G. Fitzpatrick. Skipton & Craven Historical Society lecture. Swadford Centre, Swadford Street, Skipton. 7.30pm. £2 for non members.
14 February Embsay Moor Reservoir: History of Construction 1904-1910 – Moniker Butler. Upper Wharfedale Field Society lecture. Town Hall, Grassington. 7.30pm. £2 for non members
19 February Where did the Walkers live, work & worship – Graham Hague. Joint South Yorkshire Industrial History Society (SYIHS)/Rotherham & District History Society lecture. Rotherham Central Library & Arts Centre, Walker Place, Rotherham. 10.30am
21 February Memories of the Sheffield Cutlery Industry – Herbert Housley. SYIHS lecture. Kelham Island Museum. 7.30. £2 for non members.
1 March The Leeds Pottery Dig – Kathy Allday and Jean Millard. Thoresby Society lecture. Details as 1 Feb above.
2 March Towards an Agenda for the History of Early Main Line Railways. A workshop to explore the possibilities for research into the period between the opening of the first main lines and the last third of the 19th century. Institute of Railway Studies & Transport History Research Workshop. 2pm, Morton Suite of the National Railway Museum Conference Centre. Free admission. Details from www.york.ac.uk/inst/irs.
5 March History of Fishing on the North Sea Coast. Joint YAHS/Whitby Literary & Philosophical Society Day School. Whitby Museum, Pannett Park, Whitby. Cost £12 includes tea/coffee. Pre booked lunch available in Museum café at £5.50. Details and booking from Jo Heron at Claremont.
7 March Nosterfield Quarry Tour. Guided tour of the quarry with quarry staff and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. 10am -12pm. Meet Nosterfield Quarry Visitor Centre, Nosterfield Quarry, near Ripon, DL8 2QZ. Free, but booking essential with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust ? 01904 659570 or [email protected]
19 March Thorp Arch Ordnance Factory Railway. Railway Ramblers walk. 7 miles circular led by Jane Ellis and Bill Jagger. A reprise of last year’s walk that was marred by heavy rain. Café or takeaway lunch. Meet at the old Thorp Arch Station (GR 439464) at 10.25. 770 bus from Leeds or Harrogate passes the meeting place. Details from Jane Ellis ? 0113 265 9970. 22 March 10,000 Years of Cutting Edge Technology – Stephen Cater. SYIHS/SMEA 20th Dr Kenneth Barraclough Memorial Lecture. 5.30pm for 6pm at the Holiday Inn Royal Victoria Hotel, Sheffield.
25 March Swinden Quarry Tour. Guided tour of the quarry with quarry staff and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. 10am-12pm. Meet Swinden Quarry Visitor Centre, Swinden Quarry, near Skipton, BD23 6BE. Free, but booking essential with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust ? 01904 659570 or [email protected]
9 April Country House Technology. Cumbria Industrial History Society 25th Anniversary Spring Conference. The Rheged Centre, Penrith. 9.30am – 4pm. Cost £22.50 (includes refreshments on arrival and finger buffet lunch). £21 if a member of Cumbria Industrial History Society. Cheques made payable to CIHS and sent to CIHS Bookings, 20 Hillcrest, Milnthorpe, Cumbria, LA7 7RG. For more information ? 015395 68428 or visit www.cumbria-industries.org.uk.
11 April Pressing Matters and Uplifting Ideas: the Bramah Press in the 19th Century – Tim Smith. SYIHS Joseph Bramah lecture sponsored by Barnsley Council. Cooper Gallery, Church Street, Barnsley. 7pm.
17 April Chesterfield Railways and Canal. Railway Ramblers 5 mile circular walk with pub lunch led by Brian Slater. Meet 10.15 am at Chesterfield Station to view the remains of the local railway and canal infrastructure. Details from Jane Ellis as 19 March above.
18 April The continuing Story of Sheffield Manor Lodge – Peter Machan. SYIHS lecture. Details as 21 Feb above.
21 April Yorkshire Dales Textile Mills- George Ingle. Olicana Historical Society. All Saints Church House, Church Street, Ilkley. 7.30pm. £2 for non members.
16 May The Chesterfield Canal: past, present & future – Geraint Coles. SYIHS lecture. Details as 21 Feb above.
21 May EMIAC 81: The Impact of Lead Mining on the Peak District Landscape. East Midlands Industrial Archaeology Conference hosted by the Peak District Mines Historical Society at Matlock Bath. Talks on the archaeology of mining, drainage and the challenges of filming underground followed by site visits. Cost £15 includes buffet lunch. Details and booking form at www.niag.org.uk/emiac.html
FOR YOUR BOOKSHELF
Manningham: Character and Diversity in a Bradford Suburb. Simon Taylor and Kathryn Gibson. English Heritage 2010 108pp. ISBN 9781848020306. £9.99. Comes with a DVD Tales and Trails of Manningham
I have not read the book or seen the DVD but have noted the review from Industrial Archaeology Review Vol. 32 No. 2 November 2010. One of the “Informed Conservation” series produced by English Heritage covering the character of the Victorian suburb of Bradford which was once the centre of the world’s worsted trade. The book describes how Manningham grew during the late 18th and early 19th centuries to provide accommodation for handloom weavers and later in the 19th century with the building of villas for wealthy Bradford mill owners including John Garnett Horsfall and Ellis Cunliffe Lister who lived at Manningham Hall. Lister built the first Manningham Mill on an elevated position with workers’ housing nearby. Many of the villas built by the new rich in areas such as Clifton Villas and the Oak House Estate are illustrated together with more modest houses in Hanover and Peel Squares. Later rows of back to back houses were built. Samuel Cunliffe Lister who built the present Manningham Mill moved from Bradford in 1870 and sold Manningham Hall and the former Low and Deer Parks to Bradford Corporation. The Bradford Exhibition of 1904 was held in the newly built Edward Cartwright Memorial Hall also paid for by Samuel Lister
Manningham Mills became the largest silk spinning and weaving mill in the world but production ceased in the 1990s and the book describes how a chance viewing by Tom Bloxham of Urban Splash in 2000 led to the development of the Silk Warehouse and conversion of the Velvet Mill into apartments, commercial space and a performing arts studio. The book shows how the conservation of existing buildings can co-exist with new developments in a Victorian, now multi- ethnic suburb. The accompanying DVD has been produced as part of English Heritage’s outreach project which provided an opportunity for local people to describe their views about the development of the area. At £9.99 the book and DVD represent good value for money if you are interested in the history and development of this important industrial area.
The Cumbrian Industrialist. A series of Occasional Papers Vol. 7 published by the Cumbria Industrial History Society 2010. ISBN 9780953379972.
Section member David George has sent me a copy for donation to the YAHS Library. The 2010 volume contains four papers: Reel Fitz Pit Engine by David George; The Right to Compensation for Industrial Diseases by Dr F Hill; Gazetteer of Carlisle and District Cotton and Woollen Textile Mill Sites by David George and Dr Mike Nevell and Gasworks in Cumbria by Roger Baker.
The Reel Fitz Pit was situated in Bridgefoot a village between Workington and Cockermouth and although the pit closed in late 18th century many remains and parts of the engine were left on the surface. The paper describes excavations on the site which have revealed a valuable early coalmining site which can be accurately dated. Dr Hill’s paper traces the development of compensation for industrial diseases and accidents from the late 19th century onwards. 43 sites are listed in the Gazetteer, broken down as 13 finishing sites, 18 spinning mills and 12 weaving sheds. Each site is described with a brief history and what can be seen today and the Gazetteer will be an invaluable guide to anyone in the area looking for textile mill sites. Roger Baker’s article follows on from an earlier paper which covered the period from 1819 when the first gasworks in Cumbria were built to the 1870s. This article takes the story forward to the time of nationalisation of the industry after the 2nd World War.
The papers are interesting and well referenced and although not in Yorkshire will be of general interest to members and the format of a publication containing more lengthy, detailed articles than can be produced in our Newsletter is perhaps something we might consider. Individual copies can be obtained from the Cumbria Industrial History Society, c/o Graham Brooks, Coomara, Carleton, Carlisle CA5 0BU, at a cost of £5 incl. p&p.
Margaret Tylee
REPORTS OF EVENTS
I didn’t attend the 2010 AIA conference which was held in Cornwall so I can’t provide my usual report for members, however there is a full report of the conference activities in the winter 2010 issue of Industrial Archaeology News, copy available in the YAHS Library. The 2011 AIA Conference will be held at the University of Cork, Ireland from 25 August -2 September. Advance notice of the conference indicates that there will be visits to the Ballincollig gunpowder mills, the Allithies copper mines and the Shannon River hydro-electricity scheme. Full details and booking will be available later.
In the absence of any other reported events I can report on the talk I gave to the AGM of the South Yorkshire Industrial History Society in October as my presidential address.
I spoke about my initial research into the history of the Green Moor quarries concentrating on the 19th century onwards until their closure in the mid 20th century. The small village of Green Moor, where I have lived since 1995, is situated between Sheffield and Barnsley on the ridge above the town of Stocksbridge which is famous for its steel works. In 1813 following the Inclosure Awards, land was leased to a Reuben Marsh of Penistone for quarrying. This was followed in 1822 by a partnership between George Brown a Penistone innkeeper and James Rusby a stone mason from Denby to develop Green Moor Delph Quarry. By 1827 the partners were Matthew Brown, Jonathan Brown, Leonard Rusby and Henry Booth, the latter based in London where the partnership had a stone wharf on the Thames at Bankside, Southwark. By 1849 the quarry was producing flags, blue stones, grey stone, edge coping, steps and gravestones. Originally the stone was transported locally and then further afield by road to the Dearne & Dove Canal Basin at Worsborough where it travelled via the canal network to Goole, Hull and finally to the stone wharf in London. The railway came to Wortley in 1845 and a steam driven stone sawmill was built adjacent to Wortley Station where stone could be cut into smaller blocks and slabs for onward rail transport. Various changes of partnership and leases took place during the 1850s-60s and the number of quarries increased. There are several advertisements in the Leeds Mercury during this time for delvers for Brown & Booth’s Green Moor Quarries, including one for an engine tenter for the stone sawmill. When Henry Booth died in 1877 he left effects of around £100,000 and the quarry business was left to his great nephew Benjamin Brodie Booth, then only 23 and living in Hackney, London. His son, also called Benjamin Brodie was born in 1878 and was described as a quarry owner when he married in 1914, and his son another Benjamin Brodie was born in 1919 and who ran the quarries until they closed in the 1930s.
There were 6 main quarries in Green Moor: Green Moor Delph, California, Isle of Skye, Rocher, Newbiggin and Victoria. A History of Stocksbridge written by Jack Branston published in 1983 describes working in the quarries and I quoted extensively from this book. Newbiggin quarry was very deep and the quarrymen descended into the working levels using monkey poles which were ladders constructed from a long pole with 5/8th inch iron rods driven through with equal lengths on either side. Before work started a wire rope with a weight at the end was lowered and swung against the quarry face to dislodge any loose stone. The men would drill a hole in the face, then the shot firer would insert black powder into the hole measured as a full quarter pound cocoa tin’s worth followed by a foot length of clay. The fuse was lit and the subsequent blast would dislodge the stone. The men would come back down the monkey poles to move the stone using chain slings attached to a crane situated on the top of the quarry. Stone from this quarry was judged to be the finest and was used to pave the yard outside the Houses of Parliament, Sheffield City Hall as well as the Stocksbridge War Memorial. During the winter work often stopped due to bad weather; no money was paid during layoffs although some work could be had in trimming accumulated blocks of stone. When work started on building the reservoir at nearby Langsett in 1898, the men were offered an increase of 2/- a week to prevent them from moving, this took the wages of a top quarryman to 31/- shillings. With the use of cement and concrete becoming more common from 1910 onwards and easier to obtain, fewer orders were received leading to fewer jobs until quarrying ceased around the time of the 2nd World War.
I then described what had become of them since – mostly filled in with foundry waste from David Brown Foundries of Penistone and from Samuel Fox Steelworks in Stocksbridge. The site of the Isle of Skye Quarry was bought by a group of local residents to save it for the Parish, which has now bought it back and intends to create a nature reserve and open space for the benefit of the community. Another small quarry became the village playground after being filled in. My research is still ongoing and it is good to know that Green Moor stone is still being quarried by Marshalls at Appleton Quarry near Shepley.
Margaret Tylee
INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION OFFICERS 2009-2010 Chairman & Newsletter Vice-Chairman & Membership Lecture Editor Secretary Secretary
Margaret Tylee Robert Vickers