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NEWSLETTER 76 LATE SPRING 2009

EDITORIAL

Welcome to another Newsletter. The 2008-09 Lecture Programme has come to an end and I hope that members who have attended the lectures have found the programme interesting and varied. Many thanks go to Jane Ellis for arranging the programme; having done this myself for a number of years I am well aware of how difficult it can be at times in not only identifying speakers but matching them to the available dates at Claremont. Ideas for possible speakers are always welcome and Jane’s contact details are given at the end of the Newsletter. Whilst on the subject of contact details, apologies to any members who have tried unsuccessfully to contact me by email since the last Newsletter; just after it was published my email provider withdrew the service. I now have a new email address which is [email protected].

14 members attended the Section AGM on 4th April and as usual the minutes of the meeting will be circulated with the Autumn Newsletter. At the AGM, I present the Section’s Annual Report and since the AGM is not as well attended as other meetings, I thought it would be of interest to members if I circulated a copy with this Newsletter. You will see that membership is slightly down, so again a reminder that the membership leaflet is available to download from the YAHS website or copies are available from me. Please do what you can to spread the news about the Section. I can report that the officers of the Section were re- elected apart from Bill Slatcher, who reluctantly felt that he should step down from the role of Vice Chairman. A vote of thanks was given to Bill who has played an active part in the Section for many years. Bill will still be attending meetings when he can continue to amaze us with his wealth of knowledge of industrial history. A question was asked at the meeting regarding the costs of running the section and unfortunately I did not have the figures to hand, but will include this detail in the Report in future. For the record, the cost of copying and posting three Newsletters, AGM Minutes and Lecture Programme is about £150. Jane’s costs for producing the Lecture Programme were £157.65 but I agreed she could retain the £21.20 collected from non member donations to offset her expenses. The annual subscription to the AIA costs £36 and until recently we contributed £30 towards David Cant’s travel costs as co-convenor of the CBA North East Industrial Archaeology Panel, before David stepped down from this role. One of the points noted at the AGM was the uncertainty regarding the future of the North East IA Panel which hadn’t met since early in 2008.

Following the AGM and lunch, 11 members met Robert Vickers in Square for a walking tour around . There was so much to see and comment on that we ran out of time before Robert’s planned ending, so there is scope for a follow up walk next year to see the sites that we had to miss. Thanks to Robert for his work in planning and leading the walk; I saw things I hadn’t seen before and a fuller report can be found later in the Newsletter. Don’t forget Robert’s walk in Huddersfield on Sunday 10 May.

Later in the Newsletter I have included details of this year’s AIA conference to be held in Lincoln. Section member Christine Ball is currently the AIA Affiliated Societies Officer and has commented that due to lack of support both the April Affiliated Societies weekend in Ironbridge and the pre conference seminar had to be cancelled due to lack of support. It is not clear whether this is due to declining membership or general lack of interest in the proposed topics. I can recommend the AIA conferences as an excellent way to discover the IA of a region and hope to see some of you in Lincoln in September.

Welcome to new members who have joined since the last Newsletter: Mr P Bennett, Mrs E Galilee and Mr N Nelson and look forward to meeting you at a future event.

A reminder that items for the Autumn Newsletter should be sent to me by the end of August and I hope you all have an enjoyable summer.

Margaret Tylee

NEWS ITEMS

I have discovered a new feature on the English Heritage website calledPastScape. The site allows you to search by location using information from the National Monuments Record and provides access to basic site details, investigation history and sources. In many examples there are also links to images from the Images of project and ViewFinder. PastScape also offer weblinks to historic and modern maps and aerial photographs. The website address can be found at www.english-heritage.org.uk

The British Library has an extensive digitisation programme and a very valuable source is now available to researchers in Higher or Further Education establishments, public libraries and the Library’s Reading Rooms in and . This is the 19th century newspapers archive. The programme involved the digitisation of over 2 million pages from 49 19th century newspapers, including the Mercury, the Northern Star & Leeds General Advertiser and the Hull Packet & East Riding Times. The site allows subject searching and enables fast access to information which previously would have taken many hours of scrolling through microfilm readers. At present it is only available via the establishments listed above but from early May a new interface will be launched aimed at the general public and those researchers who wish to view digitised material from their homes. Anyone will be able to search the content for free but a charge will be made for downloading material by purchasing a 24 hour or 7 day pass. Further details from the British Library website at www.bl.uk.

Barnsley Museums Service has been successful in gaining £2.6m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to create Experience Barnsley a museum to tell the history of the town and its people. The new museum will be situated in the 1933 grade II listed Town Hall together with archives, a local history library, exhibition areas, a learning resource centre and art gallery.. The collections will include artefacts telling the history of the town’s mining, linen, printing and glass making industries. The National Union of Mineworkers is also creating its own archive collection to complement the museum which will include the NUM’s records and details of mining disasters. People are being asked to bring forward their own artefacts, photographs and stories and a series of special events to publicise Experience Barnsley will be held in the summer.

Section members Alan and Janet Tomlinson have kindly sent me an offprint of an article they have recently published on the Ferrybridge Pottery 1830 – 1851. The pottery commenced production in 1795 and continued until 2003 when the buildings were demolished and the site cleared. However several marked shards were recovered which threw fresh light on the products of the pottery. The article describes the finds in detail and links them to the various stages of ownership between 1830 and 1851.The article can be found in the Northern Ceramic Society Journal Vol. 25, 2008-09 pp76-92. Please note that I am always happy to receive information about research that members are carrying out whether it has been published or not.

Duchess of Hamilton: Streamlined - Styling an Era is a new exhibition at the National Railway Museum which explores the links between 1930s fashion, engineering and design. It will feature locomotive 6229 Duchess of Hamilton built in 1938 and worked until 1963 which has been restored to its original streamlined style. The exhibition runs from 20 May 2009 to 31 December 2010.

INFORMATION WANTED

We have been contacted by a representative of William Rowland Ltd, Meadow Street, , who is trying to trace information relating to the Midland and Low Moor Iron works which he understood used to be situated at the corner of Meadow Street and Edward Street in Sheffield and was possibly once owned by Thomas Ward of Sheffield. My Godfrey map of the area does not show an iron works in this location so it must have been quite early. We have put him in touch with the South Industrial History Society and Kelham Island Museum, but if any members have any information please contact Mark Brocket email [email protected] or T 0114 2526483. FORTHCOMING EVENTS

10 May Discovering Huddersfield. An Industrial History Section walk led by Robert Vickers. Meet 11am at Huddersfield Railway Station. Pub lunch and finish around 4pm. More details from Robert Vickers T01937 588446.

14 May Waterfront Wakefield. National Mills Conference to be held at the Navigation Warehouse, Wakefield. 10am - 4pm. A morning of presentations on the regeneration of Wakefield’s waterfront followed by a walking tour of the area in the afternoon. Cost £60 including lunch and refreshments. Details from the National Mills Conference, The Gatehouse Business Centre, Mansion Gate, , Leeds, LS7 4RF or visit website www.ngcs.net

16 May EMIAC 77 A conference on the theme of Longdendale and its water supply scheme. Organised by the Archaeological Society and the Region IA Society. Held at the Glossopdale Community College, Hadfield. For details send SAE to Alistair Gilchrist, Sunnyside Mill Lane, Micleover, Derby, DE3 9FQ or email [email protected]

16 May Halifax St Paul’s to Thornton. A Railway Ramblers 8.5 miles linear walk with pub lunch. Meet Brian Slater at Halifax station at 9.26am. The walk will take in the Halifax High Level line through Pellon; Queensbury and crossing the newly opened Thornton Viaduct, returning to by . Details from Jane Ellis, T 0113 265 9970.

18 May An Industrial Wander down the Derbyshire Wye – Graham Hague. South Yorkshire Industrial History Society lecture. 7.30pm. Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield. Minimum admission for non members £1.

30 May Brass Castles. A YAHS event exploring the residences of the woollen aristocrats of . Cost £20 including buffet lunch. Application forms available from Janet Senior at Claremont.

1 June Spofforth to Railway Ramblers 3 mile linear evening walk on the & North Midland Line led by Jane Ellis and Harry Thompson. Meet at Wetherby bus station to catch the 770 bus at 18.00. Details from Jane Ellis as above.

3-7 June Fe09 Coalbrookdale 300- Footprints of Industry. Conference at Ironbridge celebrating 300 years of coke smelting of iron and 50 years since the restoration of the furnace at Coalbrookdale. Hosted by a number of organisations including the AIA and Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Full details on the AIA website www.industrial-archaeology.org.uk

20 June Early South Yorkshire Coal Railways Railway Ramblers 7 mile linear walk led by Mike Hodgson and Mike Warrington. Meet at for the 10.37am 24 bus to Thurgoland. Walking to Birdwell for back to Barnsley. Bring packed lunch. Details from Jane Ellis as above.

22 June London Industrial Buildings Day School. The third regional industrial buildings day school organised by the CBA and funded by English Heritage. London Canal Museum, 12-13 New Wharf Street, London N1 9RT. It will focus on canalside structures, buildings for goods handling and public utilities and include a field walk around the Kings Cross redevelopment area. The event is free of charge to CBA and AIA members but a refundable deposit of £10 is required when booking. Details from Brian Grimsditch, T 0161 275 2314 or email [email protected]

11 July Kiveton Park to Halfway. Railway Ramblers 7 mile linear walk led by Douglas Robinson. Meet at Kiveton Park station at 10.04 with packed lunch. Details from Jane Ellis as above.

12-15 July Flax and Water in Somerset and Dorset. Residential course at Dillington House, Somerset exploring the IA of flax based industries and water supply in Somerset and Dorset. Details from Dillington House, Ilminster, Somereset TA19 9DT, T 01460 52426 website www.dillington.com 22 Aug Standedge Transport Routes: Greenfield to Marsden. Railway Ramblers 7 mile linear walk with pub lunch led by Brian Slater. Meet Greenfield Station at 10am. The walk will include the L&NWR Delph Branch, lunch in Dobcross, the 18th century turnpike routes over Standedge Moor, with sight of the railway and canal ventilation shafts, spoil heaps and Huddersfield Narrow Canal reservoirs. Details from Jane Ellis as above.

4-10 September AIA Annual Conference. University of Lincoln at Lincoln. For details see below.

3 Oct First Industrial History Section Lecture in 2009-10 Programme. 11am at Claremont.

AIA Annual Conference, Lincoln, 4-10 September 2009

This year’s AIA conference is based at the University of Lincoln. The university is situated between the historic canal basin and the railway and includes two converted major ex-railway buildings. The university library is in the old railway warehouse and the conference dinner will be held in the converted engine shed. Details of the programme are available on the AIA website www.industrial- archaeology.co.uk or from me. In brief the format follows the familiar pattern of lectures and field visits. There is no pre-conference seminar this year; instead delegates can attend a walking tour of Lincoln on the Friday afternoon prior to the formal conference start on Friday evening. Saturday sees a morning of lectures on various aspects of the industries of Lincolnshire followed by members’ contributions and the presentations of the various awards. The AIA AGM and Rolt Memorial Lecture take place on Sunday morning and this completes the formal conference weekend. Sunday afternoon offers a choice of a tour of Gainsborough; Dogdyke Pumping Station and Woodhall Spa or the Museum of Lincolnshire Life. Visits during the rest of the week include Grimsby and Immingham Docks; Sleaford Maltings, Louth, RAF sites in Lincolnshire and the Corus Steelworks at Scunthorpe. The evening events include lectures on the Drainage of the Fens and Keels and Sloops of North Lincolnshire and historic films of Lincolnshire Industry. Conference attendees will also receive a copy of the booklet “Lincolnshire’s Industrial Heritage – a Guide” as well as comprehensive notes on the visits.

The price for the whole conference and associated programme is £570 but you can just book for part of the programme on a modular basis. Industrial History Section Lectures 2009-10

Book the dates in your diary now; further details will be in the programme which will be circulated with the Autumn Newsletter. At time of writing two lectures are confirmed as shown below. All are Saturdays starting at 11am with the exception of the AGM which will start at 10.30am

2009 3 October 7 November The Quest for Coal – Outwood Community Video Group 5 December Regenerating Yorkshire Mills and Historic Warehouses – Nigel Grizzard

2010 9 January 6 February 6 March April date to be confirmed AGM + Members’ session REPORTS OF LECTURES, EVENTS, LETTERS

Reports from 2008/9 Lecture Programme Days at the Factories – Professor David Perrett 11 October 2008

David Perrett is a Section member and President of the Newcomen Society 2008-2010. His talk, given a Yorkshire flavour for the occasion, was a version of his Presidential address that will be published in the Newcomen Society’s Transactions in due course. His theme was taken from Dodd’s Days at Factories 1830s/40s. Why are we interested in work? Whether it is nostalgia or an interest in history it has fascinated people since the 16th century and has been illustrated or described in prints, drawings, books, paintings, photographs and films. David’s interest began in Pontefract, train spotting at Wakefield Westgate station and he visited Crewe railway works in August 1961 - his notebooks survive. Pontefract then was an industrial town with coalmining and liquorice sweet making at Wilkinsons.

De re metallica, by Georgius Agricola, the first edition of which was published in 1556, contains the earliest known pictures and description of mining. In 1694 the Het Menselyk Bedryf (Book of trades), with 100 engravings, was published in Amsterdam, and the London tradesman was published in several editions 1747 – 1819, both intended to inform parents in the choice of trades for their sons. Walker’s Costume of Yorkshire, published in 1814, has illustrations of Middleton Colliery. Joseph Wright of Derby painted Iron forgingin 1772. Verbruggen made 50 drawings / watercolours of Woolwich Arsenal c1776. Work, the well-known painting of people at work in Hampstead High Street, was painted by Ford Maddox Brown 1852-65. Many painters in France and The Netherlands also depicted industrial scenes.

George Dodd was the first to observe and describe people at work and what they did and between 1841 and 1844 he visited factories around the country. Days at the factories: Series 1 1843 covered London, including a vinegar works, Clowes the printers, and oil and herb grinding. Outside London Dodd’s visits included Gott’s woollen mill and Marshall’s flax mill in and steel works in Sheffield. Wilkie Collins’ Rambles beyond railways of 1851 described work and workers in Cornwall and George R Sims Living London of 1901 was another description of the capital’s factories and people. Visits to factories were popular with the Royal Family and general public alike. Visits to the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich were promoted as a tourist attraction. Trade associations visited factories and held annual conferences which were written up in trade journals. The Newcomen Society has been visiting work places in the UK and beyond since the 1920s and publishing accounts in Transactions. Companies’ advertising in trade journals included pictures and descriptions of their factories to demonstrate their achievement. These are now valuable descriptions of workplaces and workmen. There were publications for artisans such as Practical Engineer and Mechanical Progress. Company histories were written e.g. Fifty years’ history of the development of Green’s Economiser by W H Fowler 1895 and Industrial exploring in and around London by R. Andom. In the US the journal Scientific American covered similar topics.

Industry was illustrated in other media. Buildings often included carvings or sculpture illustrating trades and machinery such as Doultons at Lambeth. In Belgium, Constantin Meunier depicted coal mining in a series of paintings and sculptures 1878-1900. Fox Talbot developed the negative process in 1844 and established his Reading Photographic Studio, c1845. He depicted farm work rural scenes and he photographed the construction of Nelson’s Column in 1843. Henry Flather photographed the workers and construction of the Metropolitan District Railway and the Victoria Embankment 1865-1870. The famous 1858 photograph of Brunel’s Great Eastern shows the people involved in its construction. John Penn’s works at Greenwich were photographed, as was the assembly of Abbey Mills pumping station. Arthur Munby, 1828–1910, made a large collection of pictures of working women, which are preserved at Trinity College, Cambridge. Lastly, there have been many films of factories and people at work.

David’s well researched presentation showed our fascination with industry and watching people work and prompted questions and discussion, including, coincidentally, input from a member whose father was the last Director of Woolwich Arsenal.

Robert Vickers

The Use of Aerial Photography in Mapping Past Industrial & Military Sites – Dave McLeod 8 November 2008

Dave McLeod is a Senior Investigator in the Aerial Survey and Investigation Branch of English Heritage. The area covered by his team is the whole of the north of England and his talk focussed on examples of industrial and military sites. The work includes aerial reconnaissance for the National Mapping Programme as well as for special projects and there is also an education and outreach programme. Flights are from an airfield at Sherburn in and the budget allows for 90 hours of flying a year which translates into about 100 flights a year. Not surprisingly the weather is an important factor determining when and where the flights can take place. The resulting photographs are stored in the archive at the National Monuments Record at Swindon which contains over 10 million photographs of buildings and sites. Recently the Aerofilms collection has been added to the archive (see item in Newsletter 72). Dave gave details of the National Mapping Programme which builds up a picture of the historic landscape from the archaeology and photographs and showed examples from the Vale of York National Mapping Programme. The lecture was well illustrated with examples of the photographs both historical and those taken more recently by the team, these included military airfields such as RAF Yeadon and industrial complexes such as iron working at Bentley Grange, mining remains on Moor and the Yorkshire Dales and the Thorp Arch munitions factory. Dave also showed an interesting series of photographs illustrating the effects of coastal erosion on military sites and the Kettleness Alum works. The rate of erosion is so great in some areas that these sites are completely disappearing with only the photographs as evidence of their existence.

A fascinating talk and one that was much appreciated as judged by the number of questions asked following the presentation. The photographs can be accessed by visiting the National Monuments Records at Swindon and copies can be purchased. Further information can be found on the English Heritage’s website www.english-heritage.org.uk and follow the link to Public Archive (NMR).

Leeds Transport : Old Leeds in a new format - Ian Dougill 6 December 2008

Ian Dougill is the Chair of the Leeds Transport Historic Society and Secretary of the at Crich, so he was able to present a detailed photographic survey of Leeds and buses.

In first half of the 19th century there was no public transport in Leeds apart from stage coaches, which were only for the better-off. Hotels provided stables; at the Royal Hotel in Briggate there were two levels of basement stables. Public transport developed later in the century. The first buses, privately operated, ran to Beeston and Hunslet. The first trams, horse-drawn, were also privately operated. Leeds Corporation took over services from 1894 and developed the city-wide tramway system which was electrified by 1900. Trolley buses were operated in some areas from 1911 but the services were not developed and they were withdrawn in 1928. This contrasted with other Yorkshire towns where trolley buses were successfully developed and operated until the 1960s.

Livery was an expression of civic pride – as Ian’s pictures showed. The original livery was yellow white and blue. During World War 2, with paint in short supply, trams became khaki. After the War, the tram livery was changed to blue then red, while buses were painted green.

Tram services across the city were developed in the first quarter of the 20th century. A service frequency of 3 minutes not unusual and special services were provided for football matches at . Specially decorated trams ran for major occasions such as Jubilees and Coronations. The network reached its peak in the 1930s. Then, two services, to Morley and , were replaced by buses as the tramway was too expensive to upgrade. Similarly, the planned extension of the line to was not implemented. The Hunslet tram depot was used as bus depot after the War and later sold to Waddingtons the printers. There was some air raid damage in March 1942, including at Swinegate Depot but the trams were repaired. After the War more trams were required to replace outdated stock. Leeds bought 40 cars from Hull and 40 from Southampton. The latter were of such poor quality that only 11 entered service. Seven trams were bought from Manchester without being trialed and their axle bearings seized after 6 months. Some were re-trucked with running gear made at Forge. Leeds also bought about 30 ex-London trams. They too had problems, such as air brakes, and a number were scrapped soon after entering service. Leeds also commissioned a number of new trams which were bodied by Charles Roe at Yeadon.

After the War there were further network cutbacks and, despite building a prototype tram of advanced design, in 1953 Leeds Corporation decided to scrap the trams. New housing estates such as Seacroft were already served by buses rather than trams, avoiding the expense of constructing the tramway. Routes were gradually closed and buses took over. The last tram, no 178, ran on 7 November 1959. But physical evidence does remain. Several Leeds trams are preserved at Crich. The Chapeltown tram depot is now Tech North and the Swinegate depot has been converted to a hotel. The LTHS maintains an extensive collection of photographs of Leeds buses and trams and is publishing a series of books on its transport history.

Ian’s audio visual presentation showed photographs that were as interesting for the Leeds street scenes - factories, shops, houses - as the trams and buses. Personally, however, I found the accompanying period popular music as background rather distracting after a while.

Robert Vickers

Lime Burning in the Gritstone Pennines – David Johnson 10 January 2009

David was well qualified to talk on this subject having extensively researched the use of lime in the central Pennines, the area mostly covered by the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The production of lime was widespread – a map showed the existence of 1,649 lime kilns in the area and David’s talk focussed on the southern area of the dales. The use of clamp kilns dates back to the 16th century, the limestone was not quarried but removed from deposits on the surface. The kiln was made of layers of limestone and fuel, covered with turf and allowed to burn. The question to be answered is the southern Pennines has no limestone bedrock but there is still evidence of lots of kilns. David had identified the earliest record of the use of a clamp kiln in 1304. He stressed the importance of lime due to its many uses in bleaching, dyeing, tanning, paper making as well as in agriculture and building. There was evidence that landowners were buying lime from the limestone areas and it having to travel long distances by packhorse or mule via packhorse routes with names such as Limers Gate. However, longer term, it was not sustainable to bring large quantities long distances so another source had to be found closer to where the lime was needed.

David described the various methods that were used to obtain the limestone; these had been identified from documentary sources. The first was hushing for limestone using a process similar to hushing for lead. A number of areas had been identified where this practice took place; the use of the term “scar” was one method of locating sites. Smithy Clough Scar between Colne and was a good example where water had been channelled to expose where limestone boulders in the glacial deposits had been identified. A second method was collecting limestone boulders from rivers; this took place in the between and Pool where sites of lime kilns had been identified adjacent to the river bank. The third method was the extraction of limestone boulders from boulder pits, this practice occurred on the moors between and where large pits could be dug into the clay and the limestone boulders extracted. With the coming of the Leeds & Canal and other canals in the 1800s, these practices largely ceased since lime could more easily be brought in via the canals.

David’s presentation was a good example of the use of documentary evidence and fieldwork to throw light on a less well known aspect of the production of lime. He has written extensively on the general subject of limestone and I can recommend his book “Limestone Industries of the Yorkshire Dales” published in 2002 by Tempus Publishing.

The Rise & Fall of the Railways of – Chris Henderson 7 February 2009

Chris Henderson is involved with Nidderdale Museum at and is reading a masters degree in railway history at University of York so was well- qualified to address the subject. He concentrated on the Nidderdale Branch of the North Eastern Railway (NER) and the Nidd Valley Light Railway.

In the 18th century transport in Nidderdale was basic; the river and later canal at and some rough and ready roads. The Turnpike Acts of 1756 and 1759 improved roads from Ripon and Wetherby but merchants sought further developments. In 1802 a plan was drawn up for a railway, canal and river connections to take coal to the linen mills of and transport the linen out. However, the economic downturn of the Napoleonic Wars prevented it. In 1818 a committee was formed at Knaresborough and Thomas Telford was asked to survey the route of a canal from the Ouse to Knaresborough. Telford reported in 1819 that a canal was more expensive than a railway and instead he proposed a double track line from near Bolton Percy to Knaresbourough and single track line to Pateley Bridge. He proposed the use of steam locomotives and passenger traffic, 5 years before the Stockton & Darlington. Nothing came of this either.

Further schemes were promoted in the 1840s such as the York and Lancaster Railway via Knaresborough and a Nidd Valley line to . The promoters were 4 local people including John Yorke of Yorke’s Folly. An alternative, unfulfilled, proposal by the & Yorkshire Railway and the NER was for a line via rather than Nidderdale. Railways reached Harrogate in 1848 with the opening of the line from . The Leeds & Railway (L&TR), via Ripon, opened in 1849.

The Metcalfe family, brewers in the 18th century, developed quarries and other interests in the next century. John Metcalfe pressed vigorously for a railway up Nidderdale to Pateley Bridge and he was a director of the L&TR’s Nidd Valley Branch. Powers to build it were given Act of Parliament in 1848 but the L&TR’s efforts concentrated on Leeds and the Nidd Valley Branch powers lapsed. In 1854 the NER was formed with the Metcalfes – John, his son George and later his son John junior – among the shareholders. In 1859 the NER board agreed that if the Metcalfes could raise half the funds they would raise the rest. Capital of £80,000 was raised by local shareholders, including Rev. Henry Ingilby of Ripley Castle, in 6 months and at last Nidderdale got its railway. It was built quite quickly as there were no major bridges or cuttings on the line. Navvies are highly likely to have been employed to construct the line but no evidence of shanty towns has been found. A study of the census returns suggests they lived in lodgings.

The railway opened on 1st May 1862. George Metcalfe, the majority shareholder, was carried shoulder high in Pateley Bridge and there were celebrations at the George Inn. The passenger service was 4 trains each way per day. Stations, designed by Thomas Prosser, were opened at Ripley Valley 1862, Hampsthwaite 1866, 1862, Darley 1864, Dacre Banks 1862 – later the busiest station on the line because of the timber and silica trade - and Pateley Bridge 1862. In the same year Metcalfe built Castlestead, a large house on the southern bank of the Nidd between Glasshouses and Pateley Bridge. A river bridge was required for carriage access; the lattice girder structure by Joyce’s of Newcastle collapsed twice before the third was successfully installed. Undaunted, Metcalfe paid for his mill hands from Glasshouses to take day trips to Scarborough on the railway.

George Metcalfe owned Scot Gate Ash Quarry at Pateley Bridge; stone from there was used on major buildings in London. To improve the transport of stone a rope-hauled incline from the Quarry to Pateley Bridge operated from 1872 to c1914. Pateley Bridge Station was extended in 1878 and a coal yard and sidings for coal and for Stockdale’s Mill were provided. Noel Stockdale was one of the founders of Asda in the mid-1960s. The Nidd Valley Light Railway (NVLR) was built to service the construction of Nidderdale’s reservoirs. During the 19th century Bradford’s population tripled and the Corporation had to develop its water supply. The Nidd Valley was ideal and 4 reservoirs were planned. The first, Haden Carr Dam and Aqueduct to Bradford was constructed by Morrison & Mason Ltd in the 1890s, for which a 3ft gauge contractor’s railway was built. , completed in 1901 by John Best & Sons, did not need a railway. Angram Reservoir 1903 – 1920, also built by John Best & Sons, did require a railway and a 3ft gauge line was planned, being converted to standard gauge in 1905. The NVLR was built from Pateley Bridge to Lofthouse and on to Scar House, which reservoir superseded Haden Carr, to Angram. The NVLR, owned by Bradford Corporation, was the first municipally owned light railway in Britain. A passenger service operated from Pateley Bridge to Lofthouse. From there the line was operated by the contractors. At Pateley Bridge the NVLR had its own station to the west side of the main road opposite the NER station with a line through a level crossing connecting the two lines.

Once the reservoirs were completed Bradford Corporation had no need for the NVLR and the last train ran at the end of 1936. Everything was auctioned off - the Scar Village and rolling stock, including locomotives by Hudswell Clarke and Manning Wardle. Meanwhile, the NER’s Nidderdale Branch continued. One steam locomotive operated from 1919 – 1951, sometimes supplemented by a LNER petrol electric railcar. In the 1930s holiday camping coaches were provided near the bottom of incline at Pateley Bridge.

After World War 2, competition from buses undercut the railway and passenger services were withdrawn. The last train ran on 31st March 1951. Goods services continued until 30th October 1964. Along the line remains of stations and bridges are still visible. At Pateley Bridge the station was converted to sheltered housing, the brick loading dock remains, and the sites of the turntable and engine shed wall are visible along the riverside path. The petrol electric railcar is to be restored at Embsay.

A well researched and illustrated lecture, which generated informed discussion and questions from the audience. As a regular visitor to Nidderdale, I for one learned much that will give greater historical context to future visits.

Robert Vickers

Lead Mining & Smelting in the Area – Brian Mason 14 March 2009

The speaker introduced himself as having been a coal miner, civil engineer and mineral valuer for Inland Revenue and admitted to not being an industrial archaeologist but having an interest in the production of minerals. He recommended the Grassington Moor Lead Mining Trail as a good introduction the area covered by his talk and also recommended publications and websites produced by the Earby Mines Group and Northern Mines Research Society. There are records of lead mining in the Grassington area from 1604 until 1880 when lead mining finished and the lecture focussed on the area around Yarnbury and the Cupola Smelt Mill. Brian described the local geology with the main minerals containing lead being galena and cerussite, however the proportion of lead that could be extracted was only about 5%, which resulted in a lot of waste material known as gangue. More recently the gangue minerals such as fluorspar and barytes were being extracted from the spoil. The industry was underfunded and output low compared to other forms of mining. The lead veins could run for several mines and shafts were sunk, these had flimsy wooden headgear and rope supports as were illustrated by several archive photographs. Once the ore had been extracted it was washed and broken into small pieces using crushers powered by waterwheels, the lead ore was then separated by a process called hotching. Once separated, the ore could be smelted and since lead smelts at a relatively low temperature it could be done using a simple hearth requiring little fuel.

After describing the basic processing methods, Brian illustrated the Grassington Moor Lead Mining Trail starting at Yarnbury where Yarnbury House was once the agent’s office, there was evidence of an inclined shaft, tramway and wash dam. Points on the trail included the Low Grinding Mill, a horse whim, the Beevor Engine Shaft, bouse teams where the ore was stored and sorted and a powder house. Probably the most recognisable features were the Cupola Smelt Mill although this is very decayed but the pit for the waterwheel which was used to power the bellows can still be seen. Behind the smelt mill is a 1.7km long flue leading to the chimney which had been restored by the Earby Mines Group. Nearby was the High Grinding Mill which operated from 1955 to 1965 to extract the gangue mineral. Brian also referred to the extensive water management system used to power the waterwheels, longstanding members may recall a lecture given some years ago which described in detail the water system on Grassington Moor.

A well illustrated and informed lecture and possibly a subject for a future excursion to follow the Trail for us. I can also recommend further reading “The Grassington Mines” by Mike Gill. British Mining, No 46, published in 1993 by the Northern Mine Research Society.

Discovering Industrial Leeds – Part 3 Walk led by Robert Vickers 4 April 2009

11 members met Robert at the Black Prince statue to continue our exploration of aspects of the industrial heritage of Leeds. We quickly made our way retracing our steps from earlier walks down Bishopsgate into Swinegate noting the North Eastern railway viaduct of 1869; Blayd’s Yard, the Golden Lion Hotel dating from 1879 built by Thomas Ambler for John Barran; the Malmaison Hotel previously the headquarters of Leeds City Tramways dating from 1915 and Prospect House the former offices of Charles Walker, Mill Furnishers this information prominently displayed on the side of the building. We crossed Leeds Bridge engineered by T.Dyne Steel and completed in 1873, Robert pointed out that W H Barlow of St Pancras Station trainshed fame was the consulting engineer. We noted the blue plaque commemorated Louis Le Prince and one of the first moving pictures filmed on the bridge, the Aire & Calder Navigation Offices, the ornate 1897 Adelphi pub with the adjacent commercial building with 22 carved stone heads and across the road Bridge House, Leeds’ version of a flat iron building. Moving into Waterloo Road adjacent to the Tetley’s Brewery site and closely observed by one of their security personnel, we saw the Salem Congregational Chapel and Sunday school now looking rather derelict. On Kidacre Street was the site of the terminus of the with associated coal staithes and then onto the Crown Point Retail Park, the shape being determined by the fact that it was built on the site of the Midland Railway Station and Goods Yard, closed in the 1980s. Further along Hunslet Road is the ornate Alf Cooke’s Crown Point Printing Works built in 1872 with clock tower and watertank tower. The firm, taken over by MY Cartons, closed in 2005.

The walk now took in the main sites of the Leeds locomotive industries, in the area around Leathley Road, Pearson Street, Grape Street and Jack Lane. On Pearson Street, we were shown the sites of John Fowler & Company’s Steam Plough & Locomotive Works founded in the early 1860s and closed in 1974, the entrance gate to the Todd Kitson & Laird’s Railway Foundry founded in 1835, and James Kitson’s Airedale Foundry established in 1842 and closed in 1938. The final assembly shop of the , now occupied by Merlin Gerin makers of electrical switchgear was viewed in Grape Street and in Jack lane was the site of Hudswell Clarke’s railway foundry founded in 1860 and closed in the mid 1960s. We noted the railway tracks across Jack Lane which would have linked the Midland Railway to both Hudswell Clarke and the Hunslet Engine Company, founded in 1864, and the Hunslet Engine Company’s office – the works closed in 1995. Also on Jack Lane were the gateposts of the Boyne Engine Works dated 1838, all that remained of Manning Wardle’s works which closed in 1926. Opposite, was the site of J&H Mclaren’s Midland Engine Works founded in 1876 and closed in 1959, the site marked by a blue plaque. After exploring these sites, Robert led us back to Hunslet Road where the last building viewed was the extensive site of the 1913 Braime Steel Pressing works. Robert had intended the walk to continue to the Royal Armouries via Carlisle Road but time had caught up with us as there had been so much to see and comment on, helped enormously by copies of old maps and photographs of the area. It certainly made me realise the extent of the manufacturing industry that took place in this relatively small area of Leeds. There are several photographs of the area we explored on the Leodis website, www.leodis.net, including an interesting set showing the exterior and interior of the Braime works. Many thanks to Robert for his research and leading of the walk and perhaps we can look forward to part 4 next year!

Information sources: 1. Kris Ward’s page. Exploring the industrial heritage of the Leeds area : Hunslet, the engine building neihbourhood http://uk.geocities.com/krisward42/hunslet.htm 2. Wrathmell, Susan. Leeds. Yale University Press, 2005. Pevsner architectural guides

Margaret Tylee

Letter to the Editor

Torrs Hydro New Mills You report in Newsletter 75 that a HEP scheme using two Archimedes screws is planned on a site at Linton Falls. Very recently, in August 2008, a similar working hydro electric power scheme was installed on the river Goyt in the Torrs Gorge in New Mills, Derbyshire. A reverse Archimedes screw 12 metres long, two and a half metres wide and weighing 10 tonnes arrived in the town on a low loader. Since there was no road access, in a spectacular operation it was winched over the 30 metre high Union Road Bridge into the Torrs Gorge. It has been installed on the site of a former cotton mill making use of the fall of about 20 feet over an adjacent weir which powers the inclined screw, the same weir which powered a water wheel 200 years earlier. It generates 75Kw of electricity (output distributed about 63Kw) and the output is used by a local supermarket and any surplus fed into the National Grid. A fish ladder has been provided.

An interesting aspect of the scheme by Water Power Enterprises which cost £300,000 is the way it was funded. There was a grant of £135,000 and a £61,000 loan, but the rest was raised through a share offer taken up by around 200, mainly local people. More information can be found on the website www.torrshydro.co.uk.

Derek Brumhead

Note from the editor: I recently visited the site since my village is interested in the viability of a similar scheme on our local fast flowing River Don. The site is spectacular in the Torrs Gorge and well worth a visit with its remains of industry all around and the Millennium walkway which takes you high above the river. The nearby New Mills Heritage Centre contains lots of useful information about the area. I am also aware that a similar scheme involving the installation of a 50KW Archimedean screw has been introduced near Bridge End Mill in Settle see www.greensettle.org.uk for details. Clearly this form of energy is becoming very popular.

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION OFFICERS 2009-2010 Chairman Vice- Lecture Membership Secretary Chairman Secretary & Newsletter Editor

Margaret Tylee Robert Vickers Jane Ellis Margaret Tylee