YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION

NEWSLETTER 107 AUTUMN 2019

EDITORIAL Another summer is over and another lecture season starts, thanks to Jane Ellis who has once again arranged another interesting programme. I know from experience how difficult arranging a lecture programme can be and Jane does an amazing job. Details of the programme were given at the Section AGM and listed in the last newsletter but the full programme is enclosed/attached (depending on how you are receiving the Newsletter). I must apologise for a mistake I made in the last Newsletter when I mistyped the date for the November lecture, the talk by Keith Noble on the Calder & Hebble Navigation will be on 16 November not 26 November, which is a Tuesday. We have also experienced a problem with the arrangements for the December lecture; unfortunately Swarthmore will be closed from Friday 20 December until after Christmas, which means the date of Saturday 21 December is not available. Also John Meredith’s health is not good and he is unable to give his talk. Instead the lecture will be held at the Quaker Meeting House, 188 Woodhouse Lane, LS2 9DX and will be given by Stewart Liles on Discovering some of the less well-known local locomotive builders. Please note that parking near the venue is limited but there are buses. Also very importantly we do need a couple of volunteers to offer to write up the lectures for the Newsletter, both as record of our activities and for the benefit of those members unable to attend. If you can help please let me know as soon as you can; Gill Eastabrook and I will be doing some.

Also enclosed/attached are the minutes of the Section AGM held on 13 April. If any member present at the AGM has any corrections to the minutes please let me know as soon as you can – while you can still remember. You will recall that it was agreed at the AGM that in future copies of the Newsletter would primarily be sent electronically to members, starting with Newsletter 106. This enables the Section to save on significant postage and copying costs and allows for quicker distribution. I can report that out of 103 copies sent only 15 were posted as paper copies. You may also recall that the Section’s financial position was unclear, partly due to lack of information on costs for producing the Newsletter as a result of the sudden death of Robert Vickers. At a recent Management Board I received a copy of the amounts held in banks and investments for the Society and its sections. These showed that at the end of 2018 the Section had £560 in the Yorkshire Bank and by the end of June 2019 this had grown to £941.09, presumably as a result of the 2019 subscriptions being paid.

I was unable to attend this year’s AIA Conference which was examining the IA of Somerset. Previously the tour notes from the conferences have been posted on the AIA website, so I and others will find out the details about what we have missed. The 2020 conference will be held in Liverpool based at Liverpool Hope University 20-27 August; topics will include the St Helens glass industry, chemicals and soap manufacture and Merseyside transport. It promises to be an interesting event and quite close to home. Full details and booking will be available early next year. Even closer to home, I understand there are plans to hold the 2021 conference in York exploring the IA of North Yorkshire.

I am sorry to have to report the death of long standing member Mary Steeds in April and condolences to husband Robert who is still a member and continues to attend lectures when he can. On a happier note I am pleased to welcome new members Cheryl Guest, Chris Mould and Ron Hill. I hope you will be able to attend our lecture programme.

I shall be producing the next Newsletter in January 2020 and look forward to receiving your news and reports by 10 January 2020 and importantly any offers of help.

Margaret Tylee

1

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

YAHS NEWS

The 2019 AGM of the YAHS was held on 13 July, somewhat later than hoped for. This was due to a delay in examining/approving the accounts; although the accounts were prepared early in the year, it took longer for the Society’s new Independent Examiners, the Community Accounting Service to work through them. They did do a very thorough job and the AGM approved their continuing service for the current financial year. They provide a cheaper service and have the advantage of being based at Stringer House.

At the AGM the new President David Asquith replaced Gill Cookson who had decided to stand down but still remains a member of the Management Board. David Buck, the Hon Secretary had already indicated that he wished to stand down but will be continuing until a successor can be found. Regrettably just before the AGM the YAHS Treasurer Frank Jordan resigned. This has left the Society with vacancies for a Treasurer in addition to a Membership Secretary and Excursions Secretary. The President made a plea for members to step forward to help in any way they could to keep the Society going, without enough Officers it will become very difficult.

The good news is that the advert for someone to provide Administration Support for the Society produced 10 applications and interviews on 22 July resulted in the appointment of Cathy Hawkes. She will be working 6 hours a week and it is hoped that this will reduce the workloads experienced by the Officers.

The Management Board has agreed to pay University for the cost of a cataloguer to catalogue the YAHS books held at the University to enable them to be made fully available for members and others using the collection. It had become apparent that many of our books had not been catalogued to the University standard or at all due to a lack of resources.

The Survey of YAHS members referred to in the last Newsletter has now been finalised and distributed. It has been sent both electronically and in paper copy with the Programme of Events. However analysis of the survey will be easier if members could complete it electronically. If you have not received a copy please contact the Secretary David Buck ([email protected]).

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY ONLINE (IHO)

The IHO steering group met on 10 July where we were joined by two members of the Leicestershire Industrial Archaeology Society who were very interested in what we were doing with IHO. Further discussions were planned for the future.

Data entry continues to make good progress and as of mid August, the website contained 8028 records and 2842 images, including images of around 200 sites within the London area. Work is also on-going to make the site more accessible to members of the public and easier to use by members. The number of counties covered by the site has increased and records can now be added for the following counties in addition to the four Yorkshire counties and Greater London: Northumbria, Tyne and Wear, Durham, Cumberland, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland and Lincolnshire.

The IHO group would be pleased to hear from any members interested in adding site records or images to the website, by emailing John Suter and if you would like to view the records that have been added so far go to https:www.industrialhistoryonline.co.uk/yiho.

OTHER NEWS

The AIA 2019 Peter Neaverson Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Industrial Archaeology has been awarded to John Barnett for his book The Archaeology of Underground Mines and Quarries in published by English Heritage. It examines all forms of mineral extraction from the Neolithic period to the present day with over a 100 colour photographs and line drawings. The author was unable to collect his award at this year’s AIA Conference but has organised a lecture on 15 October at the Peak District Mining Museum where the award

2

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

will be presented (see below for details). The book is available from Historic England and other bookshops priced £20. If you are an AIA member you can receive a 20% discount by going direct to Historic England quoting the code AUMQ19.

I was sad to read the news that Dr Jake Almond, who was a member of the Section and Society for many years had died at the age of 90 at the end of last year. Dr Almond was a leading figure in the Cleveland Industrial Archaeology Society and the Historical Metallurgy Society. He was a specialist in the study of metalliferous slags, zinc smelting and copper extraction from pyritic ores. The good news is that his large collection of books, papers and manuscript notes will be conserved and form the basis of his archive at the Materials Processing Institute in Middlesborough where they will be available to researchers.

Member Neil Davies has sent me a copy of the obituary of Richard Mills who died on 10 May. Richard was the Director of the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry from 1968 to 1983. He had been a founder member of the Manchester Region Industrial Archaeology Society (MRIAS) and a Research Assistant at the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology gaining his PhD with UMIST on Studies in the History of Textile Technology. After leaving the Museum he became a priest, and in 2014 he was awarded a Medal of Honour by Manchester University for his work in recording the industrial past of Manchester and the North West Region. His last book, his autobiography, was published in 2018. So in the space of a year, the North of England has lost two of its major researchers into industrial history.

In March the AIA objected to a planning application to demolish a grade 2 listed gate house, the only surviving remnant of ’s Bowling Mills complex. The Mills were a complex of steam powered mills developed from the mid-1860s by Sir Henry Ripley. They were let on a room and power basis and tenants included worsted spinners, mohair spinners and woolcombers. The stone gate house building retained many features including the clock tower. The planned reuse was for a car park. Luckily Bradford Council agreed with the objection and consent to demolish was refused.

In 2016 Lancashire County Council closed both Queen Street Mill in Burnley and the Helmshore Mills Textile Museum due to financial cuts. As a result of on-going protests against this decision, bearing in mind that the Grade 1 listed Queen Street Mill was the last surviving 19th century steam powered textile mill in the world, both were reopened on a limited basis. Both Mills continue to be open to the public from April until the end of October and the County Council is working with the National Trust to explore options for permanent opening. See Lancashire county Council website www.lancashire.gov.uk for more details.

Unfortunately here in Yorkshire, the Yorkshire Waterways Museum in Goole closed in May. Founded in 1980 the Museum, together with the Sobriety Project, was an independent charity and the Section had a talk about it some years ago. Essentially the organisation ran out of money and the Trustees felt the only option was to close, resulting in the loss of 15 jobs. Discussions are on-going regarding the future of the Museum’s collections. More information on the Museums Association website www.museumsassociation.org.

Still on the subject of museums, better news from the National Coal Mining Museum for England which has been awarded nearly £82,000 from AIM (Association of Independent Museums) Biffa History Makers Project. The money will be used to create an Illumination Gallery to celebrate the life and work of Sir Humphrey Davy (1778-1829) the inventor of the miners’ safety lamp. Quoting from the project “The Gallery will illuminate those history makers who shaped the development of underground lighting and ignite learning using the Museum’s collections to tell the story”. I make no comment about this description!

At the Industrial Museum, repairs are taking place to replace the paddles on the waterwheel with new elm which will enable it to be run again. The top floor of the Museum is being developed into a display of the domestic manufacture of textile products, and a rare example of an original wooden tenter frame will be erected. The Bradford Industrial Museum has agreed to loan ex-Calderdale worsted textile machines from their store to be displayed at the Calderdale Museum. The good news is that the numbers visiting are increasing and the Museum is looking for more volunteers to help run it, if you want to find out more please contact [email protected].

Historic England is funding an Industrial Heritage Support Officer project with a key objective to develop regional support networks across the country. These would bring together all industrial heritage sites and

3

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

organisations across the country to support each other and work together. Membership is free and meetings are held twice a year, communicating throughout the year via an online platform. More detail can be found on the Industrial Heritage Network website industrialheritagenetworks.com. Most of England is now covered by an Industrial Heritage network, apart from Yorkshire and the East of England. The inaugural meeting for a Yorkshire network is planned for the Leeds Industrial Museum, no date has been given yet.

The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum which stands on the site of the first ironstone mine in Cleveland at Skinningrove near Saltburn is undergoing a £1.7 million redevelopment programme. The Museum has been closed during 2019 while the work is being carried out. It will result in a major expansion of the Museum creating additional exhibition space and space for displays and live events. There will also be improved access for the public to archives and other collections and space for a model of the zig zag railway which used to transport goods up the valley side. The expanded Museum is due to reopen sometime in 2020.

The 2019 Heritage Open Days are taking place between 13-22 September. England’s largest celebration of history and culture with over 5,000 events across the country all enjoyed free, but some need pre-booking. For the full list with details, see website www.heritageopendays.org.uk. Examples include an Aire & Calder Heritage Walk from Leeds city centre to , 17 September 10.30 and 22 September 13.30 (need to pre book); Classic Juke Box Factory visit, Sandleas Way, Leeds 20 September 9.30-11.30 (need to pre book – I didn’t know there was a factory in Leeds making juke boxes!); St Aidan’s Walking Drag Line, St Aidan’s Open Cast Coal Site, Swillington 14/15 September 1-4pm, no booking required.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

11 September Trouble at t’Mill: a family firm from 1872 to the present day – Michael & Kath Airey. Calderdale Industrial Museum talk held at the Museum, Square Road, Halifax HX1 1QG. 7.30pm. CIMA members free, non-members £3. Contact: [email protected]

27 September Excavating the Steam Engine. 39th CBA NW IA Conference. Bolton Museum, Le Mans Crescent, Bolton, BL1 1SE. Morning lectures and a visit to the Bolton Steam Museum in the afternoon. 9.30am-4.30pm. Cost £14 for CBA NW & AIA members and £16 for non- members includes tea/coffee but not lunch. Details and booking from Eventbrite www.eventbrite.co.uk.

5 October Waterways in Literature – Jodie Matthews. Railway & Canal Historical Society NE Branch (RCHS) talk. York Railway Institute, Queen Street, York 2pm. Contact: Brian Freeborn

15 October The Archaeology of Underground Mines and Quarries in England – John Barnett. A talk based on John Barnett’s recent book. Peak District Lead Mining Museum, Matlock Bath. 7.30pm. Tickets £6 (£5 for AIA and PDMHS members) includes tea and cake. For more information and purchasing tickets in advance contact the Peak District Mining Museum tel. 01629 583834.

18 October Revelling in Rivelin: a brief history of the Rivelin Valley, its watermills and the conservation group – Graham Appleby. & District Archaeological Society talk. Central Methodist church, Newgate, Pontefract WF8 1NB. 7.15pm. Non-members £3.

19 October Cloth, Cars and Cheese - contributions to the growth of Bradford. Bradford Historical & Antiquarian Society Day School. Bradford Club, Piece Hall Yard, Bradford, BD1 1PJ. Cost £25 includes buffet lunch. 23 October Recycling Historic Buildings – Alasdair Beal. South Leeds Archaeology talk including and a Victorian aqueduct. 7.30pm. Rothwell Community Hub, Marsh Street, Rothwell LS26 0AE. £2 members, £4 non-members. Contact Mike Turpin email: [email protected].

4

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

28 October Pioneers of Armour Plate: the Manufacture of Iron Armour – David Boursnell. Newcomen Society South Yorkshire lecture. Kelham Island Museum, Alma Street Sheffield S3 8RY. 6.30pm. Free. Details from John Suter at [email protected]

2 November The Restoration of Bolton Abbey Station and the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway – Stephen Walker. RCHS talk. Details as for 5 October.

5 November Precision: Bramah and Maudsley to Advanced Manufacture. Symposium organised by the South Yorkshire branch of the Newcomen Society, Kelham Island Industrial Museum and the Ken Hawley Collection Trust. 10am-4pm. Kelham Island Industrial Museum, Sheffield. Cost £25 includes lunch, tea/coffee and entrance to the Bramah Exhibition. Tickets must be pre-booked via Eventbrite and booking closes 14 October. Details from [email protected]

18 November The Oaks Colliery Disaster – Paul Darlo. Ingleborough Archaeology Group talk. Ingleton Community Centre. 7.30pm. Contact Carol Howard email: [email protected]

25 November It’s not just about the Robot!: the Development of Automated Welding – Bob Bowden. Newcomen Society South Yorkshire lecture. Details as for 28 October

30 November South Yorkshire Archaeology Day. Showroom Cinema, Sheffield. 10am-4pm. £18 waged, £10 unwaged. Details and booking at www.sheffield.gov.uk/archaeologyday. Tel 0114 2736354.

2 December Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a personal view – Patrick Argent. Scarborough Archaeological & Historical Society talk. Concert Room, Central Library, Vernon Road, Scarborough. Small fee for non-members. 7.30pm. Contact Keith Johnston email: [email protected]

4 January 2020 Inland Waterways, an underutilised resource – David Lowe. RCHS talk. Details as for 5 October.

11 January 2020 The Story of Titus Salt & – Stuart Hartley. YAHS Family History Section talk. 11am. Swarthmore Education Centre, Leeds.

REPORTS FROM EVENTS ETC

Discovering the Sheffield Canal - South Yorkshire Industrial History Society (SYIHS) Walk 25 May 2019

On a fine day, over 20 SYIHS members and the public met our leader Graham Hague at the Sheffield Canal Basin, just off Park Square in the centre of Sheffield. The walk was part of the SYIHS contribution to the annual Sheffield Environment Weeks programme where it had been advertised resulting in the good turnout. Together with a talk on the history of the Sheffield Canal given on 20 May by Graham, this was in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Sheffield Canal.

Graham gave a brief history of the Sheffield Canal before pointing out the important buildings remaining around the Canal Basin. The River Don was navigable to Doncaster and navigation was improved by the River Don Navigation Company to Aldwarke in 1733, Rotherham in 1740 and Tinsley in 1751. A road linked it to Sheffield, four miles from Tinsley until the Sheffield Canal was opened in 1819. Although the Cutlers’ Company initially were not enthusiastic about the idea of a canal, when they saw the advantages gained by other canals such as the Aire & Calder, this taken together with a coal shortage in 1792 and the need for increased arms

5

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

production during the Napoleonic Wars led them to change their view. Their first efforts to introduce a bill allowing the navigation to proceed were thwarted by the Duke of Norfolk who feared that the water supply to his enterprises in the lower Don valley would be badly affected as well as his coal interests but eventually compromises were reached and the canal completed. This provided a direct link from the coast to the centre of the town making it easier to transport all manner of goods including coal and Swedish iron. The coming of the railways in 1838 affected trade but the canal kept going, being taken over by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway Co. (MS&LR) and then the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Company. Trade revived during the two World Wars but declined through the 1950s and 1960s and the last cargo was transported in 1970. Regeneration took place at the end of the 20th century and has continued, the towpath now providing a pleasant walk to the locks at Tinsley. The canal was made famous by featuring in the opening scene of the film The Full Monty in 1997 and it has been much tidied up since then,

There was plenty to see at the canal basin (now known as Victoria Quays). We looked at a group of restored coal merchants’ offices, a grade II listed curving terrace of stone buildings associated with the site of the coal yard for the MS&LR before moving to the canal basin itself. The earliest building is the Terminal Warehouse of 1819 (grade II* listed) brick built, four storeys high with an arch enabling boats to unload their goods undercover. At right angles is the grade II listed Grain Warehouse built in the 1880s with a canopy and a bucket elevator. The Straddle Warehouse built in 1895 also grade II listed, has a more modern construction with a steel frame, concrete infill supported on brick arches allowing five barges to unload undercover at one time. (see image). Nearby was the original dry dock which had been dug out and restored. Also restored was the towpath enabling an easy walk to the Sheaf Quay and the Sheaf Works and beyond. The Sheaf Works were built between 1822 and 1826 for Thomas Greaves who manufactured steel, cutlery and edge tools and is regarded as Sheffield’s first self-contained factory and had the largest collection of cementation furnaces in Sheffield. It was later taken over in 1839 by Thomas Turton who also made springs. The main office block is all that remains of the site. Walking north east the walk took us under a number of road and rail bridges; of note was Cadman Street Bridge, one of the canal’s original bridges dating from 1819, it is grade II listed with an interesting skew brick arch construction. Next to view was Thomas Firth & Sons Bar Iron Warehouse which could hold several thousand tons of bar iron. Many more bars of lesser quality could be stored in the open. In 1913 200,000 tons of Swedish iron was brought to Sheffield from Hull by the canal. The site is now occupied by Bedford Steels who manufacture hollow drill steel and was one of Sheffield’s last hand rolling mills. We noted four sluices on the left bank of the canal which allowed overflow water to the River Don, although it looked as if it was some time since they were last used. Bacon Lane Bridge was next, another original 1819 canal bridge and also grade II listed. We took our leave of the party at the next bridge carrying Staniforth Road over the canal, formerly known as Pinfold Lane when it had a pinfold or enclosure for stray animals near the canal, since we needed to get home in good time via the tram. In doing so we missed the Atterercliffe Cutting dug out during the canal’s construction between 1815-19 by unemployed cutlers at the end of the Napoleonic Wars when it was cheaper to employ them rather than digging a tunnel, and the Darnall aqueduct, a three arch stone aqueduct carrying the canal over the Worksop Road, another grade II listed structure. The walk was due to end at the Tinsley Locks which were originally a flight of twelve locks taking the canal down to the River Don, the first flight consisted of eight locks which were later reduced to seven when a rail link was added in the 1950s and a new deep lock replaced two old ones. As part of the overall regeneration of the canal, several lock gates were replaced in 2016 and the flight remains in a good condition. At some point I’ll complete the rest of the walk and see them for myself.

Margaret Tylee

6

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

Field Visit to Hebden Lead Mines 9 July 2019

Whilst giving us his lecture “Men of Lead” in February, David Joy asked if the section would like to visit the area covered in his recently-published book on the subject. This was indeed an opportunity too good to miss; David is the author of many books on Yorkshire, its past industries and transport, and for several years he was editor of the “Dalesman” magazine, hence his knowledge is second to none. The locality we chose to focus on was Hebden, the small Wharfedale village near Grassington. Accordingly on July 9th, 12 of us gathered at The Old School Cafe in the village for lunch prior to setting off, and the scenery in the secluded valley of the Hebden Beck more than compensated for the drizzle at the start of our walk.

As a result of the Lordship of Hebden being sold to the freeholders of the manor in the early 17th century, local residents had the distinct advantage of owning their mineral rights, unlike at neighbouring Grassington where the Duke of Devonshire held the rights. An outfall draining his Grassington mines is still visible on the west side of the valley; this is the Duke’s drainage level, begun in 1796 and envisaged by its original engineer as a 1.75 mile subterranean boat level, but it soon became apparent that this was too ambitious and quite unrealistic, so it was built to the normal (smaller) drainage dimensions of the period. It was deeper than the Hebden Gill examples at 500ft below ground level and it was in use for longer as the Grassington mines carried on in production for several years beyond those at Hebden.

Passing David’s own house, we heard how miners had lived here, in very cramped accommodation. They did however enjoy making music, and true to their tradition, the Hebden miners enjoyed singing to such an extent that they installed a piano at the mine entrance – the hills must have been “alive with sound of music”! The

Hebden Gill Mining Company was only in profitable production for 7 years, with mining operations here from 1856 to 1863, though we saw evidence on the hillside of the hushing method of extracting ore which dates back to the 16th century, if not earlier. Even so, there was certainly plenty of stonework left for us to see, with the smelt mill site, the “bowse teem” where ore was stored awaiting processing and the buddle, a circular stone arrangement which by means of water running through it separated out the heavier lead ore from the waste. Also there were the remains of pits in which had been the waterwheels used to pump out the mines, and higher up, the leat which supplied them, in fact our leader David could remember the supports for one leat which crossed the valley. There was evidence in the valley that the water from the Duke’s level was used to supply Grassington Sanatorium (1919-1984) – this needed considerable purification though, to avoid the risk of lead poisoning. The remains of the dressing and weighing area were plain to see, with its own waterwheel pit, and a ruinous house on the hillside above it in which lived The Attendant to Wheels and Pumps. Before production came to an end, the waterwheel system was replaced by a steam engine, thought to be powered by the coal from a nearby pit, as well as by peat. Also here was the depression in the ground which had been the reservoir, now dry (see image above right); this was additional to the water which was fed from the distant Grassington Moor system by arrangement with the Devonshire estate, thus ensuring an adequate and independent supply.

Lead miners were not expected to live much beyond their forties, and smelt mill workers about ten years less than that thanks to the toxic fumes they were breathing in. Their children were put to work from a young age, even young girls who would work in the lead mill from the age of ten, hence they had little chance of avoiding illiteracy. As for transportation of the product, we heard how pigs of lead were moved by horse and cart to Gargrave, to be loaded onto boats on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

7

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

At the limit of our walk we had a challenging scramble up a side valley but this was well worth the effort, as we came to the gated entrance of the now capped Bolton Gill pumping shaft of 1856 (see image above left), sunk to a depth of 250ft.

Returning to the village, there was the opportunity for those who had missed David’s February lecture and book-signing to buy a copy of his book, and at that point section chairman Bill Jagger thanked David on everyone’s behalf for a most illuminating and fact-filled commentary, which interpreted the landscape so well and put flesh on the bones of his talk, bringing to life the industrious past of this remote valley.

Jane Ellis

Opening of the new Power Gallery at Armley Mills 25 July 2019

I was invited in my role as Vice President of the Newcomen Society to the preview opening of the new Power Gallery at the Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills. The new gallery is situated on the ground floor and replaces the previous power gallery which was badly damaged by the 17 December flood. The gallery and its exhibits have been fully restored and repainted and the steam engines were in operation. The Museum also has a new entrance area and the Council are funding other improvements. About 30 people attended including the new keeper Andrew Lister who had been in place for about three months having had previous experience with the National Trust at Cragside, , Gumby Hall and Monksthorpe Chapel.

The Museum still does not have funds to re-open the Locomotives Gallery which was also damaged in the flood. All the locos have been restored but nothing can be steamed and large amounts of money will be needed to restore the damage to the buildings and won’t be forthcoming until the next phase of the flood protection scheme has been completed. It is hoped that funding will be found to clear and bring back into use the area that had been the Mining exhibitions and the area where old machinery had been stored. They have managed to repaint two cranes.

There should be an opportunity to view the refurbishment progress when we meet at the Museum on 22 February for the Memorial Event for Robert Vickers. If you can’t wait until then, the Museum is open Tuesday- Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 1-5pm, closed on Monday. Admission: £4 adult, £2 child, £3.20 concession.

John Suter

The Brian Slater Brick Collection and its Relocation to Hampshire

A number of members will have known Brian (DB) Slater of York, who sadly died on Boxing Day in 2015. In addition to his extensive collection of railwayana, he also had collected over 370 bricks whilst out on railway, canal and other walks. Due to the weight of these, he managed to persuade members of the Railway Ramblers or the (York-based) Acorns Rambling Club to carry them back for him in their rucksacks. He also hid some bricks under hedges etc. and returned later by car to collect them.

After Brian died I offered to help his widow, Jay, with disposal/removal of some of his collections, which covered books, railwayana and bricks, plus a full size North Eastern railway signal. The removal of the signal was very time consuming and deserves a separate article. I should add that I know nothing about bricks and was simply trying to ensure that Brian’s collection was preserved and displayed. The collection is quite varied, as Brian travelled widely, and is not confined to the north of England. I have included a few examples. More recently, I visited an exhibition about Barnsley bricks and recognised several of the brickworks’ names from bricks in Brian’s collection. I contacted several museums to see if they would be interested in taking the collection, but most would only consider bricks from their regions. Then, on a suggestion from a friend who hails from Hampshire, I contacted the National Brickworks Museum at Bursledon, Hants https://bursledonbrickworks.org.uk/ Our Programme Secretary, Jane Ellis, kindly photographed the whole collection, which enabled me to give the museum an indication of the brickworks from which they originated. The museum agreed to take the complete collection and to pay for transport from York.

8

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

Most of the bricks were in a pit at the end of Brian’s long garden. The first problem was to move them up the garden to his driveway, where they could be collected more easily. A friend helped me to barrow them up the garden and put them onto some pallets, covering them with pallet wrap. (see below).

The transport side sounded pretty straightforward, but turned out not to be, as one carrier’s price was far too high and the carrier we eventually used (who was based in Oxford) proved difficult to pin down on dates. His partner then had a serious foot accident and everything was delayed! A further complication was that he was asked to pick up another collection from the Doncaster area en route. Further problems occurred in matching the dates the museum could receive the bricks with the carrier’s availability and the dates and times he could access the Doncaster collection. The job was eventually completed, but required two journeys as there were weight limit issues.

Brian’s collection (known as ‘The York Collection’) is now safely stored and fully catalogued at Bursledon, with excellent help from the museum’s archivist and her colleagues. I was most grateful for advice from Derek Barker, an experienced brick enthusiast from Bradford, in identifying the origin of most of the bricks. The collection is housed in the museum’s storage area because of space limitation, but can still be viewed on application until it is moved to the public area.

Here are some examples from the collection. These are all machine-pressed bricks with frogs which date from late 19th or early 20th century (all photos copyright Bursledon Brickworks).

Graham Collett

Ackton Hall NCB – Ackton Hall Colliery, Featherstone, Armitage (coping brick) – Thos Armitage, W Yorks Stanley-cum-Wrenthorpe,

9

YAHS IHS Newsletter 107

Cinder Hills Fireclay - Joseph Marton, Cinder Hills, S & KC Buccleuch – Sanquhar and Kirkconnel Siddal, Halifax Collieries, Sanquhar, Scotland

Fenay Bridge – Elliotts Bricks, Kirkheaton, Yorkshire Brick Co Ltd, Castleford, W York

ROBERT VICKERS MEMORIAL EVENT Leeds Industrial Museum Saturday 22 February 2020 1pm – 4pm

An opportunity to get together and remember our friend and colleague Robert with two lectures on subjects covering Robert’s interests. Steve Myers on the Simplex Car and David Perrett on Henry Ford’s 1928 Holiday: collecting British Steam Engines. Further details including booking arrangements will be available nearer the time.

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION OFFICERS 2019/20

Chair Bill Jagger Vice Chair John Suter Treasurer Nick Nelson Membership Secretary Nick Nelson Lecture Secretary Jane Ellis Newsletter Editor Margaret Tylee

10