NEWSLETTER 104 AUTUMN 2018 (Website Edition – This Edition Is Incomplete As Some Items/Illustrations from the Original Newsletter Are Not Available Electronically)
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YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION NEWSLETTER 104 AUTUMN 2018 (website edition – this edition is incomplete as some items/illustrations from the original newsletter are not available electronically) EDITORIAL Welcome to the start of another season of lectures and events. I hope you have enjoyed the wonderful weather we have had over the summer (unless of course you don’t like the heat) and managed to visit some sites of interest. I didn’t have much opportunity during my holidays in Arran and Suffolk to see a lot of industrial history, although our hotel window on Oulton Broad looked out on Mutford Lock, the only lock on the Broads, where it was interesting to observe the bridge on the main road which had to lift every time a yacht or large motor boat passed through the lock. Needless to say it was quite disruptive for the traffic. At the beginning of September I attended the AIA Conference based in Nottingham, I will produce a report of the Conference for the next Newsletter and as usual there will be a report in IA News. Once again my thanks to Jane Ellis for organising another interesting and wide ranging series of lectures for our 2018/19 programme. Details are enclosed with this Newsletter and are available on the YAHS website on the Industrial History Section page. As we discussed at the AGM, an extra lecture has been added to the programme to give members more value for their subscription so don’t forget the lecture programme starts on 22 September. Also enclosed are the minutes of the 2018 AGM held on 28 April, if anyone who was at the meeting spots any corrections to the minutes please let me know – contact details as usual at the end of the Newsletter. It’s too late to remind members about the visit to the Calderdale Industrial Museum on 6 September I was unable to attend but I hope it went well. Recent YAHS excursions have generally not been well supported, so it would be interesting to find out If IHS members have suggestions for our visits or even better be prepared to help organise something, please let me or Jane know. With a bit more time to produce this latest newsletter, I have resumed summarising the content of the early Section Newsletters. In doing this I was struck by the number and quality of the articles produced by members for inclusion in the Newsletters. Many were referenced and some quite lengthy which have made for very interesting reading. So a request to members – if you are working on some personal research, why not write it up and send it to me, it doesn’t need to be fully complete and could include a request for more information. It would be good to share this with other members, make the Newsletter more interesting and save work for me in trying to fill the pages! Also a request for members to send me any local news relevant to members instead of just relying on me to find things – I’m sure there must be more going on across Yorkshire. The Yorkshire Industrial Heritage Online (YIHO) database continues to grow thanks to the work of a group of dedicated contributors led by John Suter and Robert Vickers. You can view it online via the YAHS website. It’s a pity that our nomination for the AIA’s Peter Neaverson Award for Digital Initiative and Innovation was not successful but I have been told that the judges were impressed and would welcome a re-application for the 2019 Award. The winner was a series of 3D images reconstructing the lead smelting sites of the Allen Smelt Mill and Allenheads Mine Yard in Northumberland. I am very pleased to report that the Section has eight new members who have joined since the last Newsletter, the highest number for some time. Welcome to Ms Sophie Adamson, Mr David Cockcroft, Mr Stephen Harker, Mrs Freda Matthews, Mr Graham Rawson, Mr Peter Richardson, Ms Karen Sayers and Dr Shelagh Waddington. I hope you will be able to join us for the lectures in the coming season. I shall be producing the next Newsletter in early February 2019, please let me have any contributions by the end of January. I hope to see many of you at the forthcoming lectures. Margaret Tylee YAHS NEWS The YAHS AGM was held on 30 June 2018 with about 25 YAHS members present. The Treasurer gave an extensive report on the Society’s finances commenting that although 2017 showed a deficit on running costs this did include five months of dual running for accommodation which will not be repeated now that the Society is fully established at Stringer House. He continues to work on sorting out bank accounts and the Section at last has its own account. Although formally the Annual Report covers 2017, the meeting was updated on the successful launch of the new website which incorporates the YIHO database. A Grants fund of £5k has been established and application forms are available via the website. A decision was made to abolish the YAHS Council which over the years since the Management Board had been established had increasingly lost its purpose even as an advisory body to the Board. Some changes were made to the Society’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, including the removal of references to the Council and the need for new members to be proposed by existing members and provide information about themselves to justify their admission as a member. This is something that many of us have suggesting for many years to make the Society seem less stuffy so it has been achieved at last. Management Board have agreed to discuss with Special Collections at the Brotherton Library the idea of establishing a YAHS Research Fellowship. This would enable funds to be available for short term placements to work with the Society’s Collections with a view to promoting them and/or developing proposals for grant applications e.g. digitisation. Ideas such as this are examples of ways in which funding can be made available to fulfil our charitable aims, instead of having to spend resources on maintaining our own building. Following the launch of the new YAHS website in February, the group working with the external provider Purple Creative Solutions is continuing to meet to review the site and deal with some outstanding issues, the major one being establishing the process by which would be members can join and existing members renew their subscriptions online linked to the YAHS membership records and automatically update those records. This has proved to be more difficult than was initially thought, partly due to problems with the format of the existing membership records linking with the sales function provided with the new website but hopefully now well on the way to being resolved. If anyone does spot any problems when using any areas of the site please either myself or Robert Vickers know. OTHER NEWS ITEMS An archaeological dig funded by the National Lottery has discovered a previously unknown part of the Milton Ironworks at Elsecar. The remains of a calcining kiln used to roast the iron ore prior to smelting was found by a team of community volunteers supervised by a professional team of archaeologists who were aware that there had been a series of kilns in the Ironworks but were not sure where. Geophysics carried out by Historic England in 2017 had identified an anomaly at the site, which proved to be the kiln. The Milton Ironworks were originally established by the Walker Company and named in honour of Lord Milton, the son and heir of the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. It was developed from 1798 and by 1840 a tramroad was established to link the site to the Elsecar Branch of the Dearne & Dove Canal. After a series of owners it was run by William and Henry Dawes from 1849, it was a major source of iron for bridges and other large structures but a down turn in the market led to its closure in 1884. An article on page 247 of The Engineer on 25 September 1885 gives a good description of the closure and dismantling of the Works. The site was used as a tip and subsequently grassed over to become a playing field where the dig took place. Another find was an unusual stamped brick from a brickworks close to the Milton Ironworks. Still on bricks – the Barnsley Brick Project, an exhibition currently on show at Experience Barnsley Museum in Barnsley Town Hall explores the history of the brickmaking industry in the Barnsley area. There were more than 20 brickworks in Barnsley with many local villages having their own brickworks. Local artist Patrick Murphy became interested in bricks after finding named bricks in his father’s garden and put out a request for local people to send in bricks and was surprised at the good response, some of which will be on display. He has identified the locations on maps from the 1800s which are also on display. I have visited it and although small it is well worth a visit and also includes a video showing how bricks are currently made at the Carlton Brickworks in Barnsley. The exhibition runs from 28 July until 14 October. More information from www.experience-barnsley.com A recent survey by Leeds Council of buildings at risk identified 120 listed buildings in the city in danger of falling into disrepair, an increase of 23 grade I and II listed buildings. These include Temple Mill, Tower Works Engine House, the First White Cloth Hall and parts of the former Kirkstall Forge Ironworks including the buildings with the helve hammers and slitting mill machinery.