Littleborough from Cleggswood Hill
INDUSTRY
A number of Littleborough's industrial sites have been used by completely different industries over the years so they do not really correspond to the more simple headings of Textiles, Engineering or Chemicals etc. The main sites are listed below:
BRIEF HISTORY OF STUBLEY MILL
The mill and small hamlet of Stubley Mill Fold was situated at the bottom of Stubley Lane and Stubley Mill Road, next to the River Roch as shown in the picture. The Rochdale Observer for 13th September 1950 included details of the hamlet in the late 18th Century. In 1775 Stubley Mill Fold included a Fulling Mill, Corn Mill, house where the miller lived together with stables and other out buildings. The owner undertook repairs with the miller paying for moss, mortar and glass, all lays and taxes etc. The Mill included a water wheel, fulling stamps and tenters. The miller apparently ordered supplies from Yorkshire via the Blackstone Edge Turnpike Road. Whilst Corn Milling ceased, information sources confirm fulling continued through most of the 19th Century with William Law, the Fulling mill from 1845 and remained in charge until around 1873. He was also Fulling Miller at Dearnley Mill and New Mill. After William Law left another family took over but Fulling ceased about 1890.
Subsequently, Stubley Mill turned to the manufacture of Glue when Robert Hardy and his family took over - see picture below. In 1904 the Manchester Courier carried an advert “For Disposal – the Business of GLUE, SIZE, GREASE, etc MANUFACTURERS carried on at Stubley mills, Littleborough”. The Hardy's continued making glue for many year but the mill. now known as Hardy's Glue works until it ceased operations in 1965. Following a fire, the mill was demolished in 1981.
Both Hardy's Glue works and Akzo Chemie and its previous owners were known for the production of obnoxious smells which often covered Liottleborough. with their demise the atmosphere is much sweeter!
NEW MILL, TYNE MILL & PYTHON MILL & TO-DATE
This location in Featherstall, Littleborough sits alongside the main road from Rochdale, part of the Blackstone Edge Turnpike dating from 1734. The earliest mention of New Mill in Littleborough was in 1786 but no more details about who used it is not clear. It is known that Joseph Scofield of Heybrook and Buckley Mills (both in Rochdale) occupied New Mill for Fulling and Cloth Finishing between 1820 and 1907 when the company was recorded as in dispute about polluting the nearby River Roch. It may well be that cleaning up the old mill was too difficult but they moved any remaining activities at New Mill to Pike House Mill around that date. It is possible that there were two mills on the site, both relatively small as between around 1850 and 1870 William Law (see Stubley Mill) also operated at New Mill before he purchased Dearnley Mill.
The buildings at New Mill were demolished in 1907/8 (pictured bottom left) by which time ground works had commenced on the new significantly larger Tyne Mill which would be completely powered by electricity and the mill will be electrically lit at 230 volt 3 phase being built for the Tyne Ring Spinning Mill Cos. Unfortunately, little more than the ground floor was completed before the Company went bankrupt. Another company took over but made little progress. It has been mentioned that Asbestos was worked on the site but few details are currently available. What is known is that Breda Visada took over the site of Tyne Mill and constructed a 3 storey Mill for the production of Rayon Fibres. whether it incorporated anything of the Tyne mill is unclear. Sir Edwin Stockton, Chairman of the British Visada Company formally opened Python Mill (pictured middle bottom) on 15th July 1926 or 1927 (date to be confirmed). The Mill was equipped to produce 27,500 lb of artificial silk per week and when in full running it was planned to employ 500 people. Breda Visada was taken over numerous times and in the end was thought to be too small to be efficient and by 1957 all of the Rayon Manufacturing Plant had been removed.
All remained mill buildings remained in 1960 but some may have been demolished before they were taken over by Fothergill and Harvey (Tygadure Division) in 1970. It is possible that they only took over the old boiler house because by 1978 they applied for planning permission for a new building. In 1995 Raydex Cables took over from Tygadure and later still Carlisle Cables (see picture bottom right). At the time the Cable Factory was demolished in 2018 it included new buildings in front of the old boiler house. After total demolition, the Lidl supermarket was constructed covering most of the site.
Interestingly, two cottages included on the 1851 OS map remain to this date - 2026.
Wood-Milne Ltd
Wood-Milne was a Rubber Manufacturer based in Leyland, Lancashire. In 1923 the Com[any built new factory, Spenwood Works in Littleborough, a single-story building with a ‘North Light’ roof powered by electricity supplied by Rochdale Corporation. It had a very tall chimney with an accompanying boiler house taking water from the Rochdale Canal and from the adjacent River Roch – see here. The company built 24 new houses during 1923, a small number bearing in mind the expected 500 employees. In the same year there was growing concern about the effects of foreign completion. By 1924 Wood-Milne was a subsidiary of the American Spencer-Moulton group. The main production in Littleborough was the manufacture of Tyres and Inner Tubes for the car industry. Additionally, there was a large section devoted to by-products consisting of a variety of types of rubber heels and soles for shoes and rubber mats for car running boards. However following the purchase of Wood-Milne in 1927 by Phillips Rubber Soles Ltd, its surplus Littleborough Plant was closed and sold..
Atlas Artificial Silk Processes Ltd
Atlas Artificial Silk Processes Ltd bought Spenwood Works in 1928 to produce Rayon using a “Revolution in the Manufacture of Artificial Silk – The Brandwood Continual Processes”. The Company soon commenced production in Littleborough in but manufacturing lasted only between July 1929 and June 1930 with total sales only amounting to £33,582meant that the works ran at a loss such that for most investors their investment was totally lost. In 1933 the plan and equipment and Spenwood works was offered for sale and Spenwood Works eventually sold in May 1936..
Lancashire Tanning Co Ltd (LANCTAN)
Worsening conditions for Jewish people in Berlin in the late 1930s led to the large German Tanning company, Adler & Oppenheimer looking into having a factory in England UK agents found suitable premises in Littleborough, the old Spenwood Works/Atlas Mill. By the time Adler & Oppenheimer took Spenwood Works was in a dreadful state with many small items removed but undaunted it was successfully refurbished as an efficient and effective Tannery. The new company sunk a well for even more water and had its own effluent plant served by an internal narrow gauge tramway pictured below right next to the railway embankment. Although most of the 400 to 500 workers were from the UK some 23 emigre Jewish families, many scientists and senior managers, moved into Littleborough. The plant produced upper leathers and during the war produced some 66% of all UK military requirements of boots etc for the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force. After the war the Tannery switched production to cover ‘fashionable leather’ often used in Ladies Shoes and Handbags. These exquisite upper leathers were sold worldwide. The Company continued as an effective Tanning Company but in 1972 industrial rationalisation meant a dreadful end when ”One morning, all the directors ……. Were ignominiously marched out through the factory gates. Following hot on their heels were 400 loyal workers who through no fault of their own found themselves on the street”. Thus ended another chapter in Littleborough’s History.
PARAGON WORKS - SMITHY BRIDGE
Mr F Berry's Paragon Engineering Cos works was formally opened when the steam engines were started and named 1877. A Trade Directory of 1879 included William Henry Berry, Paragon Engineering Co as Engineers and Millwrights, Iron & Brass Founders. Although the Company was included in an 1888 Trade Directory, it is believed that the Company had shut down by then. In January 1889, Mr J B Whittaker (ex Headmaster of SMB School) was appointed as Secretary and Draughtman for the Paragon Steel Casting Works Ltd. It re-opened Paragon Works which has been closed for 5 or 6 years so some 50 - 60 hands could be employed.
During 1907/8 Mr Thomas Cryer's Deanhead Chemical Co, manufacturers of Chemicals for Dyers, Bleachers, Finishers & Sizers moved from Summit to Paragon Works. Four or five years later Mr Thomas Cryer was involved in the development of a new Company when he became the Managing Director of the Borough Rubber Company (1912) Ltd. Deanhead Chemical Co remained at Paragon Works at least until 1943. In November 1935 a Fire in the Raw Rubber Store and Boiler House at Paragon Works caused £2,000. Littleborough Fire brigade soon had the fire under control but the roof of the Boiler House collapsed. Seven years later, another fire broke out, this time affectinge Borough Rubber Co's. outside rubber store and 4 pumps were brought into play. Nonetheless, extensive damage was caused. Of the 50 tons of rubber the shed contained, it was hoped that much could be salvaged.
On the 19th November 1943 Mr Thomas Cryer, sole owner of Deanhead Chemical Co and long-term MD of Borough Rubber Company (1912) Ltd (both located at Paragon Works) died aged 92. At the time he was the eldest businessman in Rochdale. Unfortunately, during WW1, his son, Liebig, who worked with his father, was killed In 1916 as was another employee, Arthur Ratcliffe. The Borough Rubber Company continued in operation but finally closed down in December 1965 and at some date, Deanhead Chemical Co moved to Smallbridge under different ownership
In 1980, Salpa Kay Ltd, of Northampton was using for Paragon Works for the storage of rubber soling material. It is unclear when it arrived at Paragon but it finally left around 1982/1983 when it moved to its other base in Stockport. A year or so later, Paragon Works housed a boxing club. Sporting activities including a gym remained a feature of Paragon Works.. For various periods of time other occupants have as yet been found but in 1992 one occupant, Smithy Bridge Storage and Distribution Ltd whose address was Paragon Industrial Estate, Paragon Works. The Company It was forced into administration in that year. It had been set up 8 years ago and when known as Gaynbrook Ltd.
At some date, Paragon Works was split up into Industrial Units and besides a gym, café at times, has for many years been occupied by a Motor Homes Dealer, Car maintenance company and Tyre Fitter.
Paragon Works seen from the North, the railway runs just in front of the works but behind the houses to the right
