Carrfield Mill

This old postcard shows the junction of Newton Street and Dukinfield Road circa 1920.

The tram in the foreground is one that was operated by SHMDJT - Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield Joint Tramways from the 1900s until the 1930s.

Behind the old tram is the Ashton Brothers' mill complex: Carrfield Mill, Bayleyfield Mill and Balaclava Mill. The latter two mills mere demolished in 2008.

Carrfield Mill was founded by the Ashton Brothers, Samuel, Thomas, James and John. Erected in 1817, Carrfield Mill was intended as a combined spinning and weaving mill from the start and 200 powerlooms weavers were being employed there in 1819. The partnership known as Samuel Ashton & Brothers was dissolved in 1821 when Samuel left and the remaining three brothers traded as T.J. & J. Ashton. In September 1823 this partnership too was dissolved, John and James forming another partnership with Robert Ashton, a younger brother, at Newton Moor Mill and Greencroft Mill. This left Thomas Ashton in sole control of the Carrfield Mill site.

Originally known for manufacturing Zorbit terry nappies, it became the home of "Christy Towels". The brand was founded in 1851. Christy is the world's oldest towel manufacturer and is the UK's leading towel brand. Christy invented the first loom to mechanically weave what remains today the basis of the modern towel and is the exclusive supplier of the towels to the world famous Wimbledon Tennis Championship. The 1 billion USD Welspun Group acquired an 85% interest in Christy for a business valuation of GBP 15.6 m, in July 2006. In 2008 they closed the dyehouse and making-up departments at Hyde and transferred the machinery to a specially designed site at Welspun's Anjar facility in India.

Their UK HQ and sales office remained at Carrfield Mill until 2012 when they took over 12,000 sq ft of offices and showroom facilities at Orbit Developments' Park Square complex in Cheadle.

The last remaining mill was demolished in 2013 although the office building wasn't finally raised to the ground until 2015. The 7 acre industrial and office development site is now for sale.

See how Newton Street looks now on Hyde Xtra and take a peek at the demolished mill site on Hyde Daily Photo.

Norfolk Arms Disaster Plague

A plaque in Clarendon Square Shopping Centre close to the site of the former Norfolk Arms recalls a disaster that occured on 1st April 1829.

In the summer of 1828, the cotton trade was in such a bad state that the masters announced a reduction of wages. The reduction was firmly opposed by the operatives and a great strike commenced which rapidly spread throughout the district. At Stockport the struggle was extremely bitter, neither side showing any desire to give way. In Hyde a better spirit prevailed and soon the mills in Hyde were all working full-time. However, the harmony did not continue. The operatives of Hyde were contributing each week from their wages towards the support of the people who were out on strike in Stockport, as a result of which their employers issued a notice on 24th March 1829 that the manufacturers, whose mills were working, intended to reduced their wages by 10 per cent every 14 days until the Stockport hands returned to work.

To discuss the threat, a meeting of operatives was held in The Norfolk Arms on 1st April 1829. In its day The Norfolk Arms was the principal hotel in the area and said to be the oldest commercial hotel. The room in which the meeting took place was fifteen yards long and seven yards wide. It was only expected to hold approximately 300 people, but there were nearer 700 present when the accident occurred.

John Dawson, one of Hyde's principal operative orators, was the chairman and was seated in a large chair belonging to a lodge of Oddfellows, placed near the middle of one of the side walls of the room. A man named Tobias Wood then began to speak, insisting on the working classes having a fair remuneration for their work. He had just cried out "It is bread we want and bread we must have," when an awkward crush took place, caused by new arrivals trying to crowd into the room. The chairman was appealing for order when part of the floor gave way and numbers of the audience fell into the gaping gulf which appeared. The weight of the people who fell with the floor broke through the floor of the rooms beneath and the unfortunate victims crashed into the cellar, amongst beer barrels and stillages, heaped one upon another in a distorted state. The portion of the floor which collapsed was only six yards square and the fact that over 200 persons were precipitated down the hole is evidence of the extreme closeness with which the occupants of the room were packed. Many who were standing upon the unbroken part of the floor were actually propelled into the gulf by the thrust of the living mass around them. The chairman narrowly escaped; barely more than a foot of sound flooring separated his chair from the edge of the hole. Seven young women were seated on a bench fastened to the wall and when the floor gave way they found their feet and legs suspended over the gulf, but they managed to hold on to the seat until they were rescued.

The scene in the cellar was dreadful - 29 persons were killed and many injured. When the cellar was searched, after all the bodies had been extricated, over 120 hats and 50 bonnets, shawls and cloaks were found.

The verdict at the inquest was "Accidental Death", but the belief for many years, persistently held by a large number of operatives, was that the disaster was the result of foul play.

The Norfolk Arms closed in 1960 for the redevelopment of the market centre.

Further information can be found on the Tameside MBC website.

See Hyde Daily Photo for a view down Norfolk Street today.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Hoviley Brow before the motorway came

This photograph first appeared here in August 2007.

It shows Hoviley Brow, near the Dye Works which is now home to ABC Wax.

The houses were demolished by the 1970s and the ground covered by the M67 Motorway.

About the only thing still standing is the factory chimney. It would have been dirtier then and not carrying mobile-phone relay masts!

See how it looks now on Hyde Daily Photo.

Albion Oil Works (updated)

Frederick Wild manufactured all kinds of cog and waterwheel greases at the Albion Oil Works which I thought was on Albion Street.

Albion street was demolished in the late 1990s and the area transformed into the Croft Millennium Green.

See how it looks now on Hyde Daily Photo.

I've since discovered that works was not located on Albion Street but was on John Street behind the Albion pub.

Gee X Mill 1984

A photograph of the Peak Forest Canal taken by Janet Howie, Easter 1984.

Gee X Mill in the background has since been demolished and replaced by a modern residence with lawns down to the canal.

See how it looks now on sithenah.

For weekend reflections around the world visit Newton Area Photo.

Orlando Oldhams Cork Cutters Factory

Janet Howie's photograph from 1984 is of the Orlando Oldhams cork cutters factory, latterly Ashworth's bag factory. The white building on the right is the Queen Adelaide.

The factory has since been demolished and an estate of modern houses, called Queen's Close, has been built on the site, as can be seen on Hyde Daily Photo.

More O posts at ABC Wednesday

Whittaker's Whim

About a hundred years ago in the old quarry below the Werneth Hotel on Stockport Road was found what was known as Frederick Whittaker's Whim.

I've been unable to find much out about this, but it is mentioned in an obscure, rambling spoof poem by James Leigh.

...
Just take a walk up o'er Werneth Low, and there you will behold
That grand and noble structure at the foot of yonder hill
An ever lasting monument of architectural skill.

We then besieged the palace of King Frederick the Great.
That tumble-down old building on the Back Bower Estate
But not a Godl(e)y soul we found in that ungodly place,
So we razed the building to the ground and left of it no trace

We then marched through the city of Gee Cross, but, strange to say,
The city's ancient glory has long since passed away;
The only ancients that we saw, beside old Freddie's whims
Was Robin and his brother Jam, the famous Gee Cross twins.

We halted on Mount Pleasant, and as we gazed around
We felt that we were standing upon historic ground,
For the foot of Treacle Hill stood gloomy, dark and grim,
The ruins of a temple, His Majesty's first Whim.

Each warrior bowed his crested head above Stone Pit wall,
And thus each one soliloquised upon the city's fall.

Oh, city of the ancients, we gaze upon you now,
Shorn of thy former glory how desolate art thou;
Thy Market Hall, without a roof, is crumbling to decay
Thy public park and pleasure grounds have long since passed away

But soon we noticed that the sun was sinking in the west,
And weather it was time or not, of course the sun knew best,
But we ourselves were very weary, though only half-past nine,
The heat is so oppressive in that Oriental clime.

We sought a refuge for the night at Doorbar's famous inn
...

Stone Pit is a reference to the reservoir now used for fishing and Doorbar's is a reference to the Grapes Hotel.

Now the old quarry is full of modern houses which you can see on Hyde Daily Photo and the quarry wall can be seen on Hyde DP Xtra.

Slack Mills

Looking down Stockport Road from Gee Cross into Hyde about 100 years ago.

Taken from near the crossroads with Osborne Road and Peel Street, the scene is dominated by Slack Mills. The site was taken over early in the 1900s by James North whose firm patented the PVC glove in 1947.

I recently posted a 1993 view of the factory from Werneth Low.

The mill was demolished in 1998 and the only monument is the restored James North Clock.

See how the view from the same vantage point looks today on Hyde Daily Photo.

James North 1993

This is a still picture from a video I took in 1993 and recently had transferred to a DVD. Apologies for the quality but lets examine the width.

In the foreground is the rough ground now occupied by Alder Community School.

Under the trees in the middle lies Hyde Cemetery.

In the background is the James North Factory, which was demolished in 1998.

Inside Automasters Again

Photograph © Bob Abell.

Another 2005 photograph of Automasters courtesy of Bob Abell.

See Hyde DP for a look at the site now.

Inside Automasters

Photograph © Bob Abell.

Another 2005 photograph of Automasters courtesy of Bob Abell.

This is the front glass corridor. Bob tells me it was

Absolutely roasting hot in summer!

Automasters 2005

Photograph © Bob Abell.

This week Hyde Daily Photo is devoted to Automasters.

Bob Abell's photograph of the offices on Manchester Road complements the first of eight on Hyde DP taken across the road by the sign to "Over Yonder".

Reflecting on Automasters

Automasters Engineers were once one of the biggest employers in Hyde, but their huge factory on the side of the Peak Forest Canal has now been reduced to a pile of rubble.

I took this photograph from a bus passing the main entrance on Manchester Road in April 2008. Due to the reflections from the bus window, it isn't an especially good view so I never used the photograph at the time. There is no chance to take a better picture now, so here it is anyway.

Adamson's Mills 1981

Photograph © Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Dr. Clifton's photograph was taken in 1981 and he commented on Geograph UK that it "stood derelict and unlikely to find a future user."

Well compare it with my 2008 photograph on Hyde Daily Photo.

The chimney has gone but more or less everything else is still there and it is a thriving hub of activity.

Newton Street

This is Newton Street which leads up towards Flowery Field church.

It was taken by Frank Bennett, some time prior to 2002 at the latest. It is a scan of an 8 x 8 print from a 120 film.

Dukinfield Road (the A627 from Ashton under Lyne) after passing Edward Street, meets Newton Street at this mini-roundabout.

Today, there are traffic lights. Although the smaller textile mill in the foreground remains, Ashton Bros Mill in the background has been demolished.

You can see how the junction looks today on Hyde Daily Photo.

Automasters 1980

The City Daily Photoblog network theme for today is Metal.

The word makes me think of heavy engineering and in Hyde the one name that comes to the fore is Automasters. Their works on the banks of the Peak Forest Canal closed down in recent years.

This is how the works looked at its peak in the 1980s.

You can view thumbnails from over 180 participants to the theme on the CDPB portal.

Mule spinners

This pictures shows three mule spinners at J H Radcliffe's cotton mill in 1924. The man on the left is Harry Driver.

It needs three men to work a pair of mules. The spinning took place in a hot and humid room, which required light clothing. The floor was covered in machine oil and spinners worked barefoot. The machine moved back and forward pulling and twisting the cotton. This action stretched the cotton into thin threads called yarn.

My other ABC Wednesday M posts this week are Man up a Tree at Hyde Daily Photo ~~ Millennium Festival Trail at Ackworth born, gone West ~~ M&S at Sithenah.

To visit other ABC M posts go to Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

1906 Flood Damage at James North Works

This is Old Hyde's 50th post.

There is a "water" theme amongst CDPB bloggers today. So where's the water here? Well it is April 1st, so maybe I'm fooling you! But if you are reading this after 12 noon then the joke will be on me.

Here the water has been and gone. In May 1906 Hyde suffered severe flash floods. This picture shows the damage caused at the James North Works.

For more watery sights today, visit the following: Adelaide ~~ Albuquerque ~~ American Fork ~~ Anderson ~~ Ararat ~~ Arradon ~~ Ashton under Lyne ~~ Athens ~~ Auckland ~~ Austin ~~ Bandung ~~ Barton ~~ Belgrade by Paja ~~ Belgrade by Bibi ~~ Bellefonte ~~ Bicheno ~~ Bogor ~~ Boston by Fenix ~~ Boston by Clueless ~~ Boston by Sarah, Whit & Leyre ~~ Brighton ~~ Brookville ~~ Budapest by Isadora ~~ Budapest by Zannnie & Zsolt ~~ Canterbury ~~ Cape Town ~~ Chandler ~~ Chateaubriant ~~ Cheltenham ~~ Chicago ~~ Christchurch ~~ Clearwater ~~ Clearwater Beach ~~ Cleveland ~~ Coral Gables ~~ Cypress ~~ Dallas ~~ Dunedin ~~ Durban ~~ East Gwillimbury ~~ Evry ~~ Glasgow ~~ Greenville ~~ Grenoble ~~ Guelph ~~ Gun Barrel City ~~ Hamilton ~~ Hampton ~~ Haninge ~~ Helsinki ~~ Hobart ~~ Hyde ~~ Inverness ~~ Jackson ~~ Jakarta ~~ Jefferson City ~~ Jogjakarta ~~ Joplin ~~ Juneau ~~ Katonah ~~ Kuala Lumpur ~~ Kyoto ~~ Lake Forest Park ~~ Larchmont ~~ Las Vegas ~~ Lisbon by Sailor Girl ~~ Lisbon by Maria João ~~ Lodz ~~ London by Ham ~~ London by Mo ~~ Mainz ~~ Maple Ridge ~~ Marseille ~~ Mazatlan ~~ Melbourne by John ~~ Melbourne by Mblamo ~~ Memphis ~~ Menton ~~ Mexico City by Carraol ~~ Mexico City by Poly ~~ Minneapolis by Greg ~~ Minneapolis by Mitch ~~ Minsk ~~ Monrovia ~~ Monte Carlo ~~ Montego Bay ~~ Monterrey ~~ Moscow ~~ Mumbai by Magiceye ~~ Mumbai by Anu ~~ Mumbai by Kunalbhatia ~~ Nancy ~~ Naples ~~ Nashville ~~ Nelson ~~ New Orleans ~~ New York City ~~ Niamey ~~ Norfolk ~~ Norman ~~ Norwich ~~ Nottingham ~~ Odense ~~ Omsk ~~ Orlando ~~ Oslo ~~ Paderborn ~~ Paris by Eric ~~ Paris by Gordio ~~ Pasadena ~~ Petaling Jaya ~~ Pilisvörösvár ~~ Pont-à-Mousson ~~ Port Angeles ~~ Port Elizabeth ~~ Port Townsend ~~ Port Vila ~~ Portland (OR) ~~ Portland (ME) ~~ Portsmouth ~~ Prague ~~ Quincy ~~ Riga ~~ Rotterdam ~~ Saarbrücken ~~ Saigon ~~ Saint Louis ~~ Saint Paul ~~ Salem ~~ Salt Lake City by atc ~~ Salt Lake City by Eric ~~ San Diego ~~ San Francisco ~~ Seattle by Chuck ~~ Seattle by Kim ~~ Seguin ~~ Selma ~~ Sequim ~~ Sesimbra ~~ Setúbal ~~ Shanghai ~~ Sharon ~~ Singapore ~~ Sofia ~~ St Francis ~~ Stavanger ~~ Stayton ~~ Stockholm ~~ Stouffville ~~ Subang Jaya ~~ Suffolk ~~ Sunshine Coast ~~ Sydney by Nathalie ~~ Sydney by Sally ~~ Székesfehérvár ~~ Tacloban City ~~ Terrell by Jim ~~ Terrell by BS ~~ The Hague ~~ Tokyo ~~ Toruń ~~ Toulouse ~~ Turin ~~ Tuzla ~~ Twin Cities ~~ Victoria ~~ Vienna ~~ Virginia Beach ~~ Wailea ~~ Washington ~~ Wassenaar ~~ Wellington ~~ West Paris ~~ West Sacramento ~~ Weston ~~ Williamsburg ~~ Willits ~~ Yardley.

Automasters from Manchester Road Bridge

I'm not sure of the date of this picture. It is from before renovations which took place in the 1980s.

Compare this view with a recent view from roughly the same location

1920s Sizing Machine

This picture from 1921 shows a sizing machine from Ashton Bros. Mill.

The mill has since been demolished.