An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St.Helens

Part 15 (of 41) - The History of Industry in Sutton

Researched & Written by S.R.Wainwright ©MMX Contact Me

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Header image: How bonecrushers Crone & Taylor depicted Sutton Oak on their letterhead

Industry in Sutton township for hundreds of years was centred around mining, which dates back to around 1540. However, there have been a wide range of other industries including glass blowing, nail making, linen weaving, soda and bleach-making, watch-making, safety-fuse manufacture, brewing and clay digging.

Sutton clay has provided employment for countless workers over the years, with pottery-making being traced as far back as the twelfth century. Sutton Heath & Woods Pottery, Richard Davies, The Old Teapot and J.J. Bate and Son, are just some of the more recent pottery employers that are all now long-gone.

Roughdales Fire Clay Company works located in Chester Lane

The 1890 picture above shows the operations of Roughdales Fire Clay Company off Chester Lane. Clay was hauled up rails (bottom right of picture), then pushed in tubs along the overhead track bridging the site. It's then prepared for the round-topped kilns which along with their chimneys stand at the left of the picture. In the foreground by the temporary railway line, bricks and pipeware await collection.

However, pottery making in the district was not always successful. The Preston Guardian of February 8th, 1862 reported that a Mr. J. Grace, a potter from Sutton, had been declared bankrupt. They included the notice in their Latest Intelligence column which had the sub-title 'By British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph'. Then in 1878 the Liverpool Mercury carried this notice (right) which reported the failure of Yates & Co of Sutton Heath. The company was run by an Arthur Daly who was made bankrupt. Perhaps he should have found himself a minder!

It's thought that a French Huguenot family began the first glassmaking firm in Sutton. The Protestant Huguenots were driven out of France from 1685 and in 1688 local records reveal John Leaf Snr paying the Eltonhead family £50 for a lease of 2½ acres of Sutton's Lower Hey. The Leafs real surname was probably Lefèvre and they were able to source sand, coal and fireclay from the site with only alkali having to be imported.

ordnance survey map 1894 with Sutton Glass Works
1894 Lancashire and Furness Ordnance Survey - a tumultuous year for Sutton Glass Works

In 1786 the British Cast Plate Glass Company built large works of about 25 acres at Ravenhead and the first British plate glass was cast at the site. In 1838 a second plant was built near the Junction by the Union Plate Glass Company and the Sutton Glass Works soon became major employers. The London and Manchester Plate Glass Company took over both plants which were said to have two of the finest and best equipped glass works in the country.

However, plate glass production was expensive and with increasing competition from Belgian and French glass plants and locally from Pilkington's, the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company encountered financial difficulties and finally went into liquidation in 1894. 800 men lost their jobs and a wave of depression affected many Sutton families, who were unused to unemployment. The St.Helens Newspaper commented that "destitution is developing in our midst at a rapid rate" {15/9/1894}

In June 1896 a consortium purchased both plants for £150,000 and the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company Ltd arose from the ashes of its similarly named predecessor. The glass works went back into production at the end of August but its revival was short-lived. It had lost many clients through the 26 months of closure and the Sutton plant closed in 1903, with Pilkington's having purchased the Ravenhead works two years earlier. The Sutton Glass Works site that stretched across both sides of Lancots Lane, became the location for Sutton Bond munitions manufactory and barracks (1914 -), Nuera Artificial Silk Co (1926-1930) and cellophane manufacturer British Sidac (1934-1982).

Pictured is 31 stone John 'Bally' Whittaker (1824 - 1894) who built Sutton Glassworks and was reputed to be St.Helens' heaviest man. His nickname of 'Owd Bally' was Lancashire dialect for 'belly' and he was a heavyweight builder in more than one sense. Whittaker also built St.Helens Junction railway station, Sutton Road Pumping Station and the Borough Sanatorium in Peasley Cross, as well as other St.Helens buildings, including most of the town's chimney stacks. He also became licensee of the Oak Tree Inn in Ellamsbridge Road and had a carriage specially designed to carry him that was pulled by his horse Black Bess. Bally lived in Neill's Road, Bold where he had extra wide doors built and his final days were spent at Oak Cottage in St.Helens Junction. (Nb. Photo of Bally Whittaker was taken in Lymm c.1880 by R.G. Brook)

The McTear family at their home, Roughdales Farm in Chester Lane - Contributed by Sutton Historic Society

In the photograph above, James Wilton McTear shows off his family for the camera with his wife Eliza. McTear (born c. 1837 in Liverpool) was both the manager of the Copper Rolling Mills plus the manager of Roughdales. The picture was taken at his home in Chester Lane called Roughdales Farm (aka Milestone House) opposite Four Acre Lane. The farm had eight acres and the family stayed until 1894 when they moved to Micklehead Green and St.Michael's House & Farm. By this time Roughdales works had expanded so much that it had almost reached Milestone House. McTear served on St.Helens Hospital Committee for its first forty years and was a magistrate from 1897.

There used to be half a dozen brick companies in Sutton sourcing Roughdales and other local clay for their operations. However in recent times Ibstocks have been the sole manufacturer, part of a large company with 24 plants nationwide. In October 2008 it was announced that their Chester Lane plant would close with 56 redundancies. Ibstocks' Roughdales site has been a major brick producer since the late 1880s and Antony Gormley used Ibstock clay to make his renowned Field sculpture. This Turner Prize winning artwork is made up of 40,000 terracotta figures and was created by Sutton Manor primary and Sutton High schoolchildren in 1993.

Kurtz Alkali works pictured in the mid 1890s

The Sutton Copper Works in Sutton Oak was founded in 1832 and was run by partners William Keates and Samuel Newton and later their sons, Joseph and George, respectively. It traded as the British and Foreign Copper Co., although owned by Newton, Keates & Co., with plants also in Holywell, Liverpool and Glasgow.

It smelted foreign ores, which were then arriving at Liverpool in some quantity and they employed 100 men in Sutton. They were so successful that they claimed never to lay off men, even during slack periods. A Rolling Mill factory in Watery Lane at Sutton Moss was also built by William Keates in 1860, with both plants closing down in 1895.

Kurtz Chemicals Co. (aka Sutton Alkali Works) was at Sutton township's perimeter and had expanded enormously since Andrew Kurtz inherited it from his father in 1846. The works extended beyond Warrington New Road to Langtree Street (now Jackson Street) and it was one of the largest chemical plants in the area producing soda and bleaching powder.

Explosion at Kurtz Alkali works, St.Helens 1899

The shed at Kurtz Alkali Works where the explosion happened

On May 12th 1899, eight men were killed at Kurtz works by an explosion caused by a fire in the chlorate house. Windows as far away as Rainford were shattered and a yellow cloud of nitrate gas enveloped surrounding streets. This picture shows firemen damping down in Warrington New Road.

By the 1930s all the chemical plants had left Sutton and St.Helens through competition from other towns, such as Widnes and Warrington.

The headed stationery of Crone & Taylor of Lancots Lane, Sutton Oak

Longstanding Crone and Taylor of Sutton Oak were an interesting company on a number of counts. Founded in 1886 their letterhead contained an illustration of late Victorian Sutton with numerous smoking chimneys. They described themselves bluntly as 'Bone Crushers and Manufacturers of Blood & Bone Manures'.

A testimonial on the rear of a crone and taylor postcard, sutton oak, st.helens

For some years their storeroom served as the chapel for the undenominational Welsh, prior to them taking over the Methodist Church's chapel in Lancots Lane in 1893. To gain access to the storeroom the congregation had to pass through a hole in the surrounding wall and the chapel became known locally as "The Hole in the Wall Church". In the 1970s they were employing 100 people at their Sutton Oak works with a record order book having abandoned fertilisers for mechanical handling equipment and in 1971 they were acquired by Wm. Brandt & Sons.

In or near Sutton the main chemical works were the aforementioned Kurtz's Alkali Works, Green Bank, Hardshaw Brook and briefly one at Sutton Lodge operated by Cannington and Shaws the bottlemakers. A modern-day, health & safety inspector would have had a field day in Sutton's chemical factories. Working in them considerably shortened lives through toxic fumes and by liver damage caused by drinking excessive amounts of beer.

An intake of one hundred pints a week was not uncommon and employers weren't too concerned as long as workers could still do their job. Action would be taken, however, if employees became incapacitated. On December 11th, 1876, James Barke, a watchman at Kurtz found Owen McKee of Sutton "very drunk and unable to perform his work", according to the Prescot Reporter's account (23/12/1876). On being spoken to by Barke, McKee became abusive and violent, threatening to "lance the watchman inside out". He was prosecuted and fined 5 shillings for being drunk and 10 shillings for assault and ordered to keep the peace for three months.

The Bold Iron Works of engineering manufacturers Wm. Neil & Son were in
Sutton at St.Helens Junction for over 100 years, founded in 1859

To quench the thirst of the chemical workers and those who worked long hours by fiery furnaces in the 19th century glass and copper industries, local breweries were formed to supply the alcohol that was consumed in copious quantities. As well as the renowned Greenall's (founded in Hall Street, Hardshaw by Thomas Greenall in 1762), John Cross & Co had a brewery at Leather Hill in Sutton and Jane Barrow ran the Phoenix Brewery at Peckers Hill which was sold onto the Wilcock family. In the late nineteenth century elderly couple William and Sarah Winterbottom ran the Star Brewery from their home at 253 New Street. In the 1891 census, Sarah's occupation is described as "assists Husband Brew" (see the Old Sutton Pubs page).

phoenix brewery advert sutton sthelens
Advert for Phoenix Brewery of Sutton on the front page of the St.Helens Newspaper of 2/7/1881

Talking of chemical factories, a top-secret chemical warfare plant was located in Reginald Road in Sutton Leach, known locally as the Poison Gas Works. Lord Haw-Haw (William Joyce) referred to it in one of his infamous radio broadcasts during WWII. The site manufactured Lewisite, a chemical warfare agent and it closed in 1953. Occasionally it caused alarms in Sutton by letting out poisonous vapour clouds. As late as the 1980s, the British government denied it had ever existed.

william bickford inventor of safety fuse

Also at the Junction was the powder works of Bickford, Smith and Co. Ltd (later Toy, Bickford & Co) and the girls who worked there were known as "powder monkeys". William Bickford had invented the safety fuse for igniting gunpowder in 1831, which was an important innovation that saved countless mineworkers' lives.

The company were based in Cornwall but in 1873 Bickford, Smith and Co purchased the factory and business of Charles Davey & Co. by St.Helens Junction who made safety lamps for the mines. Bickfords' powder works supplied the needs of collieries, not just locally but throughout the north of England and Scotland for forty years. According to the company's own centenary book published in 1931, the Sutton arm closed down "soon after the War". Bickford, Smith and Co were the biggest British manufacturer of safety fuses and were taken over by Nobel Industries in 1921 and closed in 1962.

Wire and iron manufacture took place during the 19th century at plants in Sutton and Peasley Cross owned by the Whitecross Wire & Iron Co. who also had a plant at Warrington. Sutton township also had a considerable number of watchmakers, the craft spreading from Liverpool from about 1670 and was especially popular in nearby Prescot.

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Next: Part 16) Transport in Sutton; | Research Sources, References & Bibliography

Sutton Beauty & Heritage's History Pages:

01)  Township of Sutton & St.Helens        |      02)  Lords & Masters
03)  Michael Hughes of Sherdley        |      04)  The Sherdley Estate
05)  Sutton's Halls & Houses        |      06)  Dr. Henry Baker Bates
07)  Religion in Sutton        |      08)  Rev. Henry Vallancey
09)  Education in Sutton        |      10)  Mineworking in Sutton
11)  Sutton Manor Colliery #1        |      12)  Sutton Manor Colliery #2
13)  Clock Face Colliery        |      14)  Bold Colliery
15)  Industry in Sutton Township        |      16)  Sutton Transport
17)  Sutton Transport Timeline        |      18)  Health & Sanitary Conditions
19)  Old Sutton Pubs        |      20)  Sport in Sutton
21)  Sutton Boxers & Wrestlers       |      22)  Rapid Rise of Sutton Harriers
23)  Leisure & Entertainment        |      24)  Sutton Celebrations
25)  Sutton Streetnames       |      26)   Pudding Bag
27)  Notorious & Curious Crime      |     28)  Sutton Tragedy #1
29)  Sutton Tragedy #2       |      30)  What's Wrong With Sutton?
31)  How Sutton Has Changed        |      32)  Memories of Sutton Part 1
33)  Memories of Sutton Part 2       |      34)  Memories of Sutton Part 3
35)  Memories of Sutton Part 4       |      36)  Memories of Sutton Part 5
37)  Memories of Sutton Part 6       |      38)  Memories of Sutton Part 7
39)  Sutton Trivia & True Facts       |      40)  Clog Clatters in Old Sutton
41)  Research Sources, References & Bibliography

Plus 13 Heritage Photo-Albums:

   Sutton's Lords & Masters;     Sherdley Estate;     Religion & Education;
   Transport;     Sport, Leisure & Entertainment;     Sutton Streets;
   Sutton Manor Colliery #1; #2; #3; #4;      Clock Face Colliery;
   Bold Colliery;     Sutton Industry;

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This website has been written and researched and many images photographed by the Sutton Beauty & Heritage site owner, Stephen Wainwright. All rights are reserved but my images and text content can be re-used, although I would prefer a credit. High resolution versions of many photographs can be supplied on request at no charge. Other images are used for heritage and educational purposes and are believed to be in the public domain. This site takes a responsible attitude to copyright and, where appropriate, I endeavour to obtain permission from rights holders. This is not always possible and you are encouraged to contact me via the contact page to resolve any rights issue or if you require accreditation for the use of any photograph on this site.

Sutton Beauty & Heritage strives for factual accuracy at all times. Please do also get in touch if you believe that there are any errors, with details of any corrections contained within the site's update history page, which also details the regular updates. Many individuals from all over the world have kindly contributed Sutton information or photographs. If you would like to participate in this project, I would be delighted to hear from you and this website always credits any assistance given. Do also consider contributing any recollections of old Sutton that you might have for the Sutton Memories pages, which are proving very popular. I respond quickly to all emails and if you haven't received a response within 12 hours, please check your junk mail folder or send your message again. Thank you! SRW