a) Clay, Pottery and Brickworks in Sutton

Sutton clay provided employment for countless workers over hundreds of years, with pottery-making traced as far back as the twelfth century. The Old Teapot Brick Works, Ravenhead Brick Co., the Sutton Drain, Tile & Garden Pot Works and Roughdales, are just some of the more recent pottery and brick-making employers in the Sutton district that are now long-gone.

The Roughdales Fire Clay Company works in 1890 which were located in Chester Lane, Sutton

In the Liverpool Mercury of June 29th 1860, a house, cottage and three acres of land in Chester Lane were advertised for auction. It was claimed that the land contained "a bed of most valuable potters and firebrick clay, of great thickness." This was around about the time that Roughdales Brick and Coal Company began their operations.

In the picture above, clay was hauled up rails (bottom right), then pushed in tubs along an overhead track bridging the site. It was then prepared for the round-topped kilns which, along with their chimneys, stand at the left of the picture. In the foreground by the railway line, bricks and pipeware await collection.

In another Liverpool Mercury advertisement of December 15th 1886, Roughdales described their business as 'Manufacturers and Exporters of BLUE VITRIFIED FACING BRICKS, brindled and hard-burnt Building Bricks, Terra Metallic Pavements (plain and chequered), Adamant Pavings for Stables, superior glazed Sanitary Pipes and Gullies, Chimney Pots of all kinds. Chemical Pipes specially prepared for withstanding acids and gases.'  The Roughdales Brass Band was renowned throughout the region and played at countless celebratory events such as walking days, as well as some funeral processions.

Early in the 20th century, Roughdales was acquired by the Sutton Heath and Lea Green Collieries Co. who also owned a brickworks in Sutton Heath. In 1920 they became a limited company and in their prospectus claimed a pre-war output of 14.7 million bricks per year. They stated that their intention was to develop their two Sutton works and output 25 million bricks per annum.

Ibstock quarry in 1990 - note bricks on left and Sutton Manor Colliery in the distance - Contributed by Jim Lamb

Roughdales sourced their clay locally and there was one clayhole on the opposite side of Chester Lane, near where the smaller Brickfields woodlands site now stands. A tunnel, approximately six to seven feet high, connected it with the factory and bogies (wheeled wagons) loaded with clay ran through the tunnel on metal lines, pulled along by a steel rope. During the second world war the tunnel was used as an air raid shelter, mainly by women and children from Marshalls Cross.

Ibstock Brickworks Roughdales plant pictured February 2007, closed December 2008 and demolished June 2011

Ibstock Brickworks continued operations on the site until the end of 2008, still using the Roughdales name for much of their ownership of the plant. 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. The closure of the plant with 56 redundancies brought to a close a lengthy heritage of clay and brickworks in the district. The factory was flattened in June 2011 and the sign at the entrance is all that remains.

The Ravenhead Brick Co. was located alongside Burtonhead Road in between Ravenhead Colliery's nos. 7 and 8 pits and nos. 9, 10 and 11 pits. It had been established around 1850 by Horn and Kelly and was registered in 1875 as the Ravenhead Sanitary Pipe and Brick Co. Ltd. Pipe manufacturing ceased around 1880 to concentrate on brick making. Their clay was sourced from opencast workings on the opposite side of Burtonhead Road, covering an area of 12 acres. In 1960 Roughdales took over the plant and closed it a few years later.

The Old Teapot Brickworks would have won an award for the best named clay and brick works in Sutton! Located just south of Phoenix Colliery, it dated back to 1880 when it began as the St.Helens Brick and Tile Works. The plant had a number of name changes until, as the Liverpool and St.Helens Brick Co., it was purchased by Wood and Co. around the turn of the century.

During the 1920s, J.J. Bate acquired the company and they rebranded their plant 'The Old Teapot Brickworks'. It did make teapots as part of their pottery operations as well as fireplace tiles and vases. However its main production was bricks, of which it made many different types, some of which were supplied to Liverpool Cathedral. The works had their own small scale mine, which had been worked intermittently since the 1880s, and which ceased operations in 1944. Production was greatly reduced during the 1950s at the Old Teapot Brickworks and it finally closed about 1967. Their clay pits were filled in 1974 and Pilkingtons Greengate Works took it over. Other works in the early years of the twentieth century included the Sutton Oak Brick Works off Baxters Lane near Dutch Barn bridge and the Sutton Brick Works. The latter was actually in Parr, located near Gaskell Street. Pottery works included the Marshalls Cross Pottery Co. and the Sutton Drain, Tile & Garden Pot Works in Moss Nook. R. Holmes Twist had a pottery works in Mill Lane, Sutton Heath, which on November 8th 1900, suffered a huge explosion. A boiler blew up and flew thirty yards over workers' cottages into the roadway and bricks were recovered 200 yards away. Miraculously no one was injured.

The Davies family owned Sutton Heath Pottery. It was founded by Richard Davies, who was succeeded by son Albert followed by his son John who died in 1955. Pottery making 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-heading 'By British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph'. The founder of the St.Helens Newspaper, Bernard Dromgoole, had worked for a while at Grace's Pottery in Marshalls Cross and married the boss's daughter. Then in 1878, the Liverpool Mercury reported the failure of Yates & Co of Sutton Heath. The pottery firm had been run by an Arthur Daly who should have had a minder!

b) Glassmaking In Sutton

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

From 1776 the British Cast Plate Glass Company began building large works on about 25 acres at Ravenhead and the first plate glass in this country was cast at the site. In 1837 a second plant was built at Sutton Oak by the Manchester and Liverpool Plate Glass Company. However, it closed just five years later through the depression of the early 'forties. In 1846 the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company took over the plant and the Sutton Glass Works slowly became successful. The removal of the Window Tax in 1851 boosted their order book and the astute management of William Blinkhorn expanded their operations. In 1855 the Sutton plant became the largest plate glass works in the country with 1500 men employed. In the late 1860s, the plant was extended and covered both sides of Lancots Lane.

British Cast Plate Glass Company in Ravenhead then part of Sutton township - Contributed by Sutton Historic Society

Although the Ravenhead plant of the British Cast Plate Glass Company had been highly successful, especially during the 1830s and '40s under manager Frederick Fincham, it was now experiencing tough times and in 1868, the London and Manchester Company took over the lease.

The glassmakers were a highly-skilled, mobile workforce who were very well paid. Some of the best workers were French, who could be secretive over their glass-making methods. So Suttoners committed industrial espionage to discover their techniques! Workers hid in the roof of the glassworks and observed the French experts through holes that they'd cut in the ceiling. However most of the workers at Sutton Glass Works were unskilled staff, with many of them manual labourers. In October 1891, two such workers, John Twist and David Lunt, died in hospital from the severe injuries they'd received when large sheets of plate glass that they were shifting, fell on them. The accident at Sutton Glass Works broke 19-years-old Lunt's spine and an iron lever penetrated right through 22-years-old Twist's body.

Plate glass production was expensive and with increasing competition from Belgian and French glass plants and locally from Pilkingtons, the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company began to encounter financial difficulties. The price of glass in 1887 was 45% less than it had been in 1876 and there were further drops in the early '90s. After making hefty losses, Sutton Glass Works went into liquidation in 1894 and 800 men lost their jobs. A wave of depression affected many Sutton families with the St.Helens Newspaper commenting 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 its predecessor's ashes. The glass works eventually went back into production and the Sutton community breathed a sigh of relief. In December a special service of thanksgiving was held at All Saints church, which was said to have been crowded. However the plant's revival was short-lived. It had lost clients through the 26 months of closure and it closed for good in 1903, with Pilkingtons having purchased the Ravenhead works in 1901.

The glassworks sourced red sand from a huge pit at the bottom of Leach Lane, where Carole Close now stands. This continued until the mid-1920s when it was filled in with ballast by railwaymen. In a Whalley's World article in the St.Helens Star on August 18th 1983, Edith Carter recalled its operations: Edith thought this was operated by a steel-rope haulage system and said it was managed by two men named Meadows and Whittaker. She recalled Meadows falling down the sand hole and breaking a leg.

James Prescott (left) with Bob Bridge of Cannington Shaw with their steam wagon - Contributed by James Prescott

From around 1870, there was a major expansion in bottle-making in St.Helens with three major manufacturers within the Sutton district. By 1889 Nuttalls were employing 450 people at their Ravenhead bottlemaking plant, Lyon Brothers Peasley Glass Works had 200 workers and Cannington Shaw's Sherdley Glass Works employed 870. Frederick Dixon-Nuttall of Nuttalls was Liberal councillor for West Sutton during the early 1890s.

Cannington Shaw took over the Peasley Glass Works in December 1890 as a result of Lyon Bros. going bankrupt. Just four years earlier the Lyons had become a limited company but their attempt at cutting wages by importing foreign labour led to damaging strikes and the company never recovered. Their Swedish bottle-hands even had to have a police escort when returning home. On February 10th 1887, William Roberts was charged in court with assaulting Jacob Hanser and attempting to kick a Swedish woman. He'd thrown a missile at a group of Swedes as they were leaving the works accompanied by police.

By 1892 Cannington Shaw was said to have the largest works of its kind in the world with 1,188 workers and they suffered pilfering on an industrial scale. Sixteen-years-old Ralph Jackson appeared before magistrates on November 2nd, 1895 charged with stealing two bottles from Cannington Shaw. Works manager Mr. Chadwick demanded that an example be made of the boy, claiming in court that around 100 dozen gross bottles had been stolen by lads and men who'd sold them onto publicans and dealers. That's 172,800 bottles! Young Jackson received a week in prison for his two bottle contribution to the company's larceny problem. On September 22nd 1898, the bottle works had a major fire with their huge warehouse burnt to the ground and 430,000 bottles were destroyed.

It was dangerous to work at Cannington Shaw with few concessions for youth. William Clarke from 2 Greenough Street was only thirteen when he was severely burnt about his face and left eye. The accident happened on June 10th 1898 when molten lead fell onto the lad. The company employed large numbers of boys of which many were sourced from reformatories and workhouses. They were summoned to appear in St.Helens Police Court on at least two occasions for breaching child labour regulations. These mainly concerned the night-time labour of boys under the age of fourteen.

In 1897 new regulations forbade such employment at night which caused immense problems for Cannington Shaw. In one court case on January 12th 1900, the company claimed that they'd been forced to close one of their shops because of insufficient boys for night-time shifts. This closure they said had led to fifty men being thrown out of work. In a report in January 1902, it was stated that that the bottlemaking firm had "eighty or ninety" lads on their books.

In 1913 Cannington, Shaw & Co. merged with Nuttalls to form United Glass Bottle Manufacturers Ltd., although their individual brands continued. In the above photo from the early 1930s, Cannington Shaw driver James Prescott is pictured on the left. Born in Knobstick Hall in 1892, he lived in Waterdale Crescent upon marrying and then Irwin Road. With him is believed to be Bob Bridge from Sutton.

Part of the old UGB site photographed from Sherdley golf course in 1990 - Contributed by Jim Lamb

During the 1960s, part of the Sherdley Glass Works was redeveloped and connected to a newly-constructed Peasley Glass Works. The Sherdley plant finally closed in 1981 after over a hundred years of production and most buildings were demolished in 1982. However UGB, (as United Glass was locally known), continued until 1999. The new Saints Rugby League stadium has been built on the site although Cannington Shaw's two-storey red brick no.7 bottle shop still survives. It dates back to about 1886 and is classed as an ancient monument by English Heritage.

The Ravenhead Glass Works was closed on March 16th 2001 with 374 workers made redundant. It was then discovered that there was a "black hole" in the workers' pension provision and in December 2007 the government announced a financial aid package. This was after a campaign led by MP Dave Watts and former workers.

Glassmaking also took place at the Sutton Lodge Glass Works in Peasley Cross, not far from where Pratt and Co. had their silver works. The latter provided services for glassmakers as well as other industries and in July 1871 they silvered what was then the largest mirror in Lancashire. The Liverpool Mercury reported that it measured 100 'superficial feet' and was accomplished using a new process by which the mirror was silvered in 40 hours instead of ten days.

c) Sutton Rolling Mill & Copper Works

The Sutton Copper Works in Sutton Oak was founded in 1832 and 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., with plants in Holywell, Liverpool and Glasgow, as well as in Sutton. It smelted foreign ores, which were then arriving at Liverpool in some quantity and they employed over 100 men in Sutton. They were so successful that they claimed never to lay off men, even during slack periods.

The copper works were also known for looking after their workforce. On January 9th 1855, the Liverpool Mercury reported how 150 of the workmen and their wives had been "plentifully regaled" with a Christmas dinner of roast beef and plum pudding on the previous Saturday night. "All seemed well pleased with their entertainment", the paper commented.

A problem for the works was that the copper ores contained a proportion of sulphur. When the ores were smelted, gas was generated which created a sulphuric acid vapour when it came into contact with moisture. As a consequence, there was often damage to crops and gardens and the copper works regularly found themselves in court. On December 20th 1865, Sutton farmer George Sefton was awarded £18 18 shillings for damage to his wheat, oats, potatoes and mangold wurtzels. At the same hearing Rev. Bernard Corosi of Sutton Monastery was awarded £11 16s. and James Skirven of Sutton Glass Farm won £17 8s. In August 1869 farmer John Johnson was awarded £118 compensation from the copper works for damage to his crops.

On September 30th 1891, twelve-years-old William Dean died in hospital from the injuries that he'd received at the copper works. The young plumber's assistant fell from a fifty-feet high scaffold onto a platform below. The copper works had a chimney 183 feet high and on August 8th 1892, steeplejack Ralph Woods fell from it to his death. Read 'The Drunken Steeplejack' article here.

Sutton Copper Works closed in December 1895 and in a sale advertisement two years later, the site was described as being on triangular-shaped land measuring 2 acres and 1 rood, with a railway on two of its sides and a main road on the third. There were sidings connecting to the railway as well as 'fine chimney shafts, principals' and clerks' offices, watchman's residence, and boundary walls'.

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

A Rolling Mill factory in Watery Lane at Sutton Moss was also built by William Keates in 1860 which shaped metal for industry. It was started by a contingent from Newton Keates's Holywell factory and there was considerable rivalry between the Sutton and Welsh plants.

In the photograph above, James Wilton McTear shows off his family for the camera with his wife Eliza. McTear (born c. 1837) was both the manager of the Sutton Rolling Mill factory and 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.

Workers outside the Sutton Rolling Mill factory c.1924 - Contributed by Ian Jones

The Rolling Mill was closed in December 1895, although it reopened within a few years under the ownership of Widnes copper firm Thomas Bolton & Sons. On August 5th 1902, 29-years-old Michael Noonan was shot and fatally injured at the rear of Bolton's Rolling Mill. The company ran it for many years during the twentieth century, later making metal sheets for the printing industry. Their office block was built out of huge blocks of slag from the casting shop. It looked like rough stone and had many fissures between the large lumps.

The above photograph features the grandfather of Ian Jones who has contributed the photograph. He worked at the Rolling Mill after returning from being a prisoner of war in WW1 and, like many in the workforce, enjoyed his pint in the Coppersmiths Arms which was opposite the plant and nicknamed 'Bobby's'. Ian writes that it was a race on Fridays for the women to get to the men before they could cross the road and spend their wages in Bobby's!

Former 1960s employee, Dave Latham, remembers the row of workers' cottages alongside the Mill and how there used to be "a wonderful steam engine" that powered many of the factory's machines. Dave was badly burned when nitric acid that he was carrying up stairs showered over him after falling.

Thomas Bolton & Sons factory front pictured in the '80s, then run by SD Graphics - Contributed by Dave Latham

The above photograph taken by Dave Latham during the 1980s, reveals the old Thomas Bolton and Sons factory front. Dave writes how it had been taken over by SD Graphics by this time and they had stopped rolling copper, zinc, aluminium and magnesium and were instead coating bought in American metal.

There were also copper works in Ravenhead and Peasley Cross which date back to 1780, when the Parys Mining Company began production. During the 19th and 20th centuries, there was the Ravenhead Old Copper Works and Bibby's Copper Works. Duncan McKechnie established his copper works in 1870 just north of Peasley Cross Colliery. This was taken over by the United Alkali Company in 1890, who closed the works in 1927. Peasley Glass Works was erected on the site by United Glass during the 1960s.

d) Chemical & Alkali Works In Sutton

The Kurtz Alkali works pictured during the mid 1890s just before the tragic accident that killed eight men

By the 1890s, the towns of St.Helens and Widnes were responsible for three-quarters of all chemicals manufactured in Britain. Sutton played its part and the Kurtz Chemicals Co. (aka Sutton Alkali Works) at the old Sutton township's northern perimeter, was an extensive works. It had expanded enormously since Andrew George Kurtz inherited it from his father in 1846. The factory 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.

The shed at Kurtz Alkali Works where the explosion happened

The United Alkali Co. took over the company in 1890 and on May 12th 1899, eight men were killed by a fire and explosion in the chlorate house. A yellow cloud of nitrate gas enveloped the surrounding streets. This photograph (right) shows a group of firemen damping down the demolished vitriol chambers in Warrington New Road. The alkali works closed in 1920.

The Sutton Lodge Chemical Works was operated initially by the Sutton Lodge Chemical Co. from the mid 1870s. The alkali works was set up by Cannington and Shaw, who sold it to the United Alkali Co. in 1890. They closed it in 1896 and the site was repurchased by Cannington, Shaw & Co as a glassworks.

The Greenbank Chemical Works operated from around 1845 until 1921, when its last owners, the United Alkali Co, closed it. Other plants in Ravenhead were Marsh's Chemical Works and Bridgewater Alkali Works. There was also a short-lived vitriol works adjacent to Ravenhead Brick Works which began in the late 1870s. By the 1930s, all the chemical plants had left Sutton and St.Helens through competition from other nearby towns, such as Widnes and Warrington.

e) Crone & Taylor Bone Crushers

Longstanding Crone and Taylor 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', in other words makers of fertilisers, which was how they described their business during the twentieth century.

The headed stationery of Crone & Taylor, Bone Crushers and Manure Manufacturers of Lancots Lane, Sutton Oak

For some years Crone & Taylor's storeroom in Worsley Brow, Sutton Oak, 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".

During the 1890s the company's works extended across two acres of Sutton Oak, for which they paid £360 rent per annum. Crone & Taylor understood the benefits of marketing their wares and they regularly exhibited in agricultural shows where they awarded prizes to the best exhibits. In 1899 at the Vale of Glamorgan Cattle Show, a 'silvered tea service' was presented to Mr. Thomas for two acres of swedes that the farmer had grown with Crone & Taylor manure.

The company had a presence at many Welsh shows, as well as some English ones and held annual exhibitions in Aberdaron. At the first in December 1894, John Davies won a silver breakfast cruet for having the 'heaviest and soundest four swedes and four turnips.' During the early years of the twentieth century, Crone & Taylor produced a number of promotional postcards and pencils.

Many silver teapots were presented by Crone & Taylor at agricultural competitions. However the above is believed to have been presented to the winner of a Cumberland Wrestling Competition at Keswick Sports - contributed by David Tait


This French mantel clock has an inscribed plaque on its front and was probably presented by Crone & Taylor
to the winner of a best in show competition at an agricultural show - photos contributed by Michael Robinson

After WW2, the company abandoned fertilisers for mechanical handling equipment, such as roller conveyors. This change of product seems to have arisen through their use of such conveyors when handling and despatching fertiliser sacks. Their machine shop was at the bridge end of Ellamsbridge Road and was elevated about two metres above the ground, due to the periodic flooding from Sutton Brook. During the 1960s, Crone & Taylor were employing 100 people with a record order book and in 1971 were acquired by Wm. Brandt & Sons. The plant closed in 1983.

Crone & Taylor conveyors - note old Sutton Road police station on left - Contributed by Sutton Historic Society

Prior to Crone & Taylor beginning their operations, Newton Keates & Co. had a bone manure plant on the same Worsley Brow site. A fire of bones eight to nine feet high took place on March 20th 1881, which caused considerable alarm in Sutton. There was also the Bold Manure Works owned by Kearne, Richards & Co. and managed by Alfred Rawlinson. This was a partnership between Roger Charnock Richards, John Hannah Kearne and James Richards. The company was prosecuted in March 1884 for carrying on an:

It was claimed that people were vomiting in the roads and within their own houses because of the terrible smell. A protest meeting had been held in St.Anne's schoolroom on February 1st attended by local councillors as well as William Tipping of Bold Hall. The business had been previously owned by the Lancashire Agricultural Chemical Company who went into liquidation in 1882. The site comprised almost sixteen acres with 1000 yards of sidings, sixteen workmen's cottages and had a chimney seventy-five yards high.

Kearne and Richards had a plant in Dublin as well as at St. Helens Junction and had previously run one near Sandbach. The partnership was dissolved in September 1886 with John Kearne initially running the business as sole proprietor. Alfred Rawlinson - who'd endured the tragedy of his wife killing their son and then herself - then became a partner and the company changed its name to Kearne & Rawlinson before closing in December 1889. Soon afterwards John Kearne was found dead in bed at the White Hart Hotel in St.Helens. He was discovered fully clothed and had chosen to stay at the hotel rather than return home to St.Michael's House in Micklehead Green after visiting Liverpool. Chemical labourer John Doolin, of Heslby Street in Sutton, died from gas inhalation on May 13th 1891 after emptying a nitric acid chamber in preparation for the Bold Manure Works's demolition.

f) Iron Works & Engineering Firms in Sutton

William Neill's were industrial, chemical and structural engineers who were based at their Bold Iron Works in Neills Road. The works first began in 1859 and initially specialised in making machinery for soap manufacturers and alkali firms.

They also appeared to have manufactured soap themselves around this time. Founder William Neill died in 1874 and his son, who inherited the business, soon got it into serious debt. The works were advertised for auction in November 1879 but were saved after the intervention of chemical industrialist David Gamble, who later donated the Gamble Institute to the people of St.Helens. The sale adverts described a substantial mechanics' shop (measuring 160 x 42 feet and 17½ feet high), engine house, office, storeroom, erecting shop, smithy, stable, pattern shop, timekeeper's office plus a manager's residence.

Neill's became a limited company in 1933 and with the extra finance modernised its plant and widened its activities. In an 1937 Times shares advertisement, the company described its activities as an engineering firm that specialised in the manufacture and erection of tanks and other plant for heavy chemical manufacturers. They were also coke oven contractors, gas engineers, soap, creosote, oil and asphalt manufacturers and providers of oil storage installations. Neill's also did "chemical sheet lead and homogenous lead lining work and the design and manufacture of structural steel frame buildings".

Engineering manufacturers Wm. Neill & Son were at St.Helens Junction for over 100 years, founded in 1859

At the company's ninth AGM in October 1946, it was revealed that Wm. Neill's were experiencing considerable difficulties in recruiting skilled labour. Part of the problem was that some of their new fabrication methods involved welding, as opposed to using rivets to make a joint and there was a shortage of trained welders. Also the somewhat remote location of Neill's factory did not help recruitment. Although it claimed to be at St. Helens Junction, in reality it was out in the sticks closer to Bold. Neill's was, at times, a very noisy factory and could be heard over much of Sutton and so was located away from housing estates. In an era when few workers had cars, getting to work was an issue.

The iron works' efforts in developing their own workforce was hampered by apprentices undertaking national service. However with many orders for post-war reconstruction, the company in 1946 was enjoying a sellers' market with much export work. Neill's also reported to their shareholders that they were making more constructional steelwork for industrial buildings than ever.

The company celebrated its centenary in 1959 and shortly afterwards merged in part with the American Varec Organisation to become Neill Varec Ltd. This served as a separate division of Neills and was housed in a relatively new building on the other side of the administration building, closer to Gorsey Lane. Their products were of much lighter engineering than those of the parent company, such as aluminium recovery systems used in the petroleum industry.

Neill's became a founding member of the Capper Neill group which took over the Sutton operations in 1975. J. Laithwaite was the longstanding Managing Director of Neills itself with Suttoner Len Marsh serving as Director of Mechanical Engineering. Warrington-based W.H. Capper (UK) Ltd still exists but the works at Neills Road, Sutton closed around 1984. The company owned many houses which were rented out to employees. These were in Porlock Avenue, Ilfracombe Avenue, Olga Road, Clovelly Avenue and the Leach end of Reginald Road. There were also some near Sherdley Park and in Rainhill.

The St.Helens Junction district hosted a number of engineering companies over the years. On July 21st, 1870, the Glasgow Herald reported how a "party of gentlemen from London, Manchester, and other places" had assembled at the premises of the Lancashire Engineering and Compression Casting Company at the Junction. This was to witness a demonstration of a new process of casting metals. A. Bartons were also based at St.Helens Junction and made colliery winders and what they described as 'ships' deck auxiliaries'. In a 1956 recruitment ad in The Times, they described themselves as "rapidly expanding".

An advertisement for Kenyon Ironworks of Sutton Oak from a 1920 magazine

Kenyon Ironworks of Sutton Oak made steelwork for factories, theatres, bridges and even early aviation hangars. Little seems to be known about the business, who had a main office and works in Sutton and a London office in the Strand.

They were incorporated as a limited company in 1910 but were dissolved on November 20th, 1925. H. W. Johnson & Co. moved to the site in 1926 or 1927 but they went out of business in 1928. Johnson's had taken over the locomotive manufacturing and maintenance sides of the business of E. Borrows & Sons when it closed in 1912. Which brings us neatly to the Providence Foundry in St.Helens Junction.

g) Edward Borrows & Sons Locomotive Makers

Edward Borrows & Sons built many locomotives between 1864 and 1912 at their Providence Foundry in Sutton. The locos that they made were compact and robust and were mainly employed at the various collieries and chemical and glass works in and around St.Helens.

Proprietor Edward Borrows was born near Collins Green in 1822. He received virtually no schooling and at an early age was apprenticed to Melling's engineering works. Their works was located in Liverpool but soon relocated to Rainhill. Although lacking an education, Borrows soon developed remarkable practical skills and became renowned for his inventions and the practical perfecting of other people's ideas. While working for Melling's, Borrows made the first steam whistle for locomotives. He also later invented the steam crane and perfected a steam injector for railway engines plus a loose axle box that enabled locomotives to pass more smoothly and safely over sharp curves.

'Agnes' pictured at Edward Borrows & Sons Providence Foundry at St.Helens Junction in 1883

In 1846 he began working for John Smith and Robert Daglish as foreman in their locomotive department. Their company worked under contract for the St.Helens Canal and Railway Company, who later took over the business and appointed Smith as their managing director. Edward Borrows was given responsibility for managing Sutton Sheds near St.Helens Junction where locomotives were made, housed and maintained. In 1850 he was appointed chief superintendent of the locomotive department and in 1863 they made the White Raven engine, a well-remembered 2-4-2 tank passenger locomotive. Borrows continued in his role until 1864, when the St.Helens Canal and Railway Company was taken over by the London and North-Western Railway Co. Although offered a position as district locomotive superintendent, Borrows chose instead to leave and join a new company.

This had been formed by engineer James Cross who was soon joined by Arthur Sinclair, the former secretary and superintendent of the St.Helens Railway Company. James Cross & Co. leased workshops and for six years manufactured locomotives, mainly for foreign markets. Borrows became its manager although he quit after just two months through a dispute over patent rights. In his spare moments Borrows had created a diaphragm pump but the company felt that they had the right to patent it and enjoy the royalties as he was their employee. Having felt cheated by the St.Helens Railway Company over his work on the steam injector, Borrows felt otherwise.

So with little money and seven children to feed, he took the huge gamble to go alone. Borrows built a small foundry in the garden of his house in Peckers Hill (the road suffix came later) in early 1865. He had little but his reputation but Edward Borrows also had his faith. A devout Roman Catholic, he named his modest foundry Providence Works, as Borrows placed his trust in Providence. His business gradually grew and the works were extended until the garden was full and so part of an adjoining field was used.

Edward Borrows' workforce at their Sutton Junction Providence Foundry in Pecker's Hill

The extensions proved inadequate and so on February 21st 1878, Borrows took possession of his new works. These were located in between the Phoenix Brewery in Peckers Hill and Fisher Street in Sutton.

Despite a lack of any education, Borrows was renowned for his skills as a draughtsman and his mechanical drawings were said to be a marvel. However on June 29th, 1881, Edward Borrows died at the age of 58 and the business was continued by his five sons.

In the staff photograph above, the management wear bowler hats, ties and velvet-collared jackets. The workers by contrast wear caps, mufflers, waistcoasts and clogs. Note the apprentices on the front row, who are little more than children. The Borrows were considerable benefactors to St. Anne's church and have an imposing monument in the church graveyard.

As mentioned earlier, H. W. Johnson & Co. took over from Borrows when they closed in 1912 after the death of Augustin Borrows of Peckers Hill House. Between them the two companies manufactured about 50 locomotives, the lion's share by Borrows. A company called Associated Engineering Industries were based at Providence Foundry from about 1926 until 1933 when they went into liquidation.

h) Other Sutton Works

At St.Helens 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 was based in Cornwall but in 1873 Bickford, Smith and Co purchased the factory and business of Charles Davey & Co. at St.Helens Junction who made safety lamps for the mines. Bickfords' powder works supplied the needs of collieries throughout the north of England and Scotland for some forty years. In 1911 a Mr. Smith of the family firm became manager of Parr's bank in St.Helens. The Sherdley Estate Agent offered him the tenancy of the newly-vacant Sutton Grange by Sherdley Park but he turned it down.

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, closing in 1962.

The Sutton Glass Works site, discussed above, became the location for Sutton Bond munitions manufactory and barracks (1914 -), Nuera Artificial Silk Co. (1926-1930) and cellophane manufacturer British Sidac (1934-1982). In recent times, part of the original glassworks site in Lancots Lane was used by Leathers, Pakcel, Hays Chemicals and then Albion, which closed in 2002.

The British Sidac plant was a major employer in Sutton, which expanded from 22 acres in 1933 to 40 acres and 1,600 workers in 1973. Hays was a controversial sulphuric acid plant. In 1986, 4000 people signed a petition demanding its closure because of leaks and fallout of oleum, ie. fuming sulphuric acid. Their 1987 planning application to construct a new sulphur processing unit was rejected by St.Helens Council after a campaign by residents. In 1988 the Hays management bought the company from the Kuwait Investment Office. At the time this was the second largest management buyout in the country.

On May 19th 1989, Councillor Eric Hutchinson collapsed in Baxters Lane after walking into fumes that had emanated from the Hays plant. He recovered after being taken to hospital. On July 1st 1989, there was another bad leak at Hays which was caused by a rupture in an oleum tank. For this the company was prosecuted and fined £3000. To calm fears in the district, Hays held open days and resident meetings plus mock emergencies, that were codenamed 'Cloudburst', took place.

Sutton township also had a number of watchmakers, the craft spreading from Liverpool from about 1670 and was especially popular in nearby Prescot. Also see other pages on Sutton industries: Mining in Sutton; Sutton Manor Colliery Pt1; Memories of Sutton Manor by Stan Johnson; Clock Face Colliery; Bold Colliery; The Poison Gas Works;
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