MARTON RELATED EXTRACTS
Posted: 20 Apr 2012, 15:02
MARTON RELATED EXTRACTS FROM STANLEY GRAHAM’S INDEX AS OF 01 August 2004.
HEBER ENTRIES IN INDEX:
Heber. Thomas
Thomas Heber; Gent. Of Gargrave married Mary Hammerton of Long Preston, widow and gentlewoman, in 1598 at Long Preston.
Heber. Henry.
Henry Heber of Stainton married Margaret Somerscales of Giggleswick in 1598 at Giggleswick.
Heber. Thomas.
Thomas Heber of Stainton married Eleanor Ferrand of Carleton in Craven in 1593 at Carleton.
Heber. Mrs. 1822.
Langdale’s directory for 1822 notes under ‘Marton. East or Church united with West Marton to form the township of Martons Both’ that the church is a rectory dedicated to St Peter. The Patroness is Mrs Heber whose seat was Marton Hall which the family have owned for generations. Reginald Heber (b. 1728) became a clergyman and died in 1804.
1838.
William Atkinson in his unpublished memoir ‘Old Barlick’ notes on page 12 that an entry in the West Riding directory for 1838 says that there was a public house at West Marton called the Heber Arms. The publican was Henry Langstroth in that year. Quoting from the same directory he says that Marton contained 443 inhabitants and 2310 acres. Two neighbouring villages together with the hamlet of Marton Scars. Mrs Henry Cholmondley as heiress of the Heber Family is Lady of the Manor and owner of Marton Hall in which was born Reginald Heber, a noted Divine, who died in 1804 and of whose family was Bishop Heber. R H Roundell Esquire has a large estate there and Gledstone Hall.
ROUNDELL ENTRIES.
Election 1906.
LTP transcript 78/AB/07. Page 8. Billy Brooks talks about Billy Clough getting in as Liberal MP for the Skipton Division in 1906. He beat Richard Roundell.
Bankfield Shed.
LTP. 78/AB/04. Page 8. Billy talks about Richard Roundell being the owner of the land on which Bankfield Shed was built and he christened the engine there in 1905.
Bowker Drain.
The Land in Eastwood Bottoms where the tank was constructed to collect the water from the Bowker Drain which was the water supply for Wellhouse Mill was owned by Roundell of Gledstone, probably as part of the Coates Estate. The Calf Hall Shed Company paid an annual fee for the water rights. In 1891 at was noted as £5 per annum.
Long Ing Shed, Barnoldswick.
Report in the Cotton Factory Times of 03/06/1887 about the starting of the engines at Long Ing Shed. It is stated that the land for the shed was bought off Mrs Roundell, the owner of the Gledstone Estate.
1871 census. Gledstone House
The Rev. D R Roundell, Clerk in holy orders, 87 years. Charles S Roundell, son, 43, unmarried. 9 servants.
1851 census.
Gledstone House. Richard H Roundell, 72, esquire. 295 acres and 20 labourers. Mary A Roundell, 62, sister. 9 servants.
1822 Langdale’s directory.
Roundell. Richard, Esquire. Seat is at Gledstone Hall.
Roundell. RH.
Proprietor of lands at Letcliffe. Evidence is an old, but undated, map.
Roundell water rights. Eastwood Bottoms.
Calf Hall Shed Company Minute books of 18/06/1902 report that a letter had been received from A F Roundell dated 07/06/1902 giving 12 months notice to quit the agreement dated 20/12/1883 made between C S Roundell and William Bracewell under which, as successors to William Bracewell the CHSC has paid the yearly rent of £5 per annum. The agreement refers to the right to abstract water in Eastwood Bottoms, the main source of water for the mill dams. The flow was estimated in 15/04/1903 to be 4000 to 5000 gallons per hour. 10/06/1893 CHSCMB report a new agreement was agreed for an annual tenancy at the rate of £10 per annum.
Roundell land in Barlick, 1887.
On the 1887 sale document plans for the sale of the Bracewell properties William Roundell is shown as the owner of land to the East of the new gas works. Probably as part of the Coates Estate.
Roundell. William.
William Roundell of ‘Gledstone, Skipton’ is noted as a shareholder in the Craven Bank in 1881.
GLEDSTONE ENTRIES.
Poaching.
Craven Herald. 29/07/1932. Report that Daniel Demaine, a weaver from Barnoldswick was charged with night poaching on the Gledstone Estate at West Marton. He was found guilty and sentenced to 3 months gaol with hard labour. Sidney T England, the head gamekeeper for Sir Amos Nelson Limited and his brother, Edwin England, were on duty near Pikeley Fields Farm tenanted by John Lawson. Demaine said that as it was holiday week there was no money fro him to draw and an order for 7/- a week was made for him by the court. The miscreants had stoned the keepers while one of them, an old man, had got away.
Water supply for West Marton.
LTP 82/HD/06. Page 2. Harold Duxbury and SG discuss the hydraulic ram at Hall Spout spring [SD88374521] Harold said that this ram pumped water to West Marton but I had difficulty understanding this as it is only a three quarter inch bore pipe. I think that this ram would be on Roundell land at one time.
Poaching at Gledstone.
Craven Herald. 01/02/1929. Report of a case of poaching at West Marton. William Berry and Edwin Slater, twister, of Barnoldswick were caught netting rabbits and using a ferret on the Gledstone Estate. Sidney T England was the head keeper who gave evidence. The men were fined £1 with costs.
William Hoggarth, blacksmith.
Craven Herald 14/03/1930. Picture of William Hoggarth standing outside the smithy with one of the panels for the overthrow he has been making for New Gledstone Hall to the design of Lutyens, the architect.
Turf Pit Gate Farm
Craven Herald; 01/08/1930. Notice that Turf Pit Gate Farm, Bracewell. (167 acres) is to let. Land by 2nd February 1931 and house by May 12th. Advertised by W Hargreaves, the Estate Office, West Marton.
Wormwell. Rufus
CH 22/06/1931. Report of the death of Rufus Wormwell of 62 Skipton Road, Earby. His father was the late Henry Wormwell who was a local builder and contractor. Rufus Wormwell had worked on the construction of New Gledstone Hall.
New Gledstone.
Owen Duxbury told me that Sir Amos Nelson specified stone from Upper Hill Quarry (Loose Games) in Barlick for New Gledstone Hall.
MARTON ENTRIES:
Text of a memorial tablet in East Marton church.
‘Sacred to the memory of Amos Nelson Kt. Of Gledstone. Died 13 August 1947 aged 87 years and of his wife Harriet Nelson died 21 May 1966 aged 70 years.
[Note the discrepancy in age. Amos was born 1860 and Harriett was born 1896, she was 36 years younger. She was his secretary and whilst I don’t know the sequence of events Amos and she were in a clandestine relationship and after his wife died in 1926 she and he married. George Parker, the Gledstone woodman at the time came across them in a compromising situation in the woods but withdrew gracefully and kept quiet. From then on he had his cottage free for life, this was confirmed in Harriett’s will. George lived in the first cottage below the dairy on the Gargrave road with his housekeeper. He rode a bike until well into his eighties. Percy Graham, who also worked for the estate, lived in the cottage below and it was him who told me about the free cottage as I think he was a bit upset by it. ]
Text on Gledstone memorial in the church at East Marton.
‘In memory of Richard Henry Roundell who died at Gledstone on 26th August 1851 aged 74. Became Lord of the Manor of East and West Marton in 1841. Tablet erected by his brother and successor Rev. Richardson Danson Currer who resumed his paternal name of Roundell on 21st October 1851. He was born 3rd of April 1784 and died at Gledstone on 10th of March 1873. Also his wife Hannah, eldest daughter of Sir William Foulis of Ingleby Manor Yorks who died at Gledstone 23rd of April 1869 aged 77 years.
LTP transcript 82/HD/06.
Harold Duxbury talks about Jack Harrison going into partnership with Jack Widdup and Gordon Stewart and buying Whitewell Dairies at Accrington of the owner Mr Moore and later selling it on to Associated Dairies. Gordon Stewart lived at Stainton House and was a representative for UDEC, his brother Malcolm was a technical manager with Associated Dairies. Harold talked about his knowledge of the beginning of the modern West Marton Dairies (1947?) He said it was founded by Joe Nelson and run by Gilbert, his son. He describes Gilbert as a fool and mentions David Peacock as being his right hand man. Steve Beckwith was an able foreman and a tower of strength. He was promised a directorship but he was passed over and it went to Mrs Peacock instead. Shortly after the dairy started Colin Barritt of Kayfield Farm, Barnoldswick, went to work there. He also describes Steve Beckwith as the mainstay and says that when he first went there the billheads carried the name ‘Gilbert Dairies’.
Nelson. Sir Amos.
LTP transcript 84/SP/011. Page 5. Stephen Pickles talks about his father and Amos Nelson starting manufacturing in the same year, 1881. They were friends and both were teetotallers. Stephen says that Amos bought the Gledstone Estate and that the previous owner, Roundell, who was also a prohibitionist, had closed the pubs at both Martons and Elslack. Sir Amos sold Barn Cottage, Thornton in Craven to Stephen [b. 1856 and this Stephen’s father] for £130 in 1930. Stephen knew Harriett who was the daughter of the estate agent at West Marton, a man called Hargreaves. He said that she was engaged to a lad who worked in a bank at Barnoldswick but he jilted her. She later became Amos’s secretary and eventually married him. In LTP transcript 81/VH/01, Page 6. Victor Hedges, former senior partner at Proctor and Proctor of Burnley said that Amos Nelson’s father [James Nelson] started by renting some looms in the mill where he worked and went into business on his own account.
Nelson. Sir Amos.
Owner of Gledstone Hall who demolished the Old Hall and built New Gledstone in the 1920s.He bought the estate off the Roundell family. The Roundells owned land in Barlick and were negotiating with the Calf Hall Shed Company over the water rights in Eastwood Bottoms in 1903.
LTP transcript 81/VH/01. Page 18. Victor hedges talks about Edward Wood of Proctor and Proctor being friendly with Sir Amos and playing golf with him. Talks about Valley Mills in Nelson and says he thinks the Lustrafil plant was at Valley Mills. [Lustrafil was the trade name for the first rayon yarns which were produced by the reaction of the cellulose in wood with strong acids. Jimmy Nelsons were very early into this technology and the workers suffered terrible conditions.
Nelson. Sir Amos.
Griffin, in ‘This is my Life’ page 36 talks about his days as a bus driver. He says that when Sir Amos lived at Thornton he occasionally caught the bus to West Marton presumably on his inspections of the work on New Gledstone. On one occasion he told Griffin he would pay him later. Not recorded whether he did.
Sagar’s Quarries in Barlick.
LTP 79/AO/03. Page 4. Jack Platt says that Amos Nelson owned the land on which the Lower Quarry was started on Salterforth Lane.
Nelson. Sir Amos and Coates Estate.
In ancient times the Coates estate in Barlick was owned by Sawley Abbey. By 1667 William Drake owned it. William Bagshawe became the owner in 1758. In 1883 Lt. Co. Roundell of Gledstone bought it and in 1915 it passed to Sir Amos Nelson when he bought the Gledstone Estate. (History of Barnoldswick. John Savage) [John was wrong with the date, it was actually 1920]
Amos Nelson. Daughter.
Audrey Woodcock, who used to be Stephen Pickle’s secretary told me that Stephen married one of Amos Nelson’s daughters and lived at Woodland’ at Foulridge.
Amos Nelson. Appeasement.
Barnoldswick and Earby Times of October 29th 1937 reported Sir Amos as having made a speech to the Conservative Club recommending an alliance with Germany.
New Gledstone Hall
LTP transcript 82/HD/05. Page 14. Harold Duxbury talks about the building of New Gladstone. The architect was Lutyens, his deputy was Jaques from Barrowford and Sir Amos was the client. Harold says it was built with direct labour supervised by foremen who were brought in and this led to shoddy workmanship. Hogarth at Marton made the ironwork for the front of the hall and Jimmy Thompson once told me that for the first three years of his apprenticeship he did nothing but sharpen tools for the masons on site with a portable forge. Harold says that Sir Amos ran short of money before the contract was finished due to bad trade and a large unexpected tax demand. Harold dealt with Sir Amos personally for about three years when Briggs and Duxbury had the contract for maintenance and formed a good impression of him. [Harold also told me off the record that his impression was that one of the reasons why the contract was never finished was that Sir Amos didn’t take enough interest in the details and when he came back from a cruise was astounded when he realised the true scale of the works. This was the reason why the proposed drive out to the North Lodge was never built.]
Purchase of the Roundell Estate
The Craven Herald of 02/01/1920 reported that Sir Amos Nelson had bought the Roundell Estate. He was living in the Manor House at Thornton in Craven at the time.
1822.
Mention in 1822 Baines Directory of William Brown as Victualler at the New Inn, West Marton. [West Marton listed separately from East Marton where Robert Bond is given as Victualler at the Cross Keys so no confusion there.]
In 1801 a John Bond had a water spinning mill at ‘Marton’ and had insurance cover as follows: Mill £40, Nearby spinning shop, £30. Millwork £30. Machinery (mill) £20. Machinery (spinning) £100. Stock in mill £50. Stock for spinning £30. John Bond was also the publican in @Marton’ (East Marton?) The mill was stopped by 1820. In ‘Marriner’s Yarns’ by George Ingle, page 32 George states that East and West Marton on the Leeds and Liverpool canal had a small cotton mill run by a local publican called John Bbond. His name occurs several times in the ledgers of Marriners at Greengates Mill, Keighley and twenty five of the hand loom weavers in these ledgers worked in Marton and others at Broughton and Newton. Bond may have been a local agent for Marriners, putting out yarn to local HLW. For his name is scrawled across several pages in the ledgers. In the Craven Herald of 05/07/1929 Tom and Daniel Demaine, two Barnoldswick weavers, were up in court for poaching on the Gledstone estate. They were first seen by Robert Hall of 25 Edmondson Street in Barnoldswick (In the 1960s Bob Hall was the estate agent at Gledstone and lived in the North Lodge, he was a noted breeder of Border terriers) The Gledstone gamekeeper Sidney T England gave evidence and the two men were fined £2 each and costs for shooting rabbits near Southfield Bridge. The estate agent at Gledstone at that time was W H Bond, any relation?
2001
Craven Herald, 05/01/2001. Report that WMD is closed and unlikely to reopen. Workers were told on December 22nd 2000 that their jobs were finished, told to clear their lockers and leave the premises. The dairy was opened in 1900 by the Roundell family to deal with milk produced on the estate. Set up as West Marton Creamery to make butter it became West Marton Dairies in 1947. {SCG. I have been told that one of the early directors was a solicitor from Crosshills named Scott.} In 1960 it was bought by Associated Dairies of Leeds and in 1987 passed to Van den Berg Foods. In October 1999 it was sold to Yieldingtree Ltd, a West-Midlands based producer of Yoghurt and cheese. Became British Creameries Group and passed into receivership a year later.
SCG/01 August 2004
Codicil published on oneguy site:
Stanley, a few notes on the Nelson's enterprises in Nelson:
Amos Nelson's father, James "Jimmy" Nelson, was the manager of a mill in Winewall. In 1881 this mill closes and James sank his life savings of £1000 into his own business. He rented enough 'room & power' to run 160 looms at Brook Street Mills in Nelson (owned by Jos. Sunderland and Thos. Hargreaves).Due to other commitments James had his son, Amos, run this enterprise. By the end of the 1880s the Nelsons ran approximately 1000 looms, most of which were at Walverden Shed.
In 1895 James built his own mill, Number 1 Shed at Valley Mills, Southfield Street, Nelson. The second shed was completed by 1900.These Sheds offered 'room and power' at first but the Nelsons ceased this business and operated the Valley Mills solely for themselves.
The Nelsons made a name for themselves in quality yarns (American and Egyptian)building the main business on 54" Italian Lining Cloth. Later they marketed the Marquise range which made them money in America and poplins. The Nelsons were soon turning out 400,000 yards of cloth per week.
They purchased spinning mills in Rochdale and Bolton and expanded their interests nationally.
James died in 1912. Around the beginning of WW1 the Valley Mills had 1,200 looms and 24,000 doubling spindles. The Nelsons were now the largest employers in nelson.
Amos Nelson built "Jimmy's" sports club in the 1920s as a memorial to his workers who never returned from WW1. He was knighted in 1922.
Nelsons registered the name Lustrafil Ltd in 1923 and this became the generic term for 'artificial silk'. They used the name Rayon instead of artificial because this gave the impression of better quality. Viscose was produced At Valley Mills from 1924 and quality steadily increased into the 1930s. Continuous filament spinning was introduced by Amos's son, Joe, and by the start of WW11 the process of continuous spinning of Lustrafil was achieved. Rayon accounted for 3/4 of all the Nelson’s output by the late 1940s.
Amos died in 1947 by which time Valley Mills were being extensively modernised. A new Shed was opened which ran 1,200 crepe looms. Amos was on the verge of setting up a global production base for his products at the time of his death..
STANLEY CHALLENGER GRAHAM
HEBER ENTRIES IN INDEX:
Heber. Thomas
Thomas Heber; Gent. Of Gargrave married Mary Hammerton of Long Preston, widow and gentlewoman, in 1598 at Long Preston.
Heber. Henry.
Henry Heber of Stainton married Margaret Somerscales of Giggleswick in 1598 at Giggleswick.
Heber. Thomas.
Thomas Heber of Stainton married Eleanor Ferrand of Carleton in Craven in 1593 at Carleton.
Heber. Mrs. 1822.
Langdale’s directory for 1822 notes under ‘Marton. East or Church united with West Marton to form the township of Martons Both’ that the church is a rectory dedicated to St Peter. The Patroness is Mrs Heber whose seat was Marton Hall which the family have owned for generations. Reginald Heber (b. 1728) became a clergyman and died in 1804.
1838.
William Atkinson in his unpublished memoir ‘Old Barlick’ notes on page 12 that an entry in the West Riding directory for 1838 says that there was a public house at West Marton called the Heber Arms. The publican was Henry Langstroth in that year. Quoting from the same directory he says that Marton contained 443 inhabitants and 2310 acres. Two neighbouring villages together with the hamlet of Marton Scars. Mrs Henry Cholmondley as heiress of the Heber Family is Lady of the Manor and owner of Marton Hall in which was born Reginald Heber, a noted Divine, who died in 1804 and of whose family was Bishop Heber. R H Roundell Esquire has a large estate there and Gledstone Hall.
ROUNDELL ENTRIES.
Election 1906.
LTP transcript 78/AB/07. Page 8. Billy Brooks talks about Billy Clough getting in as Liberal MP for the Skipton Division in 1906. He beat Richard Roundell.
Bankfield Shed.
LTP. 78/AB/04. Page 8. Billy talks about Richard Roundell being the owner of the land on which Bankfield Shed was built and he christened the engine there in 1905.
Bowker Drain.
The Land in Eastwood Bottoms where the tank was constructed to collect the water from the Bowker Drain which was the water supply for Wellhouse Mill was owned by Roundell of Gledstone, probably as part of the Coates Estate. The Calf Hall Shed Company paid an annual fee for the water rights. In 1891 at was noted as £5 per annum.
Long Ing Shed, Barnoldswick.
Report in the Cotton Factory Times of 03/06/1887 about the starting of the engines at Long Ing Shed. It is stated that the land for the shed was bought off Mrs Roundell, the owner of the Gledstone Estate.
1871 census. Gledstone House
The Rev. D R Roundell, Clerk in holy orders, 87 years. Charles S Roundell, son, 43, unmarried. 9 servants.
1851 census.
Gledstone House. Richard H Roundell, 72, esquire. 295 acres and 20 labourers. Mary A Roundell, 62, sister. 9 servants.
1822 Langdale’s directory.
Roundell. Richard, Esquire. Seat is at Gledstone Hall.
Roundell. RH.
Proprietor of lands at Letcliffe. Evidence is an old, but undated, map.
Roundell water rights. Eastwood Bottoms.
Calf Hall Shed Company Minute books of 18/06/1902 report that a letter had been received from A F Roundell dated 07/06/1902 giving 12 months notice to quit the agreement dated 20/12/1883 made between C S Roundell and William Bracewell under which, as successors to William Bracewell the CHSC has paid the yearly rent of £5 per annum. The agreement refers to the right to abstract water in Eastwood Bottoms, the main source of water for the mill dams. The flow was estimated in 15/04/1903 to be 4000 to 5000 gallons per hour. 10/06/1893 CHSCMB report a new agreement was agreed for an annual tenancy at the rate of £10 per annum.
Roundell land in Barlick, 1887.
On the 1887 sale document plans for the sale of the Bracewell properties William Roundell is shown as the owner of land to the East of the new gas works. Probably as part of the Coates Estate.
Roundell. William.
William Roundell of ‘Gledstone, Skipton’ is noted as a shareholder in the Craven Bank in 1881.
GLEDSTONE ENTRIES.
Poaching.
Craven Herald. 29/07/1932. Report that Daniel Demaine, a weaver from Barnoldswick was charged with night poaching on the Gledstone Estate at West Marton. He was found guilty and sentenced to 3 months gaol with hard labour. Sidney T England, the head gamekeeper for Sir Amos Nelson Limited and his brother, Edwin England, were on duty near Pikeley Fields Farm tenanted by John Lawson. Demaine said that as it was holiday week there was no money fro him to draw and an order for 7/- a week was made for him by the court. The miscreants had stoned the keepers while one of them, an old man, had got away.
Water supply for West Marton.
LTP 82/HD/06. Page 2. Harold Duxbury and SG discuss the hydraulic ram at Hall Spout spring [SD88374521] Harold said that this ram pumped water to West Marton but I had difficulty understanding this as it is only a three quarter inch bore pipe. I think that this ram would be on Roundell land at one time.
Poaching at Gledstone.
Craven Herald. 01/02/1929. Report of a case of poaching at West Marton. William Berry and Edwin Slater, twister, of Barnoldswick were caught netting rabbits and using a ferret on the Gledstone Estate. Sidney T England was the head keeper who gave evidence. The men were fined £1 with costs.
William Hoggarth, blacksmith.
Craven Herald 14/03/1930. Picture of William Hoggarth standing outside the smithy with one of the panels for the overthrow he has been making for New Gledstone Hall to the design of Lutyens, the architect.
Turf Pit Gate Farm
Craven Herald; 01/08/1930. Notice that Turf Pit Gate Farm, Bracewell. (167 acres) is to let. Land by 2nd February 1931 and house by May 12th. Advertised by W Hargreaves, the Estate Office, West Marton.
Wormwell. Rufus
CH 22/06/1931. Report of the death of Rufus Wormwell of 62 Skipton Road, Earby. His father was the late Henry Wormwell who was a local builder and contractor. Rufus Wormwell had worked on the construction of New Gledstone Hall.
New Gledstone.
Owen Duxbury told me that Sir Amos Nelson specified stone from Upper Hill Quarry (Loose Games) in Barlick for New Gledstone Hall.
MARTON ENTRIES:
Text of a memorial tablet in East Marton church.
‘Sacred to the memory of Amos Nelson Kt. Of Gledstone. Died 13 August 1947 aged 87 years and of his wife Harriet Nelson died 21 May 1966 aged 70 years.
[Note the discrepancy in age. Amos was born 1860 and Harriett was born 1896, she was 36 years younger. She was his secretary and whilst I don’t know the sequence of events Amos and she were in a clandestine relationship and after his wife died in 1926 she and he married. George Parker, the Gledstone woodman at the time came across them in a compromising situation in the woods but withdrew gracefully and kept quiet. From then on he had his cottage free for life, this was confirmed in Harriett’s will. George lived in the first cottage below the dairy on the Gargrave road with his housekeeper. He rode a bike until well into his eighties. Percy Graham, who also worked for the estate, lived in the cottage below and it was him who told me about the free cottage as I think he was a bit upset by it. ]
Text on Gledstone memorial in the church at East Marton.
‘In memory of Richard Henry Roundell who died at Gledstone on 26th August 1851 aged 74. Became Lord of the Manor of East and West Marton in 1841. Tablet erected by his brother and successor Rev. Richardson Danson Currer who resumed his paternal name of Roundell on 21st October 1851. He was born 3rd of April 1784 and died at Gledstone on 10th of March 1873. Also his wife Hannah, eldest daughter of Sir William Foulis of Ingleby Manor Yorks who died at Gledstone 23rd of April 1869 aged 77 years.
LTP transcript 82/HD/06.
Harold Duxbury talks about Jack Harrison going into partnership with Jack Widdup and Gordon Stewart and buying Whitewell Dairies at Accrington of the owner Mr Moore and later selling it on to Associated Dairies. Gordon Stewart lived at Stainton House and was a representative for UDEC, his brother Malcolm was a technical manager with Associated Dairies. Harold talked about his knowledge of the beginning of the modern West Marton Dairies (1947?) He said it was founded by Joe Nelson and run by Gilbert, his son. He describes Gilbert as a fool and mentions David Peacock as being his right hand man. Steve Beckwith was an able foreman and a tower of strength. He was promised a directorship but he was passed over and it went to Mrs Peacock instead. Shortly after the dairy started Colin Barritt of Kayfield Farm, Barnoldswick, went to work there. He also describes Steve Beckwith as the mainstay and says that when he first went there the billheads carried the name ‘Gilbert Dairies’.
Nelson. Sir Amos.
LTP transcript 84/SP/011. Page 5. Stephen Pickles talks about his father and Amos Nelson starting manufacturing in the same year, 1881. They were friends and both were teetotallers. Stephen says that Amos bought the Gledstone Estate and that the previous owner, Roundell, who was also a prohibitionist, had closed the pubs at both Martons and Elslack. Sir Amos sold Barn Cottage, Thornton in Craven to Stephen [b. 1856 and this Stephen’s father] for £130 in 1930. Stephen knew Harriett who was the daughter of the estate agent at West Marton, a man called Hargreaves. He said that she was engaged to a lad who worked in a bank at Barnoldswick but he jilted her. She later became Amos’s secretary and eventually married him. In LTP transcript 81/VH/01, Page 6. Victor Hedges, former senior partner at Proctor and Proctor of Burnley said that Amos Nelson’s father [James Nelson] started by renting some looms in the mill where he worked and went into business on his own account.
Nelson. Sir Amos.
Owner of Gledstone Hall who demolished the Old Hall and built New Gledstone in the 1920s.He bought the estate off the Roundell family. The Roundells owned land in Barlick and were negotiating with the Calf Hall Shed Company over the water rights in Eastwood Bottoms in 1903.
LTP transcript 81/VH/01. Page 18. Victor hedges talks about Edward Wood of Proctor and Proctor being friendly with Sir Amos and playing golf with him. Talks about Valley Mills in Nelson and says he thinks the Lustrafil plant was at Valley Mills. [Lustrafil was the trade name for the first rayon yarns which were produced by the reaction of the cellulose in wood with strong acids. Jimmy Nelsons were very early into this technology and the workers suffered terrible conditions.
Nelson. Sir Amos.
Griffin, in ‘This is my Life’ page 36 talks about his days as a bus driver. He says that when Sir Amos lived at Thornton he occasionally caught the bus to West Marton presumably on his inspections of the work on New Gledstone. On one occasion he told Griffin he would pay him later. Not recorded whether he did.
Sagar’s Quarries in Barlick.
LTP 79/AO/03. Page 4. Jack Platt says that Amos Nelson owned the land on which the Lower Quarry was started on Salterforth Lane.
Nelson. Sir Amos and Coates Estate.
In ancient times the Coates estate in Barlick was owned by Sawley Abbey. By 1667 William Drake owned it. William Bagshawe became the owner in 1758. In 1883 Lt. Co. Roundell of Gledstone bought it and in 1915 it passed to Sir Amos Nelson when he bought the Gledstone Estate. (History of Barnoldswick. John Savage) [John was wrong with the date, it was actually 1920]
Amos Nelson. Daughter.
Audrey Woodcock, who used to be Stephen Pickle’s secretary told me that Stephen married one of Amos Nelson’s daughters and lived at Woodland’ at Foulridge.
Amos Nelson. Appeasement.
Barnoldswick and Earby Times of October 29th 1937 reported Sir Amos as having made a speech to the Conservative Club recommending an alliance with Germany.
New Gledstone Hall
LTP transcript 82/HD/05. Page 14. Harold Duxbury talks about the building of New Gladstone. The architect was Lutyens, his deputy was Jaques from Barrowford and Sir Amos was the client. Harold says it was built with direct labour supervised by foremen who were brought in and this led to shoddy workmanship. Hogarth at Marton made the ironwork for the front of the hall and Jimmy Thompson once told me that for the first three years of his apprenticeship he did nothing but sharpen tools for the masons on site with a portable forge. Harold says that Sir Amos ran short of money before the contract was finished due to bad trade and a large unexpected tax demand. Harold dealt with Sir Amos personally for about three years when Briggs and Duxbury had the contract for maintenance and formed a good impression of him. [Harold also told me off the record that his impression was that one of the reasons why the contract was never finished was that Sir Amos didn’t take enough interest in the details and when he came back from a cruise was astounded when he realised the true scale of the works. This was the reason why the proposed drive out to the North Lodge was never built.]
Purchase of the Roundell Estate
The Craven Herald of 02/01/1920 reported that Sir Amos Nelson had bought the Roundell Estate. He was living in the Manor House at Thornton in Craven at the time.
1822.
Mention in 1822 Baines Directory of William Brown as Victualler at the New Inn, West Marton. [West Marton listed separately from East Marton where Robert Bond is given as Victualler at the Cross Keys so no confusion there.]
In 1801 a John Bond had a water spinning mill at ‘Marton’ and had insurance cover as follows: Mill £40, Nearby spinning shop, £30. Millwork £30. Machinery (mill) £20. Machinery (spinning) £100. Stock in mill £50. Stock for spinning £30. John Bond was also the publican in @Marton’ (East Marton?) The mill was stopped by 1820. In ‘Marriner’s Yarns’ by George Ingle, page 32 George states that East and West Marton on the Leeds and Liverpool canal had a small cotton mill run by a local publican called John Bbond. His name occurs several times in the ledgers of Marriners at Greengates Mill, Keighley and twenty five of the hand loom weavers in these ledgers worked in Marton and others at Broughton and Newton. Bond may have been a local agent for Marriners, putting out yarn to local HLW. For his name is scrawled across several pages in the ledgers. In the Craven Herald of 05/07/1929 Tom and Daniel Demaine, two Barnoldswick weavers, were up in court for poaching on the Gledstone estate. They were first seen by Robert Hall of 25 Edmondson Street in Barnoldswick (In the 1960s Bob Hall was the estate agent at Gledstone and lived in the North Lodge, he was a noted breeder of Border terriers) The Gledstone gamekeeper Sidney T England gave evidence and the two men were fined £2 each and costs for shooting rabbits near Southfield Bridge. The estate agent at Gledstone at that time was W H Bond, any relation?
2001
Craven Herald, 05/01/2001. Report that WMD is closed and unlikely to reopen. Workers were told on December 22nd 2000 that their jobs were finished, told to clear their lockers and leave the premises. The dairy was opened in 1900 by the Roundell family to deal with milk produced on the estate. Set up as West Marton Creamery to make butter it became West Marton Dairies in 1947. {SCG. I have been told that one of the early directors was a solicitor from Crosshills named Scott.} In 1960 it was bought by Associated Dairies of Leeds and in 1987 passed to Van den Berg Foods. In October 1999 it was sold to Yieldingtree Ltd, a West-Midlands based producer of Yoghurt and cheese. Became British Creameries Group and passed into receivership a year later.
SCG/01 August 2004
Codicil published on oneguy site:
Stanley, a few notes on the Nelson's enterprises in Nelson:
Amos Nelson's father, James "Jimmy" Nelson, was the manager of a mill in Winewall. In 1881 this mill closes and James sank his life savings of £1000 into his own business. He rented enough 'room & power' to run 160 looms at Brook Street Mills in Nelson (owned by Jos. Sunderland and Thos. Hargreaves).Due to other commitments James had his son, Amos, run this enterprise. By the end of the 1880s the Nelsons ran approximately 1000 looms, most of which were at Walverden Shed.
In 1895 James built his own mill, Number 1 Shed at Valley Mills, Southfield Street, Nelson. The second shed was completed by 1900.These Sheds offered 'room and power' at first but the Nelsons ceased this business and operated the Valley Mills solely for themselves.
The Nelsons made a name for themselves in quality yarns (American and Egyptian)building the main business on 54" Italian Lining Cloth. Later they marketed the Marquise range which made them money in America and poplins. The Nelsons were soon turning out 400,000 yards of cloth per week.
They purchased spinning mills in Rochdale and Bolton and expanded their interests nationally.
James died in 1912. Around the beginning of WW1 the Valley Mills had 1,200 looms and 24,000 doubling spindles. The Nelsons were now the largest employers in nelson.
Amos Nelson built "Jimmy's" sports club in the 1920s as a memorial to his workers who never returned from WW1. He was knighted in 1922.
Nelsons registered the name Lustrafil Ltd in 1923 and this became the generic term for 'artificial silk'. They used the name Rayon instead of artificial because this gave the impression of better quality. Viscose was produced At Valley Mills from 1924 and quality steadily increased into the 1930s. Continuous filament spinning was introduced by Amos's son, Joe, and by the start of WW11 the process of continuous spinning of Lustrafil was achieved. Rayon accounted for 3/4 of all the Nelson’s output by the late 1940s.
Amos died in 1947 by which time Valley Mills were being extensively modernised. A new Shed was opened which ran 1,200 crepe looms. Amos was on the verge of setting up a global production base for his products at the time of his death..
STANLEY CHALLENGER GRAHAM