Yorkshire

Britain’s largest county with a long history of wool, coal and steelmaking. I draw together an overview of coal mining and iron and steel making to place individual regions in a national context.

Sheffield

Sheffield was to steel as Manchester was to cotton and Leeds to wool. This developed in Sheffield plate (silver plating) and stainless steel. On a larger scale, it was the place of Huntsman’s invention of crucible steel and the development of the Bessemer processes embraced by the father of Sheffield steel, John Brown, for rails and armour plating for naval ships. It was the birthplace of Vickers and the Vickers/Cammell Laird English Steel Corporation (Sheffield). Part of this now continues in public ownership as Sheffield Forgemasters. Read more about Sheffield manufacturing by following this link.

Leeds

A city that made its wealth from the wool industry; in the years following the Second World War the Burton factory employed 20,000 people. Wool attracted textile machinery manufacturers and engineering more generally, including the railways. Yorkshire Chemical Company provided the dyes for the wool industry. See much more by following this link. In nearby Temple Newsam one of the first fulling mills was erected in 1185.

Bradford

The home of worsted production and a major iron producer. In 2025 the UK City of Culture. See much more by following this link.

Wakefield

A coal mining town on the river Calder with a history of working with wool. Sirdar knitting wool is spun here. Sirdar was also famous for their knitting patterns. Hodgson and Simpson, soap manufacturer later part of Unilever, was active here. Coca Cola has major plant here. The British Premium Sausage Company formed in Bradford to produce high end sausages distinct from then prevalence of cheap sausages with low quality ingredients. At nearby Batley Angloco make fire engines.

Castleford

In 1972 Burberry moved its production of gabardine overcoats.

Yeadon

North of Leeds, Avro produced Lancasters and and Ansons in what was reputedly the largest single factory unit in Europe at the time employing 17,500 people. The Dowty Heritage site offers more fascinating detail on aircraft production and the shadow factories.

Rotherham

Yorkshire was home to Park Gate Iron and Steel Co formerly owned by Tube Investments. Liberty’s Speciality Steel is part of its progeny. J & E Walker’s tin plate works was known as one of the greatest in the country until 1829. Tinplate later focused on South Wales. J&E Walker’s predecessor Samuel Walker cast both iron and brass (bronze) cannon.

Halifax

Famous for its Piece Hall where merchants traded woollen products made by the many hundreds of spinners and weavers in the surrounding area. A keen competitor of Bradford in the worsted trade having the advantage of more water power. It later concentrated on ‘fancy’ worsted. Together with Keighley and Huddersfield, Halifax was part of a cluster of Yorkshire towns where machine tool manufacturers explored new ideas in the nineteenth century. It was where John Mackintosh set up his shop selling toffee; it merged with Rowntree in 1969. I tell more of Halifax in this blog.

Huddersfield

The home to wool products which made the town wealthy. “It is believed, in the 1940s, Huddersfield had more Rolls-Royce owners per capita than anywhere else in England, displaying the wealth of the mill owners at the time”. English Cloth are one of the remaining wool manufacturers and their website tells the story. You can read more about Huddersfield manufacturing by following this link.

Barnsley

A town in the Yorkshire coalfield where mining and related metal manufacturing dominated. It was famous for its nail makers operating from small workshops, also wire stretchers. Joseph Bramah produced his famous unpickable locks in London to which he had travelled from Barnsley to seek his fortune. Metal working skills were adapted to clock making very much aimed at the monied classes. Redfearn Glass at Monk Breton near Barnsley at one time had 16% of the UK’s glass bottle production. RHM made Mr Kipling ‘exceedingly good cakes’ in Barnsley, subsequently owned by Premier Foods.

Whitby

Was a coal and whaling port. The ship Endeavour was built there.

Hull

The city was one of the two great ports serving the industrial revolution, the other being Liverpool. Historically the docks were home to commercial shipbuilding and manufacturing activity grew up around the products traded. In the later nineteenth century fishing became a massive part of Hull. I write more about Hull manufacturing in this blog.

York

Home to Rowntree, Terry’s and the National Rail Museum which grew out of the railway workshops in the city. Although without a university until 1963, it was a place of scientific invention. I tell in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World how technical development tended to be on the job rather than in formal educational settings as in France or Germany. Many towns had their scientific society where ideas were shared and stimulated. You can read more about York manufacturing by following this link.

Doncaster

Where the Flying Scotsman and the Mallard were built. International Harvester set up their first UK full manufacturing plant before the Second World War. I write more in this blog.

Goole

The company town of the Aire and Calder canal through which many thousands of tons of coal from the South Yorkshire coalfield. It is now home to Siemens new railway factory. Croda Chemicals began production in 1925

Skipton

Was home to Dewhurst, maker of Silko thread. Metcalfe Models now make wonderful card kits for model railways.