Chapter 30

Industrial sites along the Cocker

Just within the town boundary stands Simonscales Mill, now converted into dwellings. It is marked as a paper mill on a map of 1775 and is probably that leased to John Brougham in 1772, described as having been recently made into a paper milL Later it changed to bobbin production, making a wide range of bobbins, reels, spindles, pulleys, etc., not only for local mills but for the textile mills of Lancashire and Yorkshire. This trade reached its peak in the Lake District about 1850-70. Simonscales was auctioned as a bobbin mill at the Globe in 1881, the property having water power, bobbin mill, dwelling house, five cottages and 12 acres of land. [1] The wood along the opposite bank of the Cocker is Bobbin Mill Plantation.

On the outskirts of the town is Double Mills, traditionally so called because another mill once stood on the opposite bank. If so this second building could only have been Wood or Badgkin Mill, across and lower down the river, and a more likely origin for the name is the existence of two wheels in separate channels, both fed by a race from a weir upstream, the Sal Dam. A length of substantial walling is all that remains of this weir. Wood Mill is referred to in 1478 as “newly situated opposite the corn mill”, [2] which places the origin of Double Mills before this date. It remained a corn mill for over 400 years. A drying kiln once stood on the higher side and there are still the mill house and outbuildings on the lower.

There was a period when the mill was the centre of much activity which almost changed its character. In 1741 the Duke of Somerset leased it as a corn mill to John Fearon for 21 years at an annual rent of £16. [3] The Duke’s successor, Charles Wyndham, visited the works of the Low Mill Edge Tool Company in Egremont. He was impressed and thought “such works must be for the good of the County”. In April 1754 the firm approached the Earl, saying they understood John Fearon wished to resign his lease and “that situation being very convenient for our Iron Forge, we are very desirous to have a lease of the said mills for sixty three years with liberty to build Iron Works on the common adjacent”. [4]

A letter towards the end of the following year refers to the Earl’s agreement to this and points out that

• “it will be necessary to give us leave to pull down, alter and rebuild, and make enlargements on the adjacent Common; and highten and inlarge the weers, and to lengthen, widen and deepen the Mill race or races – as we shall find necessary for the obtaining a sufficient fall of water to carrie on the works, and to build store houses and other conveniences on the adjacent Common”. [5]

The Company further asked leave to proceed without waiting for the completion of the legal arrangements.

By the following June all was set for the development of an iron forge on the site, with a large mill pool to power the trip hammers, bellows, etc. Then suddenly for some reason the whole proposal fell through. Barepot ironworks near Workington was built about 1762 and the name of the negotiator involved was the same, so it is possible that this replaced the Cockermouth scheme.

Fearon had already left, but he returned and the mill continued to grind corn under a succession of lessees, who usually took it for 21 years. We quote the list of equipment signed as belonging to the landlord when George Hodgson took the mill in 1814. – [6]

Two Water Wheels

Wheat Mill, cogg Wheel and Trunnels

Dressing Machine

Barley Mill for Skilling Barley

Pitt Wheel and Trunnels

Mill Tackle for raising Stones and ropes

Sack Tackle.

One pair of Wheat Stones

Dressing Mill and Card Wheel

Hopper and hopper Stangs and crubbs

One pair of Gray Stones

Machine and two arks

Band wheel for Machine

At the end of this ten-year lease Hodgson made a proposal to rent at £90, almost twice the previous rent, “the Earl of Egremont agreeing to expend the sum of £200 in building a Dwelling House and Stables and in purchasing a pair of French Burr Mill Stones and putting up a Barley Mill”.

French stones were made from several pieces of coarse flint quarried near Epernon and bound by iron hoops which, when used as the top stone, split open the ears and ‘shelled’ the grain from the husks. They now stand against the bank by the mill.

A lease of 1860 includes not only the mill, warehouse, dwelling house, etc., but Simonscales Wood (on the slopes of Cocker Brows) and fourteen acres in five closes adjoining the mill premises.

The metal rims of the two wheels remain alongside the mill. An offer of £5 was made for them in 1942 but the Council (now owners of the mill) refused to sell. The stone channels have slots in which boards were inserted to divert the flow.

In 1900 the mill was marked on maps as ‘Disused’. Two years later the UDC bought it for £600 to use as an isolation hospital, to obtain electricity by water power or as the basis of a recreation ground. [7] None of these plans materialised and it was eventually let to the Youth Hostels Association, Cockermouth UDC being the first council in the country to help the YHA in this way. It was opened on 13 April 1933 in the presence of E. S1. J. Catchpool, national secretary of the newly formed association, and Richard W. Hall, a Cockermouth enthusiast. In the early days the warden lived in a nearby house (the Council divided the mill house into two, but it has recently reverted to one dwelling). There is now a resident warden. There is accommodation for 28 and this attractive hostel becomes increasingly popular.

The new water main of the 1960s crosses the river here, to pass through the lower part of the park and climb to the upper side of Railway Terrace and the lower end ofFem Bank.

On the opposite side of the river to Double Mills, just above the footbridge, stood a small mill which was probably the fulling mill of 1578 which was in Moor Closes [8] and, as we have seen, mentioned in the Minister’s Accounts of 1478. It was not mentioned in a list of 1437/8, which puts its construction in the period 1437 to 1478.

An indenture drawn up between Sir Henry Fletcher and Andrew Green, dated 1830, refers to

• “All that Fulling and Spinning Mill and premises … at Badgkin … in a certain close … called Leather Mill Field but formerly known by the name of Badgkins Close which sd. premises were lately occupied by Mrs. Beeby and used by her as a spinning and carding mill”

In 1832 Andrew Green leased it to Jonah Fleming, a cooper, and William Fisher, an ironmonger, for a period of 14 years for £3 a year – a rent indicative of the small size of the premises. The following notice of letting referred to this mill

• “Leather Mill to let. To be let by proposal & may be entered upon at Cand’ 1848 all that Water Mill situate & being on the Banks of the River Cocker in the Township of Cockermouth in the County of Cumbd, called the Leather Mill and now or lately used as a Saw Mill & Forge for the making of Siciles and Edge Tools & in the Occupation of Mr. Joseph Fleming.” [9]

This is another example of a lease not being auctioned but granted on the basis of offers made. Joseph Fleming may have been a relation of or the same person as Jonah of the 1832 letting. The two lessees of 1832 had combined in running a saw mill and forge, both wood and iron being required in the manufacture of sickles and edge tools.

When the first OS map appeared in 1863 the mill is labelled ‘Wood Mill (Bobbin)’, so it may have been let for bobbin making in 1848.

Thus this small building was at different times used for leather, spinning and carding, wood sawing and tool making, and bobbin manufacture. The cutting into the rock for the race and wheel pit may be clearly seen from the footbridge and a little stone walling remains beneath the turf. Travelling down stream through the lower part of Harris Park we reach the remains of ‘Tinker’s Dam’ and the site of Rubby Banks Mills. Two 3-storey mills stood on the flat land between the houses and the river and in the boundary wall of this area may be traced mill doors and windows. The last of the buildings were demolished in 1971, being unused and dangerous, the weir having been breached earlier.

The two mills had parallel wheel pits, one of which still contained the wheel at the time of demolition, and the tops of the arched channels may just be seen above the levelling of the site.

There is a record of Ribbey Banck Milnes (the early spelling varied, Ruby being common) being leased by the Earl of Northumberland to Thomas Fletcher, a Cockermouth merchant, in 1596, the lease to run for three lives at an annual rent of £7. When Thomas Dodgson leased it in 1714 he erected a corn mill nine yards square, using £5 worth of timber. Two mills now stood on the site and in the successive leases and sub-lettings it is often difficult to determine which of the two is involved.

However, in 1759 the Earl leased Rubybank water corn mill to Thomas Smith, dyer, for 21 years at £16 10s. and eight years later there was a lease of the Ruby Bank fulling mill and mill premises lately erected adjoining the water corn mill to Thomas Smith, dyer, Mary Barnes of Cockermouth, widow and Daniel Barnes of Crookdale, miller. Depending on the interpretation of ‘lately’ this may signify recent rebuilding and/or extension of the earlier mill. We also have evidence that Thomas Smith was now a lessee of the whole complex. The first member of the Smith family noted, in the 1750s, was Matthew, who had property elsewhere. His son Thomas I came to Cockermouth and it was to him that the lease was granted in 1759 for 21 years, with Permission to build anything required.

He let the corn mill for £20 a year and either he or his son Thomas Il (who succeeded him) built a fulling mill, for a later lease of 1783, by the Earl to the cousins Richard and Matthew Smith, described Rubby Bank Mill as formerly held by Henry and Thomas Dodgson and late by Thomas Smith father of the said Richard and refers to “all that fulling Mill lately erected near the Water Corn Mill by the said Thomas Smith”.

Richard succeeded to the business when his father died, about 1760. The two cousins probably had, in addition to Rubby Banks, property extending from South Street (then Back Lane) along the river to Main Street, including Cocker Bridge and Croft Mills. They were engaged in woollen manufacture and dyeing.

It was with Richard, and possibly also Matthew, that Richard Radcliffe became involved in promoting the installation of one of Richard Arkwright’s water frames in the mill in 1781. [10] This was to manufacture cotton thread. In the same year came the great fall in wool prices and difficulties in the West Indian and American trade in which the men were involved via Whitehaven. The next few years were hard times. From 1783 to 1788 the greater proportion of deaths in Cockermouth were registered as ‘paupers’, a term eventually applied to 75% of deaths recorded. This implied a slump. Radcliffe was one of several mill-owners who went bankrupt, but Richard Smith kept going and it has been suggested that he was unscrupulous in his business methods. There is a record of him manufacturing shalloons in 1790, at which time he had over 300 employees. [11]

When the lease expired in 1801 the mill was let to Richard Smith for a further 21 years at a rent of £80, a four-fold increase on 1759. This was presumably for the fulling mill only, for the corn mill was let in 1802 to Joseph Wilkinson who sublet to Richard Burgess for £80 a year. Wilkinson was given permission to build over the race but found he could not do so because of Smith’s large fulling mill and the backing up of water from Smith’s wheel presented a further difficulty. He complained to the Earl, from whom Smith held his lease, and in his complaint referred to Smith as spinning and carding worsted. [12]

Richard Smith seems to have been a very difficult person with whom to have dealings. Wilkinson complained about interference with access, using water which should have gone to the corn mill, and the effect of Smith’s building activities. It is not clear whether he demolished all the fulling mill or whether by his rebuilding he had virtually erected a third mill on the site and was fulling, carding and spinning in adjacent premises. One tenant, Daniel Dunglinson, appears to have left in disgust about 1810 and rebuilt Little Mill. In 1821 Smith was paying £80 rent for the site and re couping this by sub-letting the corn mill for the same amount.

The lease for the mills expiring in 1821, they were advertised for sale and a castle record shows the difficulties created by the sitting tenant, now 69 years old and owing the Earl two years’ rent.

• “It is apprehended that Smith keeps people back from making an offer for the Corn Mill, giving out that he means to take both Mills, and then to alter the Mills, so as to make the Corn Mill worth little or nothing.”

His son Thomas offered £60 a year for 21 years, but father refused to do business with him. There followed a period of confusion regarding tenancy and responsibility for repairs. In October 1822 Smith was given notice to quit. In November the Earl’s agent ordered him to put the whole property “into complete and perfect repair”. [13] No progress was made and further confusion was produced by Lord Egremont agreeing to sell the property to Andrew Green, who already had the neighbouring land. Son Thomas was apparently the only one to make an offer, for on 5th May 1823 was recorded

• “Thomas Smith refuses to pay any more Rent than he has already offered. The Mill was advertised for several weeks successively last autumn 12 month. I do not think there will be any use in advertising it again. Something should be done as the Mill is in a very bad state of repair and I am afraid that the length of time that has elapsed from Lady Day 1822 will go a long way to exonerate Rd. Smith, and it is clear that he will do nothing until he is compelled. A Notice has been served on him to repair it a long time ago, but he eontends that he had nothing to do with the building after Lady Day.” [14]

On the 16th. of the same month the writer further reported

• “I have seen Thos. Smith and his Mother about this Mill Richd. the Father is in good circumstances, but quite in his dotage. Thos has promised to pay the Arrear of Rent and put the Mill in Repair, but says that he cannot offer more than £60 – but if he continues tenant from year to year and puts the Premises into Repair I see no objection to it.”

On into the next year – 19th April 1824.

• “I am still of opinion that Mr. Green is better without the Mills. They must however either be sold or an action must be commenced agst. the Extrix of Richd Smith, for I believe there is very great doubt whether the Rubby Banks Mill will not tumble down before the Winter.”

So while the buildings continued to decay argument continued as to who should have the lease and, if Thomas Smith, whether he should get away with a rent as low as £60. Richard had obviously died by April 1824.

Then on 1st November 1824 Richard’s widow was threatened with legal action unless the mills were repaired, the estimates being £129-12s-0d. for work by Thomas Mackreth and £14-10s-6d. for work by William Cape. [15] Thomas moved in and repaired the property, at a cost of£160, but he does not appear to have stayed long. Andrew Green did finally buy the premises, for in 1827 he leased to Jeremiah or Joshua Wharton, linen manufacturer in Waterloo Street,

• “all that Mess (uage) Ten(ement) or Dwelling House and Flax Mill with the Stove Dry House, Heckling Lofts and other Appurts thereto belonging and adjoining sit. and being at Rubby Banks nr Cockermth afsd with the Liberty ofusing one half of the Water of the River Cocker for carrying the Wheel of this Mill (the other being reserved for the use of the Spinning Carding and Fulling Mill adjoining).” [16]

In the same year Green leased to Edward and John Sancton, woollen manufacturers and sub tenants of Graves in Waterloo Street, the spinning, carding and fulling mill with the stove dry house appurtenances and half the water. So there were two textile mills in operation, the corn mill having been converted to flax. There is mention in these agreements of the tenter field across the footbridge over the Cocker.

In 1844 Andrew Green leased to Thomas Wilson, hat manufacturer, the newly erected mill called Rubby Banks lately a flax mill with a store or drying house, the rent to be £35 per year. Again ‘new ly erected’, this was possibly recent rebuilding, major repairs or even Thomas Smith’s repairs of nearly 20 years earlier. Did Wilson go there while his factory near Cocker Bridge was being built? Certainly his stay was short, for from about 1847 Wharton and Peile are recorded as having the whole mills, carrying on fulling and linen, thread, woollen cloth and hat manufacture. [17] Their occupation lasted until the mid-1890s (from 1827 in one mill) and they probably succeeded in keeping going so much longer than many other mill owners because of their diversity of interests.

In 1893 half the complex was let to George Tinker. He manufactured coverings, skirting and collar checks, plaidings, tweeds, blankets and rugs. He would make up customers’ own wool or produce rag carpeting from their own rags. In this he used string warp and rag weft for lengths 4Yz feet [1350mm] wide. He also made coarse woollen druggetting for floor covering. At the turn of the century George Tinker advertised that he was to be found on Mondays at No. 9 stall in the New Market. [18] Patterns of his products could be had on application. Although he left the mill in 1920, at the time of demolition 50 years later it was still referred to as ‘Tinker’s Mill’.

In 1920 Joseph Messenger worked in the premises as a cooper, wood turner and pattern maker. He was followed by Hartley, another wood turner producing rollers, hay rakes, stools, dolly sticks, etc. This business was continued by his son Oswald Hartley who added wooden bowls to the list of products. Latterly the wheel drove a dynamo to power the mill and the mill house. From 1963 the building was used for a short time by a Bassenthwaite timber merchant. [20]

Between Rubby Banks and the railway arch stands Railway Terrace, a row of six houses erected in 1882. Cockermouth’s waterworks once occupied this walled site. (Figs. 70 & 72.)

On this same bank, mid-way between Victoria Bridge and Quaker Bridge, Wood’s 1832 map marks Sim’s dyeworks, a site now occupied by houses numbered 7 and 8. The same map shows Sim as having a house on Main Street, directly opposite to the Globe, with a long garden running down to the Cocker. In 1832 there was no building on the river bank here, but a small one is shown in 1863. The following advertisement suggests that Sim left the site further upstream for either the bottom of his garden or elsewhere in the town

• “Dyehouse and Premises to Let. To be let and may be entered immediately all that Dyehouse with the Drying Room Store Room Tenter Ground etc. Premises situate on the Banks of the River Cocker late in the occupation of Mr. Joshua Sim. Furr Parties. apply to Mr. Bragg Solr. Cockermouth who will receive offers of rent for the same. Cockermouth. Nov 91841.” [21]

Certainly Sim was successful in business and able to buy woollen mills in Thornthwaite and Braithwaite for his two sons, but they went bankrupt and Joshua sold all his property to pay their debts. [22]

On the left bank below Quaker Bridge stands the former Croft Mill, now converted into flats. A lower building on the northern end housed the mill engine and at the time of conversion, although the interior had been cleared, there were still high on the walls the brackets which had supported the shafting for belt-driving the machinery. An interesting feature is the roof ridge, pointed in the normal way at the town end but broadening to a flat width of two or three feet at the upstream end. On maps Croft is always referred to as ‘woollen’, but this was probably varied from time to time.

Just below Croft Mill was Cocker Bridge (End) Mill, extending to Main Street where the Midland Bank now stands. From the opposite side of the river may be seen bricked-up windows and doorways in a long stretch of wall which once formed part of this mill.

On the right bank of the river the Town Hall occupies the site of Sanderson’s woollen mill. The riverside car park was the mill’s drying ground and on the terrace below the churchyard was a row of ten cottages known as Mount Pleasant. Ruined buildings and sheds littered the area until it was cleaned up and landscaped by the UDC in the 1970s, happily retaining the archway as a reminder of earlier industry. (Plates 15, & 16.) Where the road curves round to enter the riverside car park, and built right up to Cocker Bridge, was one of Cockermouth’s most famous industries – Thomas Wilson’s hat factory. (Fig. 44.) The first hatters probably came to Cockermouth in the early 1700s. The Wilson family moved from Belfast to Carlisle and on to Cockermouth, where Thomas was born in 1791. He succeeded to and developed his father’s business, being helped by many journeymen hatmakers who came from Lancashire about 1841 when times were bad. [23] At its peak the factory produced about 4000 hats a week, some of which were probably exported to America from Whitehaven.

Writing in 1866 John Askew said “the splendid and thriving business which he has created has passed away with him; the workmen whom he employed have long since left Cumberland to seek labour in other places; the extensive premises which during his lifetime were a hive of industry are now a deserted wreck.” In 1883 Bulman wrote [24] of the mill as tenantless and the trade as having fled. Ideas for the use of the empty buildings were mentioned in an earlier chapter.

Thomas Wilson was held in high regard in his native town. He was a principal promoter of the Cumberland Union Bank and built Grecian Villa as his family home. [25] He contributed liberally to the rebuilding of All Saints Church after the fire and a wall tablet therein has the inscription

• “In memory of Thomas Wilson, hat manufacturer, ofthis town, who, left to his own resources in early life, by a steady course of diligence, integrity, and enterprise, largely extended the trade and industrial employment of the town, and raised himself to an affluent and honourable position in Society. Died January 28th. 1857, aged 65 years …. “

There were other buildings in the town where hats were at times manufactured and, judging from Senhouse’s rabbit sales, the industry was in being early in the 18th. century.

Below Cocker Bridge John Stoddart’s cotton mill was on the right bank, occupying probably more than one building. One which remains, marked ‘Vinegar Hill’ on the 1863 OS map, has ‘1. & M. S. 1800’ carved over a doorway and is now used by the brewery.

Below Stoddart’s was the Old Brewery and then the Old Brewery Tannery, now both replaced by modern brewery buildings, and beyond them the iron foundry and the windmill. There was also a tannery on the bank of the Derwent.

The Cocker turned wheels on the right bank and was then deflected by a weir across to the wheel of a churn factory on the left bank. From the footbridge may be seen the stone support for the axle. This building fronted on to High Sand Lane. Also in High Sand Lane was the cooper’s where the barrels for the brewery were made, being trundled over ‘Barrel Bridge’.

The windmill is in an unusual situation – on the banks of two rivers which could easily provide water power. Its most likely use was crushing bark for the neighbouring tanneries, but it may have milled corn ~__J-/ originally. Certainly the building has been adapted. A….. pitched roof was substituted for a movable cap and windows were added at some time. The upper bin floor has a trimmed opening for the main drive from the windshaft. [26] The mill, some 25 feet high, was brick built instead of the usual sandstone and an oil painting in the vestry of All Saints Church shows it with six sails.

The windmill collapsed and was then scheduled for total demolition in the early 2000’s. Adjacent to the windmill was a foundry and Foundry House stands by the footbridge. A girder over a doorway in the foundry building has on it ‘COCKERMOUTH 1874’. The business was run by W. and 1. Herbert. A severe fire in 1877 destroyed sets of engine patterns, but three drawings which have recently come to light show that the products were quite ambitious. That they got beyond the drawing stage is proved by an old photograph of a brewery wagon which matches one of the diagrams. [27]

In 1875 Messrs. Herbert, described as of ‘Derwent Foundry’, supplied a new hot water heating system for All Saints Church. A bell for Grasmere Church was cast in Cockermouth in 1809. [28] This was too early for Herbert’s foundry and where the bell was made is unknown.

The foundry passed from the Herberts to the Noble brothers and the Noble Engineering Works was still extant in 1938. They were agricultural blacksmiths but also produced grates, gully covers, etc. When the business was advertised in 1930 it was described as having a blacksmith’s workshop, gas engine, steam hammer, drill, loose tools and two warehouses. [29] After the engineering business the premises were used for coach body work and upholstery.

Beer has been brewed on the same site below the castle walls for 150 years. Malt beer was at one time an important drink. In Dorset, for instance, farm workers were allowed a gallon a day and it is reasonable to assume that there would be a similar demand in the fields around Cockermouth. Inns tended to have their own malthouses, but an independent maltster was often a wealthy and important member of the community.

Near enough to the Cocker to be included in this chapter is the old malthouse in South Street, built on a garden by Joseph Clementson in 1810 and still standing. It was described in an 1843 transfer as a malthouse and maltkiln with all equipment. [30]

The Castle Brewery benefits from the purity of the water obtained from the brewery’s own well which goes down to a depth of 70 feet. The present Jennings Brothers Ltd. was registered as a limited company in 1887 when it acquired the business of brewers and maltsters carried on by the Jennings family in Cockermouth and Lorton employing about 100 men. The founders of the company were three members of the family, but there are no links today. At its foundation the new company had two breweries, three maltings and 16 licensed houses. In 1921 it amalgamated with four West Cumberland breweries and five years later absorbed the Keswick brewery of Faulders. In the first half of the 1970s over half a million pounds were spent on improving 89 public houses spread within a radius of 30 miles from Cockermouth. The malt remains after extraction go to local farmers as cattle feed and hop remains are sent to Dovenby Hall Hospital for use as fertiliser. [31]

Like many other Cumbrian breweries have been taken over by major concerns, but Jennings is proud of still being a local brewery, employing local people and catering for local consumption. [But see Chapter 40]