STUBBINS PAPER MILL (after 1911)
STUBBINS PRINT WORKS
Covered comprehensively in John Simpsons Book ‘A History of Edenfield & District’.
Stubbins Bridge
About 1785 Site leased to Charles Leigh. He built and operated as a calico printing works. There was enough flat land at the foot of Ox Hey Clough for the mill buildings and pure water from the stream which ran down from the hills. The year in which Charles Leigh began his business at Stubbins was also the year in which the printing trade was revolutionised by the introduction of the cylinder printing machine. This machine greatly increased the rate of production. However it must have been an expensive outlay as Charles Leigh went bankrupt in 1789. [The Stubbins Vale Story - www.strongstry.com - John Simpson]
1795 21 year lease granted to Samuel Milner of Manchester and Thomas Sandiford of Witton. The changes which Milner & Sandiford made at Stubbins are still visible today. A weir was put across the stream in Buckden clough and water diverted into a lodge or reservoir on the hillside to the south of the clough. This supplied water to a bowk house or small bleachworks whose site is now part of the garden belonging to The Cliffe. From here the water was carried along the hillside in an open goit (now covered over) to another small lodge above Stubbins Street and then to the reservoirs behind Stubbins printworks itself. [ibid]
The White Croft Bleachworks built 1795/7 by Milner & Sandiford on a site now occupied by The Cliffe. [Simpson page 62]
1804 baptism of Sarah Sandiford, daughter of Thomas & Susannah Sandiford, Stubbins [Parish Records Emmanuel, Holcombe - Lancs Parish Records Online]
1814 Thomas Sandiford took sole control. [ibid]
1818 Thomas Sandiford, calico printer, Stubbins [Rogerson]
In a book entitled ‘I remember - Some note on Old Bury’ by Fred Howarth (‘Senex’) - Reprinted from Bury Guardian 1917.(photocopy found in RHS archives held in Civic Hall Feb 2009) it refers to an 1816 Directory [un-named]. Under ‘Cailico Printers’ it lists Sandiford & Johnson, Stubbins. In the 1817 Directory the name J.Sandiford appears instead of Sandiford and Johnson and a further addition in 1818 lists T. Sandiford, Stubbins.
1833 Thomas Sandiford handed the business to his son also called Thomas Sandiford but he died in 1840 age 45. The printworks was let to John Brown & Thomas Powell on a 14 year lease but they became bankrupt and the tenancy passed to John & Watson Losh t/a John Losh & Co.[Simpson page 62]
1850 John Losh & Co Stubbins, calico printers and 24 Charlotte Street Manchester. [Heap]
1851 David Greenhalgh and Thomas Kenyon went into partnership as calico printers and operated at Stubbins Print Works but in 1853 Kenyon’s place was taken by William Rumney. [Simpson page 63]
There is a reference to this Print Works in the Ramsbottom Official Guide 1930s – ‘Then there were to works of Mr Sandiford at Stubbins, later acquired by Messrs Rumney & Co engravers and calico printers’. [Official Guide to Ramsbottom about 1935 page 8]
STUBBINS PAPER MILL/STUBBINS PRINTWORKS
Hume Elliot refers to this Print Works – ‘Mr Rumney began his career at Stubbins in partnership with Mr Greenhalgh in 1855. The partnership was dissolved in 1861 and Mr Rumney conducted the business as sole partner until 1882 when he died after a short illness’. [Elliot page 146]
Goldthorpe also makes reference to William Rumney – ‘William Rumney & Co, calico printers who operated at Stubbins Print Works (opposite Stubbins Vale Mill)– employing 1,500 people. [Goldthorpe page 59] ‘Note the lodge on the left which originally supplied the Stubbins Print Works’ [Goldthorpe page 61]
Towards the end of the 19th century there was much rivalry between William Rumney & Co and Porritt Brother & Austin of nearby Stubbins Vale Mill. [Goldthorpe page 59]
1854 – According to an article in the RHS magazine, David Greenhalgh was in partnership with William Rumney in Stubbins. Apparently the calico printing firm of Greenhalgh & Rumney ‘was not a happy concern – the culminating situation of Rumney buying inferior goods to their own elsewhere, and shipping them abroad as their own, led to the partnership being dissolved’. [RHS magazine No: 6 Winter 1992/3 by J W Barber-Lomax] – See later for more information about David Greenhalgh.
1861 Greenhalgh & Rumney, calico printers were listed at Stubbins Print Works & Blackford Bridge. Separately listed - Greenhalgh and Rumney, bleachers, Lea Works, Shuttleworth. [Drake]
1862 The partnership of Greenhalgh & Rumney was dissolved and William Rumney took sole control. He expanded the business and took over other mills in Shuttleworth, Ramsbottom and Bury. [Simpson page 63]
1871 William Rumney is listed as calico printer, Stubbins Print Works [Worrall] and in 1883 we have William Rumney & Co., calico printers, Stubbins Print Works and Ramsbottom Mill. [Barrett]
1882 William Rumney died.
Miss Florence Rumney of Stubbins House – daughter of William Rumney, laid a stone at the Methodist Church, Holcombe on 25th July 1885.
1888 William Rumney & Co, Bleachers were at Cross Bank Works Shuttleworth and Alexander Mill Bury (producing cretonnes & waste twills). They were also listed as calico printers and bleachers at Stubbins Print Works. [Slater]
1903 The printworks were closed for ‘re-modelling’ but never re-opened. Many people lost their jobs and had to leave the district. In the following years much of the huge complex of buildings was demolished but part of what remained was used by James Booth t/a Japa Blind Co – manufacturers of paper window blinds. Barnes & Hargreaves had a chemical works in another section. In 1906 Richard & Austin Porritt bought the buildings and used some as offices.[Simpson page 64]
1911 Cromptons (Stubbins) Limited bought the site from Porritts where they began to produce paper. It was re-named - STUBBINS PAPER MILL. [Ramsbottom Festival 1951 Souvenir Handbook].
STUBBINS PAPER MILL/STUBBINS PRINTWORKS
1940 British American Tobacco gained an interest. [handwritten notes in RHS Archive - Civic Hall 2/2009]
1951 In the Ramsbottom Festival Handbook there is a short article relating to Cromptons ; ‘Cromptons (Stubbins) Limited : The Company was established 40 years ago as a branch of James R. Crompton & Brothers Limited of Bury and later became a separate company. The buildings at Stubbins Mill, formerly a printing and bleaching works, were taken over in 1911 and renamed Stubbins Paper Mill, The manufacture of fine tissue papers was commenced in January, 1912 and during 1914-18 war, this was turned over to cigarette tissue. Since then an extensive business has been built up in the high quality paper used in the manufacture of cigarettes.
There have been many alterations and improvements to plant and buildings and the recent installation of a large modern paper machine of the latest design has considerably increased the output of the mill.
Paper is supplied to the leading cigarette manufacturers not only in the United Kingdom but in every part of the globe’.
1960 B.A.T. & Wiggins Teape in control [handwritten notes from RHS Archive found in Civic Hall 2/2009]
1967 Mill Closed
1969 there was an article in the Bury Times – ‘The re-birth of paper manufacturing at the former Cromptons Paper Mill, Stubbins, where it is hoped production will be under way in November (1969) will provide immediate employment for about 70 local people....in the past twelve months part of the mill interior has been almost completely rebuilt to house new machinery which will produce facial and toilet tissue and towelling, the first venture into a production unit by the company which has taken over the mill, Stubbins Paper Mill. Fitters and engineers from Walmsleys (Bury) limited are busy installing a Walmsley tissue machine which they have supplied. The machine is now being installed in the stead of one of the three cigarette machines which were owned by Wiggins Teape Ltd when they operated the mill. One of the machines was sent to India after Wiggins Teape closed the mill in 1968.’ [Bury Times 23.8.1969]
1972 Ramsbottom Official Guide – Short article in this booklet:
‘STERLING STUBBINS LIMITED of Stubbins Lane was formed in 1968 to purchase the premises vacated by Wiggins Teape when they shut down their cigarette paper manufacturing operation in Ramsbottom. During 1969 and early 1970 the premises were extensively altered in order to take a machine supplied by Walmsleys at Bury for the manufacture of soft tissue. The machine, 12ft wide and capable of operating at ove 4,000 ft per minute, started up in the spring of 1970. It has since been brought up to its designed operating speeds and is manufacturing soft tissue for conversions into toilet rolls, facial tissue, kitchen towels and serviette’s.
STUBBINS PAPER MILL/STUBBINS PRINTWORKS
A large part of the production is converted at Horwich by a sister company, Sterling Mansell Limited. The balance of the production is consumed by other independent converters in the UK.
The following is from a company profile of the Paper Mill (self profile on Fort James headed paper). One of many found in the RHS archives in the Civic Hall (Feb 2009). It makes reference to ‘here we are in the year 2000’ and may have been for a millennium exhibition.
I have copied the measurements of the ‘PMs’ correctly as the symbol “ (inches). (Kath 2/09)
Company History - Paper Mill. In 1969 an entrepreneur called Peter Newton acquired the site; he had many small international businesses and operated under the name of ‘Sterling’. The site was then named Sterling Stubbins.
PM1, a 134” wide, single wire tissue machine as bought and installed by Beloit Walmsley and became operational in 1970.
A major customer at the time was a converting operation called Mansell, Hunt and Catty, based 14 miles away at Horwich. Mansell, Hunt & Catty got into financial difficulties and Peter Newton grasped the opportunity to expand his Sterling Empire. He acquired the converting operation at Horwich and then became known as Sterling Mansell in 1971.
PM2, a 100” wide twin wire tissue machine was bought from Beloit Walmsley and became operational in 1976. At this time the Mill’s annual output was around 35,000 tonnes. In 1979 PM2 was rebuilt including what was the latest concept in tissue manufacture; a twin wire former, costing a total of £1.50m.
In the early 1980s the paper mill, in an effort to reduce costs, experimented with recycling waste paper and developed a de-inking plant and pulp processing plant to enable it to produce tissue products from waste paper by using recycling technology. At this time, the Fort Howard Corporation, a large American based recycled tissue operation, expressed interest in Sterling Stubbins and Sterling Mansell and bought a share of the business in 1982, acquiring total ownership in 1984. The two companies then became known as Fort Sterling Limited. (or Sterling Stubbins)
In the mid 1980s around £5m was invested in upgrading PM1 and PM2 which increased their efficiencies. Overall outputs over the next couple of years were in excess of 50,000 tonnes.
With environmental awareness peaking around late 1987/early 1988 our recycled products became much sought after. As a result, our first brand name product was born - NOUVELLE. Demand for recycled products at this time exceeded production capacity and as a result the prospect of putting a paper machine on site was explored.
Almost twenty years after PM2, an investment programme was developed and approved that would involve over £65m and would double the mill’s output to 100,000 tonnes per annum. In 1991 construction work began to build PM3 and PP2.
It involved removing over 50,000 cubic metres of earth in order to create an area to construct PM3 buildings. In 1993 PM3, a 5 metre wide twin wire tissue machine was operational.
STUBBINS PAPER MILL/STUBBINS PRINTWORKS
In 1991 Fort Sterling acquired a second converting plant, that of Stuart Edgar Limited at Bryn in Ashton-in-Makerfield which gave Fort Sterling the additional converting capacity and customer base to increase its self sufficiency.
In 1997, Fort Howard merged with James River, an American company and created ‘Fort James’ Now here we are in the year 2000, a flexible operation, producing 100% recycled and 100% virgin products covering economy to luxury products under both the ISO9002 and ISO14001 banners. All three machines are fully operational producing in excess of 100,000 tonnes of tissue per annum.
2000 Georgia Pacific Corporation acquired Fort James. Georgia Pacific still operating Spring 2009.
For the centenary of the paper mill in 2012 I sourced, and have copies of, four or five newspaper articles relating to the mill
DAVID GREENHALGH
According to the 1861 Census [RG9 2838 folio 65 page 4] David Greenhalgh & family plus 2 servants, lived at Stubbins House:
David Greenhalgh 52 calico printer employing 274 men/boys born Manchester
Mary Greenhalgh 47 wife born Manchester
Joseph Greenhalgh 25 son Manager of printworks born Spain
David Greenhalgh 19 son Manager of printworks born Spain
John Greenhalgh 16 son scholar born Spain
Charles Greenhalgh 12 son scholar born Spain
Robert Greenhalgh 9 son born Bury
Mary Greenhalgh 6 daughter born Bury
David Greenhalgh was the subject of an article in the RHS magazine [RHS magazine No:6 Winter 1992/3 by J W Barber-Lomax]. This gives further information about him:
David Greenhalgh married Miss Mary Ogden 12th April 1936 at Prestwich Parish Church – he was described as ‘a calico printer of Barcelona’, living in Prestwich’. The witnesses were James Cunliffe and (maybe) Jno. Greenhalgh. The writer had been unable to trace any records of his birth, which must have been about 1809. He and his wife obviously went to Spain after they were married as their first four sons were born there. David Greenhalgh died 15th February 1871 – on the death certificate he is described as a bleaching (Master), living at Blackford New Road, Pilkington. His wife Mary died 11th July 1877 and was living at Yarborough Street, Pendleton at the time of her death. Both David & Mary were buried at Unsworth Methodist Church. The writer goes on to give further details of this family tree.
In the Worrall Trade Directory 1871 the firm of Greenhalgh, Harrison & Barlow operated at Waterside Mill Ramsbottom. I do not know if this Greenhalgh was related to the above family.
WILLIAM RUMNEY
William Rumney was born at Leck Westmorland in about 1823. (possibly c. 28.5.1824 Thrimby Westmorland. Father William mother Mary)
He married Maria Alice Jones at Manchester Cathedral 16.7.1845.
Children of William & Maria Alice:
Annie Maria Isabella Rumney born about 1850 (no record found) She married William Henry Robins at Fairfield Derby 1.9.1874. In 1881 he was vicar of Gillingham, Kent.
Edward Rumney born 25.2.1852 c. At Manchester Cathredral
Margaret Alice Rumney born 22.12.1856 at Chorlton. She married in 1881 to Charles Leopold Samson.
Florence Rumney born 1859 Manchester. She married John Brownlee in 1887 at Bury.
Maria Alice died 1897 Salford.
In 1881 William Rumney lived at Stubbins House with his daughter Florence.
William Rumney died in 1882. (BMD death W.R. age 59 Fylde)
His wife Maria Alice and son Edward were with another daughter Annie Maria Isabella and her family in Gillingham, Kent.
Narrative from Photo Archive No:1624 - no sources quoted.
The present mill stands on the old Stubbins estate.
1540 - 16 acre estate bought by Thomas Warburton from Richard Ramsbottom
1681 - most of estate acquired by Roger Thropp
1695 - Acquired by Robert Litchford
1707 - Acquired by Robert Percival and son Thomas. Names of Thurstan Smethurst, Mary Allen, Abraham Crompton, Seth Flitcroft also appear on the deeds.
1781-1787 - Purchased by Rev. Dean and enlarged to 28 acres.
1788 Charles Leigh, tenant of one of the buildings was engaged in calico printing - he became bankrupt in 1789.
1789 - Charles Leigh and John Johnson took over as ‘printers, dealers and chapmen’. Bankrupt in 1792.
1795 - Thomas Sandiford and Samuel Millnar leased whole estate and built a reservoir high in the woods to ensure a regular water supply for their calico printing works.
1840 - Under son of Thomas Sandiford the business failed.
1840 - Brown & Powell continued printing but business failed in 1842.
1842 - 1844 John Wardley used the works until his own mill was built in Darwen.
1846 John & Watson Losh started printing low grade furnishing fabrics but failed in 1850.
1850 - David Greenhalgh came to Stubbins House and employed 40 people at the mills in calico printing.
1853 - Joined by William Rumney
1866 - Greenhalgh left and Rumney acquired the business and estate. In 1871 the business employed 1000 people.
1882 William Rumney & Co Ltd formed but Rumney died and was followed by Alex Young as manager and partner George Taylor.
1899 Company became part of the Calico Printers Association (CPA). Activity at Stubbins ceased remaining empty for 10 years.
1911 James Crompton Brothers started paper making there.