Herefordshire Through Time
Herefordshire Through Time
Although Herefordshire is known as a predominantly agricultural county there was a variety of industries being carried on within its borders. At the start of the 19th century the population of Hereford was at 6,000, and though it was the major market town of the county it was isolated from the industrial revolution which was gathering momentum elsewhere in the country. The trades and industries of the county were predominantly tied to the products of local farming.
Tanning (the treatment of leather goods) was an important industry in the county. Due to the strong smells from the raw hides the tanyards were mainly situated as far away as possible from built-up areas and close to an abundant supply of water - which after being used in the tanning process was fed into the nearest ditch. The busiest times for tanning in Herefordshire were during the May and October Fairs when skins and bark were brought into the area to begin the twelve month long tanning process. By the middle of the 19th century the products of tanning were being used by various other local trades such as fellmongers (who dealt in skin and hides), curriers (who treated leather to make it strong and waterproof), dyers, hat makers and woolstaplers.
By 1851 the population of the City of Hereford had risen to 12,000 but there was still little sign of any major manufacturing activities. Malting was carried out in the city to some extent and the 1851 census lists seventeen maltsters.
Brewing was also an important industry within Herefordshire. In 1834 the Hereford Brewery was founded in Bewell Street by J.C. Reynolds; it was later bought by Charles Watkins (father of the famous photographer and antiquarian Alfred Watkins) in 1858. Charles Watkins transferred the business from the rear of the Imperial Inn in Widemarsh Street and in the 1870s added Bewell House and its gardens so that the brewery covered a large area extending from Bewell Street to Wall Street. At one time the brewery included St George's Hall, originally built as an ice-skating rink but later used as a hop and ale store. A supply of pure well water to the brewery helped to improve the flavour of the beer, mineral waters and high-class "temperance drinks". The most famous product was Watkins' Golden Sunlight Ales, which were awarded the only gold medal at the International Exhibition in 1886.
The brewery was later sold by Alfred Watkins (son of Charles) for £64,000 to the Hereford and Tredegar Brewery Ltd, and the business was further modernised and extended in 1907. This firm established over 200 agencies and owned more than 70 tied houses for the sale of their drinks, which included Mild Ale, India Pale Ale (IPA), Export Pale Ale, Old Hereford Ale, National Household Pale Ale, Watkins' Cream Stout and Porter. The aerated and mineral water range of drinks produced included Orange Champagne, Soda, Seltzer, Lemonade, Lemon Beer and Lemontina.
Pigot's Directory of Herefordshire in 1830 and 1840 has the following numbers of brewers and maltsters listed in the county:
| Place | 1830 | 1840 |
|---|---|---|
| Bromyard | 1 (maltster) | 3 (all maltsters) |
| Hereford | 20 (1 brewer, 19 maltsters) | 17 (1 brewer, 16 maltsters) |
| Kington | 8 (all maltsters) | 6 (all maltsters) |
| Ledbury | 6 (all maltsters) | 9 (2 brewers, 7 maltsters) |
| Leominster | 12 (maltsters and hop merchants) | 10 (all maltsters) |
| Ross-on-Wye | 7 (all maltsters) | 11 (1 brewer, 10 maltsters) |
| Weobley | N/A | 2 (both maltsters) |
However, this list does not include any of the smaller brewers or maltsters that would have operated from their own homes in the villages throughout the county.
Brickworks were also quite a large industry in Herefordshire. The 1851 census showed brickmaking across the county employing over 200 men and boys. A Mr R. Pritchard of Stone Bow produced bricks, tiles and pipes in the city in the early 1840s. He had a windmill to prepare his own clay, and his clientele is said to have included gentry, nobility, clergy and agriculturists.
Of the three brick and tile makers listed for 1858, Thomas Tunks had succeeded Thomas Beech of Wormhill at the brick and tile yard at Holmer. He was followed in 1863 by Ralph, Preece, Davies and Co. The bricks produced at their Albert Steam Pipe, Tile Pottery, Building and Artistic Brick Works at Roman Road were renowned and used in large numbers by the local railway networks which were spreading across the county from the 1850s. They were also used in large local buildings, such as the Hereford County College on Aylestone Hill (now the Blind College). Their roofing tiles were adopted by Messrs Godwin and Hewitt for an extensive range of buildings at the Victoria Tile Works, College Road, Hereford.
In 1909, Mr H.S. Thynne and Mr. G.A.C. Thynne formed a tile company and built up an extensive business both at home and abroad. It lasted until 1959, when work ceased except for the production of tiled fireplaces, storage and retail supplies of tiles. In the 1960s the property became the Holmer Trading Estate. By the end of the 1960s the estate was home to 60 companies employing over 300 people.
The Hampton Park Brickworks was founded by a Mr Wilson; in 1891 it was taken over by Mr W.E. Britten's Hereford Brick and Tile Company.
By the 1930s Herefordshire's economic life continued to be dominated by agriculture. This employed as many workers as all the manufacturing industries combined, and occupied some 95% of the land area of the county.
The 1931 census shows that Herefordshire was particularly free or "deficient" of mining and manufacturing industries . In England and Wales, 32.1% and 5.9% were employed in manufacturing and mining respectively but in Herefordshire the percentages were as low as 11.05% and 0.6%.
From the 14th century onwards, weavers and dyers could be found in many of the villages and towns of Herefordshire. There were fulling mills (textile treatment plants) along the rivers Wye and Lugg. By 1690 there were six fulling mills near Hereford, and the gloving trade appears to have been quite active in Hereford, Leominster and Kington. In 1760 a factory was started for the production of carpets and broad and narrow cloths, but it was given up a few years later. (Information from Rhys Jenkins, "Industries of Herefordshire in Bygone Times", Transactions of the Newcomen Society, vol. XVII.)
At Leominster the superior quality of the wool of the Ryeland sheep that were bred here meant that woollen manufacture was carried on up to the beginning of the 19th century. It is said to have employed many local people. At Ledbury, meanwhile, the earlier woollen manufacture had given way to the production of ropes, cords and meal sacks.
Linen weaving is said to have been carried on in parts of Herefordshire but very little is known of this industry within the county, although we do have some references to flax and hemp treatment that would have been used in making linen. In 1597 an order was made prohibiting the treatment of flax and hemp in a stream at Leominster. In 1594-6 fines were imposed for washing flax and hemp in the river Wye at Welsh Bicknor, and at Hereford in 1700 an order was issued restricting the dressing or drying of flax and hemp within the walls of the city. (Information from Rhys Jenkins, "Industries of Herefordshire in Bygone Times", Transactions of the Newcomen Society, vol. XVII.) These orders were presumably made to counteract the pollution of the water supply that would have occurred as a result of these processes.
The 1840s Tithe Maps have records of 224 fields with "flax" or "hemp" in their name, which may suggest that the manufacture of linen was more widespread than first thought. The distribution of these fieldnames is fairly even throughout Herefordshire, apart from in the south-west where they are distinctly lacking.
In 1686 there was apparently a silk weaver in Hereford, and prior to this date silk winding appears to have been carried out in Weobley (information from Rhys Jenkins, "Industries of Herefordshire in Bygone Times", Transactions of the Newcomen Society, vol. XVII).
In 1748 there was an attempt to set up a cotton industry at Leominster when Daniel Bourn opened a cotton mill there. Bourn was a well-known name in the cotton industry and had patented a machine for carding wool and cotton. Some say the reason for placing the cotton mill in Leominster was that it was on the route between the port of Bristol and the cotton districts of Manchester. Unfortunately the cotton mill was burnt down in 1754, possibly in suspicious circumstances. When it was rebuilt it was used as a corn mill.
In the 16th century the making of caps gave employment to a considerable number of people in Hereford. Around 1550 there were 22 master cappers, and a Guild of Cappers and a Guild of Journeymen Cappers in the city (information from Rhys Jenkins, "Industries of Herefordshire in Bygone Times", Transactions of the Newcomen Society, vol. XVII).
In the second half of the 16th century it was becoming more and more popular to wear hats instead of caps, and in 1571 an Act of Parliament was passed that enforced the wearing of caps on Sundays and Holidays by all male persons over the age of 6. In 1597 the Act was repealed.
Hat making in Hereford is mentioned in the 18th century but it was fading away. Pigot's Directory for 1830 lists eight hat makers in Hereford, two in Kington and two in Leominster, with five straw-hat makers in Hereford, six in Kington, three in Ledbury, two in Leominster and five in Ross. By 1840 the same Directory was listing ten hat makers in Hereford, one in Kington, two in Leominster, one in Bromyard and one in Ross, with seven straw-hat makers in Hereford, one in Kington, two in Ledbury, four in Leominster, two in Ross and two in Bromyard. However, this does not take into account the "Milliners and Dressmakers" listed.
Hereford gloves had a high reputation outside of the county in the latter half of the 17th century, and the trade appears to have been quite lucrative. The trade had been in existence in the county prior to 1500, for by 1503 it was sufficiently important to have its own guild in the city. Leominster also had a guild by 1580. Glove making was also carried on at Weobley and Kington.
We have an oral history account taken from a Leominster resident in 1898. He tells of how it was common for the women who made the gloves to walk from Leominster to Worcester (a distance of nearly 30 miles) to sell their gloves at the market there. He also says that women would travel to Leominster from Ludlow every Saturday to bring down the gloves that they had made and to take back a supply of leather for the next week's work.
Pigot's Directory of 1830 states of Leominster: "The clothing trade at one time gave employment to a considerable number of the inhabitants, as did the hat and glove trades; the former has disappeared, and the gloving trade is in a very depressed state". The directory records eight glove manufacturers in Leominster in 1830: they were located in Dishley Street; Etnam Street (two); Draper's Lane; Middle March (three): and Upper March. For the same year it records five glove makers in Hereford (Friars Street; Church Street (two); High Street; and Bye Street) and five in Kington (High Street (three); Edbrook Road; and Duke Street). The Pigot's Directory of 1840 records five glovers in Hereford, seven in Leominster and none in Kington, but one glover in Ross and one in Ledbury.
Andrew Yarranton, in his book England's Improvement by Sea and Land (published in 1677), says of the cider trade "It hath been the occasion of erecting five or six glass houses in these parts". There seems, however, to be no trace of a bottle glasshouse in the county, but there are traces of glass making at St Weonards, Linton and Much Dewchurch.
The most important of all the industries in Herefordshire was the service industry, and this probably has much to do with the fact that a great number of the upper classes lived in large houses in the country and employed local people as domestic servants. In Herefordshire 80% of those in personal service were in private domestic service. In the 1940s it was warned that "if income tax continues to rise the rich will be able to keep less staff who will need other employment" (The English County - A Planning Survey of Herefordshire, published by Faber & Faber, 1946).
In 1931 Herefordshire was classed as having one county town, one municipal borough (Leominster), four urban districts (Bromyard, Kington, Ross-on-Wye and Ledbury) and nine rural districts (Bredwardine, Bromyard, Dore, Hereford, Kington, Ledbury, Leominster and Wigmore, Ross and Whitchurch, and Weobley). None of the rural districts had an area less than 44,000 acres or a population density of more than 0.2 persons per acre. The municipal borough and urban districts had no more than 9,000 acres or 0.65 persons per acre.
| England and Wales | Hereford city | Herefordshire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 5.8 | 2.5 | 29.5 |
| Personal service | 13.5 | 19.1 | 23.0 |
| Professions | 3.4 | 5.1 | 3.7 |
| Public administration | 8.3 | 9.0 | 7.9 |
| Building | 5.1 | 7.0 | 4.6 |
| Commerce and finance | 16.6 | 23.8 | 13.0 |
| Transport and communications | 6.9 | 8.9 | 4.8 |
| Gas, water and electricity | 1.3 | 2.3 | 0.9 |
| Manufacturing | 32.1 | 21.2 | 11.0 |
| Mining | 5.9 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Fishing | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Entertainment and sport | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| England and Wales | Hereford city | Herefordshire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bricks, pottery, glass | 1.1 | 2.9 | 1.1 |
| Chemicals, dyes, explosives | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| Earlier, heavier metals | 2.1 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| Later, lighter metals | 8.5 | 3.5 | 2.3 |
| Textiles | 5.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Skins and leathers | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| Clothing | 4.7 | 2.2 | 1.3 |
| Food | 2.5 | 3.2 | 1.9 |
| Drink | 0.6 | 4.3 | 1.5 |
| Woodworking, furniture | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Paper, printing | 2.5 | 1.9 | 0.7 |
| Other - including tobacco | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
The census results allow us to draw a number of conclusions. The first is that agriculture was the principal employment of the rural districts of Herefordshire, whereas the county town was pre-eminent as a transport and public utility centre. Apart from Leominster, every one of the six towns in the county had a higher proportion of the employed population working in building than any one of the rural districts.
In Herefordshire a few of the types of manufacturing were what is known as residentiary, i.e. they reside near the population that they cater for. The numbers that these businesses employ is proportionate to the local population. Among these are perishable foods and the repair and maintenance of materials, textiles, leather, wood and metal. Herefordshire is lacking in mineral resources for large-scale manufacture but clay and lime are both found in parts of the county and exploited for brick and tile manufacture, building and agriculture.
As Herefordshire is very much a rural, agriculture-based county many of the manufactures are rooted to agricultural produce, and this connection with agriculture also meant many small-scale industries such as engineering, smithing, farriery, etc.
With a small and scattered population such as that of Herefordshire most of the factories were small as they were constrained by the limited available labour supply.
One area in which Herefordshire did specialise was in the drinks industry. There were four drinks producers in the county that employed over 50 persons. These were two cider producers in Hereford, a brewery at Ross and an aerated table-water plant at Colwall. Apart from these, no other drink-related factory in the county employed more than 25 people.
In the food industry the businesses employing over 50 people were a canning and jam factory and a canning and bottling factory in Hereford, a fruit-bottling factory at Madley and a jam-making factory at Ledbury. The bulk of the remaining food plants consisted of nearly 100 bakers and confectioners (each employing one to two people), two flour mills and one tannery (employing 30 people each) and a milk-concentrating station (employing 20 people).
The Herefordshire brick and tile industry had no small factories, and the last brickworks in the county closed down with the onset of World War II. The industry then consisted of one factory making floor tiles and four glazed tile factories - two of which were owned by the same company - all employing 100 or more workers. The floor tile factory was at Bromyard, and the glazed tile factories were at Hereford and Withington.
Engineering and the later and lighter metal processes employed a higher proportion of Herefordshire workers than any other manufacturing industry. Only three factories employed more than 50 workers, and these consisted of one agricultural engineering plant at Leominster and two in Hereford - one making constructional steelwork for electricity supply and the other special parts for the aircraft industry. The remainder of the engineering works consisted of workshops and garages employing one or two men.
By 1939 there was one fellmongering plant in Hereford dealing in skins and leather, which employed about 50 workers.
The main trend that can be detected between the 1931 census and the outbreak of World War II is an increase in the urban population. Between 1931 and 1939 the population of Hereford increased by 10.3%, whereas the population of the rural areas as a whole fell by 7.2%
Two factories at Hereford and Withington, which specialised in parts for petrol feed systems, operating from earlier tile-making sites. Apart from the key skilled workers, all the other workers were local.
By 1946 the picture was somewhat different. The Royal Ordnance Factory had ceased to operate, with the Ministry of Supply taking over a part of the site and civilian firms taking over other areas. The lubricant refining factory at Ross-on-Wye was still in operation, but the petrol feed system and fuse-making factories had reverted back to tile making. The precision tools engineers at Ross-on-Wye was continuing but production was much reduced, and the head office of the engineering contractor at Colwall had been completely removed.
One of the Ledbury factories used by the aircraft manufacturer was allocated to a new local venture - the extraction of apple juice and the grading and packing of fruit - while the other was used for Government stores. The jam maker at Madley was still in operation, but the infant foods producer was re-locating back to London. The soft drink manufacturer appeared to have no plans to leave the site at Colwall in the near future.
(Source: English County - A Planning Survey of Herefordshire, published by Faber & Faber, 1946)
Herefordshire, like many other agricultural counties, had a low proportion of its adult women in paid employment. In 1931 the national average was 34.5%, and in some industrial areas (such as London and Lancashire) this could be as high as 44.5%. However in Herefordshire the rate was 28.5%. This meant lower possible earnings for a family in Herefordshire compared to those in the industrial regions.
The number of women employed in Herefordshire rose steadily after 1930 in line with the national average, and by 2000 Herefordshire was slightly above the national average of England and Wales.
By 1951, with the population of Hereford City at 32, 490, there was still only a small percentage of the employed population in manufacture. For Herefordshire as a county, for every 1,000 people in employment, 266 were in catering, domestic service and distribution, 220 in agriculture, 153 in public administration and defences, and well under 100 were in the manufacturing industry.
The 2001 census reveals that the industry with the highest percentage of employees in Herefordshire was the wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles with 18.4%. The next highest was manufacturing with 17.4%, followed by health and social work with 11.6%. The three lowest industry sectors in regard to employment were fishing with 0.01%, mining and quarrying with 0.2% and electricity, gas and water supply with 0.5%.
Agriculture, hunting and forestry had suffered a further drop, and only employed 6.7% of the employed population compared to 22% in 1931. In terms of occupation groups the highest percentage in Herefordshire was employed in the skilled trade occupations with 16.2% and the lowest in the sales and customer service occupations with 7.1%.
These figures show a marked decrease in the amount of people employed in agriculture, whilst at the same time a definite increase in employment in manufacturing. This trend was common in many counties in England and demonstrates the conversion of England and Wales from a largely self-sufficient rural economy to one that was learning to adapt to the changing economy, the increase in mechanisation and the shift towards a more industrialised England.
[Original author: Miranda Greene, 2005]