Industrial Trail
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Much of the brass produced by the brass works was made into wire for pinmaking. Pins were made in the building now known as the Clocktower Building. The company also sold a great deal of wire to other pin manufacturers.
The Scottish brothers William and Edward Douglas founded the Douglas Engineering Company and set up in Kingswood just off Regent Street in 1882. Initially they were blacksmiths, quickly progressing to foundry work. Then they acquired the flat twin design of WJ Barter, the founder of Light Motors Ltd.
Barter had produced his first single cylinder motorcycle between 1902 and 1904, then a 200cc horizontal twin called the Fair, but Light Motors Ltd failed in 1907 and was taken over by the Douglas family. From 1907 they sold a Douglas 350cc version. In 1915 the engine was placed lengthways in the frame with belt final drive, and electric lighting.
During World War I, Douglas was a major motorcycle supplier, making around 70,000 motorcycles for military use. In the 1920s Douglas built the first disc brakes, and they were issued a Royal Warrant for the supply of motorcycles to the Princes Albert and Henry. Motorcycle production continued into World War II and was extended to generators.
In 1948, not long after the war, Douglas was in financial difficulty and reduced its output to the 350cc flat twin models. The 1955 350cc Douglas Dragonfly was the last model produced.
Vespa scooters were also manufactured under licence from Piaggio ending in 1956. Westinghouse bought Douglas Bros, and the company was wound up in 1957.
Memories still live on of ‘Dougies’ winning various Isle Of Man TT races, and the Douglas Motorcycle Club meet monthly at Kingswood Heritage Museum to celebrate these memories. William Douglas III is a trustee of the museum.
Kingswood is renowned for its non-conformist history. Eighteenth century open-air preachers came here to tame the ‘wild’ population of Kingswood. They were exploited by all and sundry and so had plenty to complain about.
John Wesley, George Whitfield and John Cennick came to preach to and educate the people of Kingswood about Christianity. In the 19th century, rich boot manufacturers financed the building of small chapels. These were not gifts but loans to encourage the principle of self-sufficiency and Godliness.
Kingswood is renowned for its non-conformist history. Eighteenth century open-air preachers came here to tame the ‘wild’ population of Kingswood. They were exploited by all and sundry and so had plenty to complain about.
John Wesley, George Whitfield and John Cennick came to preach to and educate the people of Kingswood about Christianity. In the 19th century, rich boot manufacturers financed the building of small chapels. These were not gifts but loans to encourage the principle of self-sufficiency and Godliness.
Our Victorian parlour is laid up for afternoon tea, it was a place of relaxation and a place to entertain visitors. The difference between this and the 1950s living room is marked. Even quite modest housewives employed a ‘maid of all work’. Our Victorian kitchen has one, she would work long hours doing rough household work as well as cooking and waiting at table.
No central heating was available and coal and wood fires often in bedrooms as well as the downstairs reception rooms obtained warmth. Storage of food was a problem and whilst ice could be purchased, its production mainly relied on cold winters for collection and storage in specially built icehouses. Village or town dressmakers manufactured clothing mainly. They relied on many patterns from which clients were able to choose.
The 1950s were a decade filled with enthusiasm and change. After the bleak austerity of the war years, with unemployment rising and standards of living rising faster. In 1952 restrictions in industry were lifted and more consumer goods became available through access to the newly formed hire purchase and credit arrangements. Fashion changed and clothing coupons ceased.
There was new optimism and in 1951 at the Festival of Britain new architectural building designs encapsulated what was to be seen as “Great Britain” again. The average wage in the early nineteen-fifties was just £7. 11 shillings and the average housing rent 12s 6d -or in today’s money, £7.52 and 53p. The average house purchase ranged from £250 (terrace with outside WC) to £2,500. A visit to the cinema cost 1s 9d (8p), beer was 1s 2d (6p) per half-litre and chips were less than 2p a bag.
Housing shortages began to be filled by tower blocks of flats and temporary pre-fabricated houses were erected on war bombsites. In houses hardboard was used for partitions and Formica transformed kitchen work surfaces and tables. Plastic was used more for crockery and picnic sets.
The young generation born either at the end or after the war was at the end of the decade more involved with the new music that was popular (the forerunner of “Pop Music”). It comes a shock to some that the objects they used in their early lives are now a part of history.
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The making of boots in the Kingswood area grew out of the need for heavy boots in the mining industry. Men who had been injured in accidents or who chose not to go into mining found employment servicing the mining industry. This started as a cottage industry and became in the 19th century a booming factory led industry.
But ‘out’ or ‘home’ working as it was called was important. Work was delivered by outworkers to the factory once a week when the next week’s work was collected. Often each worker would complete just one or two processes, perhaps machine stitching a section together, before the next worker added his contribution to the whole.
This method of working went on well into the 20th century. The industry reached its zenith in the early to mid 1900s when the need for army boots brought prosperity to Kingswood. There were as many as forty manufacturers of boots at one time, ranging from large factories such as GB Britton’s, producing footwear for the mass market, to small firms of one or two operatives that took advantage of a niche opportunity. Stubbs and Birt was one such company – they produced ice skating boots and made bespoke footwear for those with disabilities.
Boot making ended in Kingswood in the early years of the 21st century when GB Britton, at that time owned by UK Safety of Northampton, closed.
Mining for coal has been going on in Kingswood since the middle ages. Various types of mine surrounded Kingswood. Bell pits were used when a seam ran parallel to the surface some five to ten metres (15 or 20 feet) down. A shallow shaft would be dug down to the seam then the coal excavated out in a sphere until it became unsafe to dig anymore. Then the miners moved along the field and started another bell pit, back filling the previous pit with the rubbish from the new pit. In this way a series of pits were dug across a field.
Another type of extraction was used when the seam started at the surface and was mined downwards into the earth along the seam towards the deepest part. This was known as drift mining. The last type and the most expensive more common mining is the deep mine. A shaft was drilled and dug down to the coal seam with a mine shaft set up to transport the miners to the coal face. The last deep mine in the area was Harry Stoke that closed in the 1950s.
Kingswood pits did not suffer from gas in the way of other mine fields, so candles were used by workers to light their way, as opposed to Humphrey Davey’s safety lamp that was used elsewhere. Kingswood coal was of poorer quality compared with coal mined in South Wales, but it was good enough for the domestic market. It was transported to Hanham and then onwards by river to Bristol and Bath.
A little way from the museum in Keynsham, Fry’s the chocolate manufacturers employed many Kingswood men and women. The factory has now closed but the museum has a standing display depicting the factory and how chocolate and affiliated products were made.
Alongside, there is a display centred on the manufacture of Carsons chocolates, which were also made locally.
This site was destroyed when an underpass was constructed on the final link in the ring road. The site consisted of a Romano-British farm and a metalworking area. The dig was carried out by the Bristol Industrial Archaeological Society (BIAS) the finds included pottery shards, sharpening stones, boiling stones, jewellery moulds, a millefiore brooch and a metalworking furnace.
All these finds were given to Kingswood Heritage Museum where many of the items are on display. The collection is now held in the Kleeneze room – Room B on the site map. Click here to visit the BIAS website: www.b-i-a-s.org.uk
William Champion’s Zinc and Brass Works was, in the 18th century, probably the largest industrial site in Europe. Interpretation of the site can be seen in the first gallery visitors enter. Here are models of a zinc foundry and workers’ housing alongside explanations of the zinc and brass making processes.
In the 18th century William Champion invented and patented a process to extract zinc for calamine ore. As zinc ore is heated the zinc comes off in a vapour and is lost to the atmosphere. What William did was to invent an enclosed vessel to capture the zinc vapour the vapour passed down a tube at the base of the condenser into a water bath where it condensed into zinc flakes.
Before William’s invention copper and zinc ores were mixed then heated, to obtain the alloy of copper and zinc, brass. Because the amounts of copper and zinc could not be controlled the quality of the brass produced by this method could not be controlled. Using William’s method of producing the copper and zinc could be mixed in just the amounts to obtain the quality of the brass required.
His methods enabled him to produce a much higher quality brass than his rivals. He prospered until his patent ran out, then his rivals started to use his processes and he went bankrupt.
Harry Crook, who learned his brush making in America, founded the Kleeneze Brush Company in East Bristol. He returned to this country to make brushes and sold them by sending his salesforce from door to door with their famous Kleeneze suitcases, an idea he brought from the USA.
A 16mm film shot in 1938 has been put onto DVD and may be seen in the gallery dedicated to Kleeneze. The processes of making and distributing brushes before the Second World War are fascinating to watch.
William Champion for his production used a number of sources for motive power. One source was wind power, and the windmill, for so long used to drive many machines, is no longer in use – however the tower now forms part of the museum space.
This is a rare surviving industrial windmill. It was never used to grind corn but to grind the ores from which copper and zinc were acquired. The tower is complete but the floors which were in situ until the early twentieth century are now gone, as are the cap and sails. Nevertheless visitors may see the size of the structure with its metre-thick walls. The tower has recently been restored.
Being so close to the aircraft factories at Filton and Patchway made Kingswood vulnerable to aerial attack during World War Two, indeed some bombs fell on Kingswood. Many men and women served in the armed forced and the land army. Cossham Hospital tower is said to have been a used as a landmark for German bomber pilots. As many Kingswood children recall, wartime was a time of opportunities to find treasures such as shrapnel and to beg American soldiers for chewing gum with the cry of, “Got any gum chum?”
This former forest area that that had been traditionally used by the ruling monarch as a hunting ground, developed into a busy industrial township with a thriving boot and shoe industry. Up until the 19th century, Greater Kingswood was inhabited by a rough and ready population of miners, smallholders and cottagers who were always ready to take what they could from the land and from neighbouring communities, in order to survive. In the 13th century it was seen by some businessmen that Kingswood was ripe for exploitation: the problem was that the forest was owned by the crown and continued to be used for hunting.
It became widely accepted that the only solution was to continue to visit the area regularly, defying the crown’s authority, and to harvest the natural resources of coal and wood. Successive monarchs tried to obtain control again but were thwarted by the powerful landlords who had taken ‘Liberties’, the name applied to these holdings. Bailiffs were appointed by the monarch but were unable to take back control of the area.
Over time these efforts became less and less vigorous until the status quo was allowed to remain. Reformers including John Wesley, George Whitefield, John Cennick and Samuel Budget came to educate and convert the local populace. Churches and schools were set up, which were wholeheartedly embraced by the people, proving that the former supposed villainy was more a matter of survival rather than evil intent.
The area now supports many small firms that came into existence by servicing the aircraft factories at Filton and Patchway. Today the urban and rural communities make up the present day area of the former Borough of Kingswood that is now part of South Gloucestershire.
The ice house was filled with ice from the thirteen and a half acre lake situated in William Champion’s pleasure garden. The ice was pulled off the surface of the lake during winter using horses and chains. Being so large it is thought that as well as supplying the big house it was also sold to Bristol companies to keep fish fresh.
