King s Cliffe wheel-wrights, cart- and wagon-makers

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King s Cliffe wheel-wrights, cart- and wagon-makers With acknowledgment to Mrs June Basden for information taken from her thesis The industries of King s Cliffe in the late 1800s and early 1900s,

1 King s Cliffe wheel-wrights, cart- and wagon-makers With acknowledgment to Mrs June Basden for information taken from her thesis The industries of King s Cliffe in the late 1800s and early 1900s, written in Stokes and Son Fred Stokes established the Park Street Carriage Works in Their premises consisted of a large main workshop, timber store and smaller workshops for carpenter, joiner, blacksmith, coach painter and upholsterer. The buildings were on either side of a yard with gates on to Park Street, with a house to the left of the entrance (now number 42) and a cottage to the right, since demolished. Stokes made carriages, gigs, traps and flies for the local gentry, vans and traps for tradesmen, and undertook general wheelwrighting. An article from 1910 in the Peterborough Advertiser describes Stokes as having been famous for making great vans for Fair people, both living quarters and animal dens for travelling menageries, many of these being richly decorated. Trade was at its height in the 1860s and 1870s, when the firm employed as many as 30 men. In the 1880s, the firm exhibited at the Peterborough Agricultural Show and their advertisements in the show catalogue were illustrated with examples of their pleasure, agricultural and trade vehicles.

2 Carriages were upholstered in leather or moquette, stuffed with horse hair. Four coats of paint were applied to the carriages, each one being rubbed down with pumice before the next coat was put on and the final finish of copal varnish applied. The lead paints for each job were mixed in a hand-operated mill. As well as lining out the carriages, special decorations such as crests or monograms were painted in different colours according to the customer s requirements. Axles for the carriages, as well as the horsehair and moquette, were supplied by Gadsons of London. Leather for the upholstery and harness was purchased from Crawleys of Peterborough. By 1885, Stokes and Son had moved into making more functional vehicles - farm carts, wagons and wains - as well as carriages and vans. By 1890, their advertisements mention only agricultural and trade vehicles. They also made and repaired the druggs used by the timber hauliers of King s Cliffe.

Though still trading under the name of Stokes and Son, by 1900 the firm had been taken over by George Miles, the timber merchant, through the marriage of his daughter, Agnes, to Fred Stokes son,

3 Though still trading under the name of Stokes and Son, by 1900 the firm had been taken over by George Miles, the timber merchant, through the marriage of his daughter, Agnes, to Fred Stokes son, Charles. Fred Portess was employed as manager and foreman of the works. A seven year apprenticeship had to be served before a man was considered a skilled tradesman. This billhead from 1889 refers to apprenticeship arrangements: acknowledging receipt of a cheque for 7 11s 0d apprenticeship money for Payne and promising the drawing up of Indentures for the lad Taylor, if he suited. A skilled tradesman was entitled to 15 shillings (75p) per week rising to 18 shillings (90p) after 5 years service. It was unusual for an employee to earn over 1 per week, and this would only be achieved after long and faithful service with the firm. The men s working hours were from 6am to 6pm, with half an hour break for breakfast at 8am and one hour for dinner at 1pm. On Saturdays, work finished at 1pm. In 1903, employees included Harry Harker, Carpenter; J T Dixon, Carpenter; Arthur Robins, Blacksmith; J Taylor, blacksmith and wheelwright; and three apprentices whose names we do not know. (Mr Taylor and the apprentices travelled to work each day by train from Nassington). Arthur Robins worked for the firm for 60 years, retiring at the age of 80.

Stokes employees standing with a timber drugg made by them in 1903 The firm had to adapt to changes in demand, as can be seen in their advertisement in Bennett s Business Directory of 1906

Undertaking included coffin making, generally in oak. After George Miles death at the end of 1912, Fred Portess bought the Stokes premises and house and the business then traded under his name.

4 Stokes employees standing with a timber drugg made by them in 1903 The firm had to adapt to changes in demand, as can be seen in their advertisement in Bennett s Business Directory of 1906 which described their business as General Builders and Contractors, House Decorators and Undertakers with Wheelwrights, wagon and cart builders in smaller print. Undertaking included coffin making, generally in oak. After George Miles death at the end of 1912, Fred Portess bought the Stokes premises and house and the business then traded under his name. He continued to run the business until his death in the 1950s. His son, Alwyn, died relatively young and the firm closed in the late 1960s. A Carriage Van in Stokes yard, with Fred Portess, his daughters and employees, c1910.

J & R Chapman Joseph and Robert Chapman moved their well-established cart and wagon building business to King s Cliffe from Apethorpe in 1896.

5 J & R Chapman Joseph and Robert Chapman moved their well-established cart and wagon building business to King s Cliffe from Apethorpe in They took over a disused maltings building beside the Willow Brook at the bottom of Bridge Street (now Bridge House). The workshops, round three sides of a square yard, consisted of the main workshop, wheelwright s and blacksmith s shops, paint shop, shoeing shed and stable. Joseph Chapman ran the business side of the firm. Robert Chapman was in charge of the blacksmith s shop. Joseph went to Peterborough cattle market on Wednesdays and Saturdays and to Stamford market on Fridays to get orders and purchase materials. Many orders came by post, as the firm was well-known over a wide area. They made drays for breweries as far away as Bury St Edmunds, and brick carts for the Fletton brickyards. A cart made for JJ Brett & Son at J R Chapman & Sons Bridge Street Works, King s Cliffe. Photo dated A finished wagon from Chapmans works cost 30 (single-shafted) and 40 (double-shafted, ie for 2 horses). A farm cart cost 12. The employees of Chapmans had mostly joined as apprentices in Apethorpe, where the Earls of Westmoreland offered a grant of 25 a year for any lad in the village wishing to learn a trade. When the business transferred to King s Cliffe, the employees stayed on. They were: > John Paine (Morehay Lawn) Chief Wheelwright a nephew of Chapmans, he was with the firm for 52 years, starting as a lad of 14 in > Robert Pain (Apethorpe) Wheelwright. After 7 years apprenticeship, he earned 18 shillings a week as a skilled man, rising to 1. > George Weatherington Sawyer, woodworker and wheelwright.

6 > Albert Hunt (Apethorpe) Wheelwright, though chiefly employed in making bodies and shafts for wagons and carts. > Joseph Beasley (King s Cliffe) Blacksmith and shoeing smith > William Dixon (King s Cliffe) Shoeing smith and general iron work (gave up because of ill health) > Samuel Blake (King s Cliffe) took over from William Dixon > Daniel Taylor (Apethorpe) Odd job man cleaning down repair jobs, grinding paint, rough painting, helping in the saw pit, preparing the furnace and operating the blacksmith s bellows. The men from Apethorpe walked to work, 2 miles each way, occasionally getting a lift in the horse-drawn trap or luggage cart which came to King s Cliffe station twice a day from Apethorpe Hall. John Paine lived at Morehay Lawn: he had a lonely 3 mile walk each way, through Tomblin Wood. Miss Ida Chapman wrote about the demise of her family s business: During 1913, the country at large became unsettled and finally the Great War broke out in August this brought great upheaval everywhere and our business began to go into decline. The Boss s (Joseph Chapman s) two sons, Harry and Bert, who worked in the firm went away to the war and two of the remaining men went off to better jobs in town working on munitions. Farmers lost their men to the army; the wheelwright s work gradually drifted away. The Boss s elder son (Harry) was a skilled workman, able to make any part of a wagon or cart; the second son(bert) was an accomplished sign-writer and painter. These two were very much missed in the business. (Both men were wounded in the war Harry was gassed and Bert lost an arm.) The Chapman brothers (Joseph and Robert) were getting old, work was falling away and, even though the elder son was eventually released from the Army on account of his craftsmanship, so vital for the farming community, business never really recovered. John Paine had been with the firm for 52 years when his health broke down about this time; he was obliged to put his tools aside and retire. Joseph Chapman himself died in September 1922 at the age of 75. Long after the Bridge Street works closed, the works lathe remained there. This photograph was taken in 1972.

Wagons and carts Carts were two-wheeled vehicles, easy to manoeuvre and used for lighter work than the sturdier four-wheeled wagon. Wagon design varied from one part of the country to another.

7 Wagons and carts Carts were two-wheeled vehicles, easy to manoeuvre and used for lighter work than the sturdier four-wheeled wagon. Wagon design varied from one part of the country to another. The style common in north Northamptonshire, is described in the reference books as either a Northampton or a Rutland wagon! This was of medium size overall, with a straight bed and deep body, with two mid-rails running along its sides. The front-board would often be highly decorated. Hand-operated wheelwright s lathe similar to that used in Chapmans works (from The English Farm Wagon by J Geraint Jenkins A Northamptonshire-style farm wagon used at King s Cliffe in the 1930s. Originally, all the timber components for a wagon or cart would have been hand-sawn in the cartwright s yard, but when Miles timber yard installed its steam-driven saw-mill, time and labour was saved by buying from them made-to-measure planks, shafts, spokes and felloes, and short lengths of round wood ready for turning into hubs. The cartwright still needed a saw-pit on site to cut non-standard components using patterns laid onto the planks. The body of the wagon and the shafts were fastened together with nails, screws and bolts. The axles were embedded in timber under the body, and after the wheels had been fitted, brass hub caps were screwed on to metal arms inside the hub first being well-oiled to allow the wheel to rotate freely. The shafts were shaped to fit the body of the horse and iron hooks and chains fixed, ready for the harness. The wagon body was removed on spare wheels to the paint shop for the first coat of grey paint. All cracks were puttied and made smooth before the top coats of paint were applied. Chapman wagons and carts were often painted in ochre red or scarlet, a colour known as Farmer s Glory. Lining out and sign-writing decoration would be painted on before the final finish of varnish. Lettering and lining out required a steady hand and a good eye. The effect would be spoiled if the paintbrush were not loaded with enough paint to finish a stroke.

The Lace Making Factory at Southwell

The Lace Making Factory at Southwell Nottinghamshire was the centre of mass production of machine made lace the popularity of this cheaper lace, used in clothing and house furnishings, saw a rapid growth