Place:Stocksbridge, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

NOTE: Do not confuse Stocksbridge with towns named "Stockbridge" in Sussex and Hampshire.

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Stocksbridge is a town and civil parish, now in the City of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies just to the east of the Peak District. The town is located in the steep-sided valley of the Little Don River, below the Underbank Reservoir. It blends into the areas of Deepcar, Bolsterstone and the eastern end of Ewden valley around Ewden village, which are also within the civil parish. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 13,455.

Historically Stocksbridge straddled the large parishes of Penistone and Ecclesfield. In 1872 a local government district called Stocksbridge was created, governed by an elected local board. Such districts were converted into urban districts in 1894. The current Stocksbridge Town Hall was constructed in 1928. The district was merged into the City of Sheffield in 1974.

In 1716 John Stocks, a local farmer and landowner, occupied a fulling mill halfway along the valley where a flood plain extended southwest from the river. Here he reputedly built a footbridge over the river, perhaps so that his workforce could reach the mill from their homes on the north side. This originally wooden structure, "Stocks' Bridge", gave the place its name, not only because it was about the only thing there apart from the mill itself, but also because as a crossing place it appeared under that name on Thomas Jeffrey's map of 1772, so establishing itself as a place name. On various occasions, this bridge was destroyed by flooding, and it was eventually replaced by a stone structure in 1812.

In 1794 three businessmen, Jonathan Denton, Benjamin Grayson and Thomas Cannon, built a large cotton mill extremely close by, or possibly upon, the site of the original mill.

The parish church of St Matthias was consecrated in 1890.

Industrial History

The valley bottom today is almost entirely occupied by steel works. Samuel Fox acquired the old cotton mill in 1842, at first renting it from its then owner, Joshua Newton. Nine years later, in 1851, he purchased the mill outright from Joshua's son, Thomas Newton. Fox converted the place to use as a wire mill, and built much of the infrastructure of Stocksbridge, primarily to house his new workforce and to supply their needs. The wire was initially for textile pins, but around 1848 the business expanded to include wire for umbrella frames which led to Fox developing the “Paragon” umbrella frame in 1851.

The business continued to expand, and extended into different products, but underwent a major change in direction in the early 1860s when Fox realized that he could save large amounts of money by making his own steel for the wire, rather than buying it in. Furnaces and a rolling mill were installed, which in turn allowed the production of railway lines and springs. The business was incorporated into a limited company in 1871.

For a picture of how this enterprise developed through the 20th century, see the complete Wikipedia article, [1]

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