About Mountsorrel > History > History of Manufacturing
A narrow strip of land between the granite hills of Charnwood and the River
Soar with its flood plain formed part of the best route from London to
Northwest England and Scotland, the present day A6. Mountsorrel became
established on this narrow piece of land with a thriving trade, an expanding
population and an “hour glass” village plan. The first industry here was extracting the hard, igneous pink rock called “granodiorite”. This rock crystallised deep underground about 400 million years ago and the reddish pink colour is the result of weathering in the Triassic period. The granite
was first worked by the Romans, who transported the stone from local quarries
into Leicester.
1591 – Robert Herrick started the glove making cottage industry for which he had to pay a licence fee of 10 shillings to the glove makers of Leicester
and Loughborough. He made an improved “Berlin” glove.
17th century or earlier– there is evidence under Castle Hill of an early
iron foundry on the A6 however there are no records. Note "A6" always refers
to pre-bypass.
1807- the Britannia Brick Works was established in fields west of the A6
where the Sic brook passes under it. The brick works and chimney were demolished
in the 1920s.
By 1845 the framework knitting cottage industry was firmly established
with 258 frames so many cottages must have been involved. From that date
until they faded in the1990s there were many establishments involved in
knitting, hosiery, boot and shoe manufacture, some quite small e.g. Rose’s
and Uptons in Linkfield Rd.
1812 - There had been small, shallow quarries locally for centuries. However,
Broad Hill Quarry excavations began in earnest when the canal opened in
1794 and, later in 1854, the Mountsorrel Granite Company was formed. When
the Midlands Counties Railway (later LMS) was built in 1844/60 a large
bridge was built over the River Soar and a railway provided the transport
for vast quantities of the heavy materials, such as railway ballast, to
sidings across the river and flood plain. By this time, the railway had
begun to replace barges for transporting granite. When the LNER railway
was constructed in the 1890's, a branch line using steam engines pulled
truck loads of granite from the quarry, along a specially constructed cutting,
across fields and under Swithland Lane to the LNER railway just north of
the bridge, across the bridge and on to Swithland Sidings. The village
prospered, the population expanded still further. The quarry established
a hospital south of Castle Hill for the workers and their families, which
later became a boys’ home and is now private homes. The workings are no longer in the parish but the distribution is still centred here. Broad
Hill, which was hollowed out by the quarrying, became a landfill site and
is now being in filled and landscaped. The landfill gas is being used to
produce electricity and the windmill, which once stood on the hill may
one day be replaced.
Originally the granite was extracted by hand using chisel and sledge hammer,
exploiting natural cracks and joints, manhandled and hauled on horse and
cart. Later blasting, pneumatic drills, “American Devils” (steam powered excavators) and tramways came into use. The stone was hand chiselled into kerbstones and setts for roadway construction. The setts were durable and
could be produced by splitting along minute cracks of a faint, natural
“grain”. (Setts gave horses a foothold for pulling heavy drays uphill.) Some high quality stone was used for decorative architecture, such as the
War Memorial on Castle Hill. A lot of “waste” was produced which was in great demand for pink pathways (still in Windsor Great Park) and later
concrete. Quarry work was extremely demanding and most quarrymen suffered
permanent damage to backs, muscles and knees in addition to the hazard
of accidents. This method of manufacture continued until the beginning
of World War II when manpower shortage and huge demand changed production
to crushing into graded aggregate for high quality concrete and bitumen
coating used for road making and bomber runways. The local section of the
M1 was built using material from a huge spoil heap by Bond Lane, which
used to tower over the A6.
1775- During the canal building era, a corn grinding mill was opened on
the weir controlling the backwater level of the locks, this was later steam
powered. It was put up for sale in 1912 and later demolished. At one time
it was used for felt making and dyeing. There have been water mills
since 1089.
1860s – James Smith founded the first factory proper in the village named the Granite Boot Co. making heavy boots for quarry men and later during
World War I (and presumably the Boer War) making soldiers boots, employing
over 100 women and men. In 1967 this became Morris Shoes making shoes for
men and boys.
* 1910 – Parker’s boot & shoe factory opened on Linkfield Rd opposite the brick works eventually employing about 65 people and stood where the box factory’s westernmost bay and side entrance is. After WWII it was used partially as a works canteen for Clarkes.
* 1905 – The Wholesale School Boot Co. (The Schoolboy Boot Co.) of Leicester opened a factory in Marsh Rd. (Danvers Rd at that time ) making boots and
shoes for men and boys, eventually employing about 90 workers. Much later
it became Vincent Shoe which closed in 1981 becoming a small trading estate
for 3 companies:- Micronaid making small, high precision tooling; Regal,
a light engineering company supplying motor manufacturers; and Samex hosiery
factory employing about 60 workers in total.
1912 – Originating on The Green at the site of the later scout hut, Henry,
Arnold and Herman Clarke set up a business called Clarke & Co. making
cardboard boxes. This later became Clarkes Boxes next to Allen’s Bus Garage (now Top Gear and B&L Transmissions). During WWII Taylorcraft made aircraft components there. The boxes that they made were in great demand
for delivering food and boots to the front in WW1.
1934 Clarkes Boxes opened a new factory opposite the Glenfrith Workhouse
on Linkfield Rd near “Parker’s Pit” (the old brick works clay pit) and was extended to nearly twice its size in 1937, eventually becoming one of the largest in the industry. It was requisitioned for war work in 1941,which
caused all the machinery to be moved to Harrimans of Shepshed and a burnt
out factory in Rothley within 2 weeks. It was returned to them after the
war and in the late 1970s became Keene Rubicon after absorbing the Leicester
Keene factory. Clarkes sold to a management consortium in 1983. It
was extended again over Parker’s site and became Rubicon, then in 1997
Bonar Rubicon, then Bonar Imca and in 2000 becoming MY Cartons. For interest,
in 1955 David Clark, grandson of Henry the co-founder established an international
cine film unit in Loughborough at the Tudor Hall in Southfields Rd, which
specialised in making newsreels for ITV & BBC and for films about international motor racing.
1918 – Moore & Eadie opened a hosiery factory in Boundary Rd. and made ladies stockings, men’s socks and half hose. In 1932 Herr A.Eiken acquired the site and established the production of elastic webbing for clothing
using new processes and machinery imported from Germany and USA. In 1936
he had a factory built behind it in Halstead Rd. He was interned during
WWII and the factories were turned to making fuel tanks for Wellington
bombers under Frigidaire. After the war Herr Eiken continued manufacturing
at Halstead Rd but the Boundary Rd. factory was taken over by Coverdale
for the manufacture of silk and nylon stockings at first and later tights
and surgical hose. This factory closed in 1998.
The Halstead Rd. factory continued making elastic webbing under the name
of Clutson Penn until it closed in *1968 . In *1969 it was taken over by
Kirkland, a Syston-based hosiery machine maker, part of the Courtaulds
Group. They manufactured circular knitting machines however suffered the
national downturn in hosiery machine making and closed in 1975. It was
then acquired as a satellite for Clarkes boxes . David Clarke transferred
his Graypaul Ferrari car workshops from Shepshed to part of the new
factory in July 1977 and extended his range to include car spares, exporting
to 38 countries. Many international celebrities visited, some by helicopter.
In 1987 the orchard, factory car park and the Clarkes Boxes part of the
factory were cleared to build the housing of Ash Grove. These workshops
closed and the site demolished to build Cedar Grove in 1996.
1942 - During WWII the Alvis company of Coventry, which made armoured vehicles took over Clarkes Boxes after being bombed in 1940/1 and then built a temporary shadow factory on the other side of the Sic brook and pond on the old brickworks site in the neighbouring parish. At the war’s end DeHavilland aeroplane manufacturers leased the factory briefly from Alvis to make aircraft propellers.
1945/6- Rolls Royce acquired the temporary factory which they officially
named “Rolls Royce Mountsorrel“ (see picture), and progressively improved and extended it, some of it back into Mountsorrel Parish. They made stainless sheet metal parts for the Merlin and Griffon propeller
aircraft engines. These were exhaust stubs, pipes etc. including many types
of nickel alloy tab washers by the million. Jet engine development made
increasing use of sheet metal pressings and large, high strength pressure
casings welded onto castings and forgings. The Mountsorrel factory increasingly
became the RR. specialist production factory for structural and high
temperature fabrications with international recognition, advising on new
designs.
factory’s finest decade when the new RB211 engine was made for the Lockheed Tristar wide bodied airliner. This engine was the most advanced in the world and significantly it had the greatest content of welded sheet metal as well as needing the most demanding high technology production equipment and methods. The factory employed 1200+ workers in the1970’s. The enormous investment and a temporary technical set-back bankrupted the company which had to be nationalised in 1971 and supply contracts rewritten to save it and the investment. This engine is a world beater and today, now called the “Trent” it is fitted by most large airliner manufacturers and many power stations in the world. Sadly for the Mountsorrel population, as the engine developed further the advantages of sheet metal were surpassed by stronger alloys, which could not be rolled into sheets but into forged
shapes or cast molten into moulds. The factory closed in 1994 and 
is now a housing estate and the work globally subcontracted. 500 commemorative dinner plates were produced displaying a pictorial history of the factory. (see pictures)
Grateful thanks to Rolls Royce, Brian Riddle, Marjorie Mee, Pauline Gordon,
Frank Swift, Freddie Gibson, Noel Wakelin, Ken and Rose Lamming, The Townswomen’s Guild, David Clarke, Mick Sandham, Kate Mee, Ann Smith, Harold Newman, Tom Courtney, Fred Buthaway, Mrs Blakesley, and Dr Stan Coats. Any historical corrections and additions will be welcome.
*Dates thus are approximate and refined information will be appreciated.
Terry Toseland June 2001