Ashton Hingemakers

 

 

The history of hinge use is difficult to pin-point, having been found in ancient societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and elsewhere, even made of stone in some early discoveries. They were developed by the Romans for domestic use and became an important part of their sophisticated lifestyle. They even named a goddess, Cardea, as the goddess of hinges. Metal hinges were a sign of status as, being expensive and difficult to manufacture, most of the very early ones were bronze door hinges or load-bearing metal hinges which only the wealthy could afford to protect sacred structures and wealthy homes with protective gates or heavy doors. Common people usually had houses with no hinged doors, or no doors at all. This was advanced during the Medieval period as more and more people began using hinged-doors in their houses. Blacksmiths were an invaluable asset to the success of the early colonies that depended on domestic hardware for so many needs and local blacksmiths could create wrought iron hinges, as well as other wrought iron tools, at an affordable rate. Today's world would not exist as we know it today if it wasn't for hinges. This simple piece of hardware is one of the most important and revolutionary items known to mankind, perhaps, only second in line to the invention of the wheel.

 

 

We begin our story in the district of Ashton-in Makerfield, which lies half way between Liverpool and Manchester.

Ashton derives its name from the Old English meaning, "farmstead where the ash trees grow" whilst Makerfield is a derivative of the Celtic for a wall or ruin and the Old English word 'feld', meaning "open land". In the mid 16th century Sir Thomas Gerard had sold his interest in the Kingsley estates of the family and purchased the other third part of the manor of Ashton from John Atherton, thus becoming sole lord. In 1600 the main landowners were Sir Thomas Gerard of Brynn, Thomas Gerard of Garswood, James Ashton, Edward Knowles, James Richardson, William Slynehead, and William Stanley. 

Roger Lowe, born in 1642, was indentured as an apprentice to an unknown mercer of Leigh, working in the latter's shop in Ashton. After nine years he took over the business from his master, but in 1667 sold the shop and went back into service with a Warrington bookseller. His diary from the 1600s mentions him meeting a Thomas Crompton, a local preacher, who is quite likely to be an ancestor of the family who were to be so important to the market town in the future. Indeed, in Holy Trinity Church, Downall Green, there is a window of St Paul in memory of Thomas Crompton who was for many years churchwarden before he died in 1910. The church, built in 1837, was made the principal church, its incumbent having the title of rector of Ashton, and being endowed with the tithes of the township, from which £50 a year was to be paid to the vicar of St. Thomas's in the market town of Ashton.

 

Thomas Crompton, in the straw hat (above), was born in 1829 at Tapster's Moss, Downall Green ( half way between Rectory Road and Simms Road) and is pictured with his grandson, Thomas Crompton born in 1886 in Robinsons Lane, Ashton in Makerfield. This was two miles away from the town, on the outskirts of what had once been the quiet hamlet of Ashton, surrounded by oak, beech, birch and sycamore trees, with only a couple of shops and local farmers providing dairy produce, before the advent of mining and the subsequent industrialisation. It had long been discovered that heating iron-ore in the charred embers of a fire blown by bellows, that the iron ore could be reduced to a spongy metallic bloom and hammered to consolidate and purify it, then further refined by reheating and hammering, becoming usable worked or wrought iron. The furnace, a bloomery, was a small bowl-shaped hole in the ground lined with clay and blown by manually-powered bellows, achieving temperatures around 700 degrees Centigrade.  Wrought iron production in bloomeries was small-scale and expensive, so was used where its strength, hardness and malleability were essential, such as in hinges. Local craftsmen had begun working on these hand-blown forges and, with a few crude tools, would work the material into a finished product to be taken to the Warehouse by handcart on a Saturday morning selling to local hinge masters in return for cash and iron with which to make more. These Smiths were tough and independant and through their endeavours Ashton had a hinge industry which had become part of community life. 

Beech House

As early as 1767 Lancashire Wrought Welded Hinges and Stock Locks were being manufactured under the name of Robert Clough & Son. When Ellen Billinge married into the family she introduced her brother James into the business which he eventually continued under the name of James Billinge & Co. By 1814 Ashton had grown to a population of almost 5000 people with Baines Lancashire Directory in 1824 describing it as such, 'this large populous village forms the centre of a brisk manufacturing district where the poor are industrious and their employers prosperous'. Ashton became a centre for the trades of the manufacture of hinges, locks, nails, door handles and files, with a concentration of dealers in this  relatively small town. Listed in the Wigan Directory of 1869, Ashton ( North) we find 'Billinge James & Co., iron merchants and manufacturers of hinges, locks, &c., Downall Green'. James Billinge then lived across the road from the factory in Beech House, later to be the British Legion and then the S&S Club. Working for the business for several years as a traveller had been Thomas Crompton who, in 1866, had begun marketing goods under his own name as he commenced dealings with the local blacksmiths for their goods. When in 1869 James Billinge, now the largest manufacturer of Lancashire Wrought Welded Hinges and Stock Locks went bankrupt, Thomas bought up the business. Issuing a circular advising existing customers of the change of ownership he proceeded to put the business back on its feet.

Thomas, now with his new firm, had to find some way of turning the local Smiths' independance into an organised work force with whom he could plan production. The attraction of a regular wage brought some into the premises but still the majority preferred to work from 'home'. However with the market taking notice of improved consistency, of better quality, and, as the regularity of good work spread, more came to join his workforce. In the 1890s the firm gradually grew, as had the village, with house after house being built. Gerard Street in Ashton, which once consisted of just the old farm house ( then a well known chemists owned by the Fairless family), two houses forming the doctors premises of Rock House, and two or three other buildings, was now a well used thoroughfare. ( Rock House would eventually become the Company Directors' Offices ).

1893 Map showing the Crompton Factory

Thomas Crompton at Downall Green, just two miles from Ashton town, had now a business making hinges and stock locks, mainly by hand, on premises at the bottom of what is now Rectory Road and near the family home of Highfield House. Here there were only a few counter sinking machines and a saw mill for the wood stocks, powered by a very old vertical steam engine and a small cornish boiler. Wood stock locks are the type seen on church doors and cathedrals and were fitted to many domestic doors in the 18th and 19th centuries. By 1899 however, the manufacture of double flap bright steel butts entirely by machinery had begun and so too the local hinge adventure. In 1910, at the age of 80, the founder Thomas Crompton died and his son Thomas assumed control. 

His father's endeavors and pioneering resilience had laid the path for the transition from the old blacksmith methods to a machinery enterprise which he continued when, in 1913, he bought the first machines. This was followed in 1914 when Thomas, now joined by his sons, John and Tom, purchased a small second hand plant for making patent Tee Hinges. Lack of space was now the problem so, in order to put this new acquisition to work effectively, a new building and extra power was required. In 1917 they purchased the firm, Whitley & Valient Ltd in Ashton-in-Makerfield who were manufacturers of wrought iron hinges, thumb latches, Banbury & Plate locks, Lancashire tools, files &c. Here a large 104 h.p. gas engine was installed foreseeing future expansion. However the outbreak of war was to make great demands on their small plant necessitating the installation of new curling machines and single purpose hand feed presses.

Ashton Works and the Directors Offices

In 1919 they formed a limited company, Thomas Crompton & Sons Ltd , and at this juncture decided that progress in the production of Bright Steel Hinges meant they needed to do their own cold rolling and so installed a Cold Rolling Mill that year. Also, with the increased demand for galvanised products, a Galvanising Plant was also installed which reduced costs and improved production. Iron locks were now replacing the old Lancashire Stock Lock but delays in procuring castings resulted in the company setting up a small iron and brass Foundry. 

Seeds' Wigan & District Directory circa 1924-5

 

Orders were also placed to secure the best known types of Automatic Machines from America which were then, in 1927, replaced by superior equipment from Germany. As German designs improved, a visit to Germany by Thomas Crompton, saw more purchased in 1931 together with the patterns of a hinge manufacturing firm from Sweden, from which they were able to make all the machines themselves in their own factory. This advanced the ever expanding company as the leading producer in England in both quality and quantity of output. 

Crompton's fleet of vehicles at Record Mill on York Road

Thomas Crompton died in 1933 at the age of 68 and the management of the business passed over to his sons Thomas and John. In 1937 Tom and John Crompton defrayed the cost of building a tower in Holy Trinity Church, Downall Green, completed in 1938 at the west end of the church, in memory of their father Thomas Crompton, for many years People’s Warden. 

Space was again becoming a problem for them, the old works in Downall Green, a scattering of mill shops with no organised order or lay out, had outgrown themselves and now the crowded Gerard Street Works restricted any further development. Delays in purchasing the multitude of sizes of material required for production had begun to hold up deliveries so the decision was made to put down a Hot Steel Rolling Mill which commenced operating at Edge Green in 1935. The following year the space problem was resolved with the purchase of a large spinning mill in York Road South, to be known as Record Mill, and as the hinge equipment was to be installed, the floors were duly strengthened and the cellars used as a steel store. This was undoubtedly a bold move given that the market was still recovering from the aftermath of years of depression.

The Record Mill

The war in 1939 brought new demands on the company and departures from normal production which resulted in a tremendous leap in output. Hinges were now being made for both the Royal and Merchant Navy, some Admiralty hinges being over 2 metres long, and lifting links were manufactured for bomb boxes for the RAF. Tanks and armoured cars could now be seen in Ashton, queuing into the factory so that gun brackets could be drilled and bolted on. The premises became almost a second depot for vehicles in transit at POW Working Camp 50 on Warrington Road, now the site of Byrchall High School. This was a camp that held Polish, Italian and German POW's including Bert Trautmann, the Manchester City goalkeeper, who would break his neck in the 1955 FA Cup final.  He had been downgraded to non-Nazi 'B' status and taken to POW Camp 50 where he stayed until 1948. 
Football matches were held regularly in the camp in which he played outfield.  In a match against Haydock, he picked up an injury and swapped positions with the goalkeeper and continued playing in that position from then on.  With closure of the POW camp imminent, he declined an offer of repatriation and stayed in England, which eventually led to him signing with Manchester City on the 7th of October 1949.

Haydock Works

Peace time brought no respite and only new problems for the company. The demands on production had increased so much that additional plant had to be found meaning working conditions had once again become cramped.With the pressure on production not eased, machines were becoming old and worn which, with the vital demands for exports and a backlog of home demand, was not a good position to be in. In the middle of this came the news that that the structure of the Record Mill had become faulty due to mining subsidence. This meant stripping two of the Mill floors and accommodating the plant in the already overcrowded departments, meaning that production could not be improved. In 1954 Thomas Crompton & Sons became a Limited Company and a decision was made that the only solution to the lack of production capacity was to draw up plans for a new building with a 12 acre site in Haydock selected. On the 12th of April 1957 the made-to-measure works were opened, attended by Councillor Hunt with a speech given by company Chairman John Crompton. Lord Derby was due to perform the ceremony but had been taken ill and was unable to attend the opening. In his speech the Chairman declared that the firm were now the largest single hinge manufacturing organisation in the British Commonwealth. In this new modern factory at Haydock most of the hinge making was now carried out with modern electro plating producing many finishes such as Chrome Plating, Electro Brass Plating, Bronze and Zinc Plating, etc. The Ashton Works were now producing cast iron goods from the Foundry and had a Wrought Iron Department, Box Making and Packing Departments and a Warehouse Facility together with Bolt Making, Diecasting and Spraymatic Departments in Record Mill which also held the Engineering Maintenance Department and a Training School for apprentices.

 

 

The Crompton workforce had now grown substantially, so much so that in the 1950s they now had sports and social activities, having their own football team Crompton Recreation playing in the Lancashire Combination League from the 1951-52 season when they were admitted into League 2 before gaining promotion in 1956-56. They had a fabulous Sports Complex with its entrance on Warrington Road, just past the Bay Horse Hotel and Park View. It had Football Pitches, a Cricket Pitch, Bowling Greens and Tennis Courts.There is even a memory of the West Indies Cricket team playing here.

1950s Crompton Recs Football Team (Park View in the rear)

The workers also put on their own Christmas panto's and, like many companies at the time, days and night outs were organised showing the camaraderie of the office and factory workers. They also participated with a Float in the annual Ashton Carnival, a parade through the town which would last for hours.

Thomas and John Crompton were now being assisted by their sons Thomas Crompton Jnr, BA and John S. Crompton and supported by a management team. However it was decided to sell the company and towards the end of 1961 it was acquired by G.K.N. ( Guest Keen & Nettlefold ) who had hinge making plants of their own, Nettlefold Stenman Hinges Ltd, Cardiff and a hinge making company in Sweden, Stenman Aug. The Crompton family left the business following the takeover and on the 1st of April 1963 the company was renamed Crompton Nettlefold Steman Ltd (CNS) and were now the world's largest producer of hinges. In 1966 there were almost 1500 people employed at the Ashton and Haydock sites and the market town of Ashton reflected this, especially on Tuesday and Saturday Market days when people would travel to the town from far and wide. Apprenticeship training was further developed as the old Staff canteen was transformed into a classroom and a workshop was established on the first floor of the Record Mill with the ground floor housing the Engineering Department which had moved from its old home at Downall Green. 1970 saw GKN close the Cardiff works and move production to the Haydock site and during the early 1970s CNS engineers built Butt Hinge machinery themselves which was another 'stepping stone' in the hinge making progress. 

 

The1970s would however herald a change of fortune for the company.

The sports fields had been sold off, the Downhall Green factory closed (eventually becoming Pilkington's Garage), Edge Green had gone, the Record Mill demolished and in 1976 the Haydock factory was also closed with all production facilties now being housed on the one site in Ashton-in-Makerfield. The re-development of the Ashton site had been agreed by GKN but, having built what was to be the Warehouse, plans were trimmed and this building was to be the only new one and designated as the 'New Factory' which was officially opened on the 27th of October 1976. The Foundry was next to close in 1980 and, because the Stenman part of the association had become more detached, it was finally decided to change the company name, so in 1980 it became GKN Crompton. At this time the workforce had now been reduced to 550 employees. The decision to curtail spend in the development of the Ashton site did not bode well and it was seen that the GKN policy regarding the factory was 'to provide cash and ask for none'. There had been a steady decline in sales, approximately 30%, and the company was not only carrying too much stock but it was not the stock the customers were requiring as Crompton's now had the notorious reputation for poor delivery. Employee morale was low and the company was obviously overmanned. Because of its low significance in the corporate portfolio of GKN the company now had deep seated problems.

 

At Board level we saw a change of strategy with the internal financing of new product development to take the company into the door and window manufacture markets. Traditional products were now being supplied to the market by large distributors as price competition had now become a major factor plus, as they held large stocks, they could provide a good service. By 1985 the workforce now had been further reduced to 300 employees and in early 1986 Crompton's main competitor informed the company Directors that the company was up for sale again; GKN announced it some weeks later, but in August reversed its decision. Wholesale changes had been made at Boardroom level and despite marketing campaigns such as a video fronted by BBC Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross showing the security of new window 'Gemini' fittings and other promotional material proving the endurance of hinges used on Fire Doors, the upsurge in sales did not materialise. 

External consultants were brought into the company to advise on new methods of production and the rationalisation of product mix with some success, but sales remained plateaued. Their seemed little way forward, with these measures having little effect, and negotiations had begun to sell the company. In 1988 the Laird Group acquired GKN Crompton to trade as Crompton Ltd, operating with J.E.Reynolds, a security lock making company in Willenhall, West Midlands. That year Laird also purchased T.L.V Manufacturing Ltd, a local competitor of Crompton and it was envisaged it was a new ERA for the business. The decision was also made to sell off the Ashton site and move to new premises at Haydock, ironically a 'stone's throw' from the old Haydock site on Kilbuck lane. The Ashton site is now a shopping centre and car park with a Blue Plaque denoting its previous existence.

The move to Haydock in 1994 had meant further rationalisation as the Diecast Department and the Black Japanning Dip Plant, newly marketed as 'Saxon Black', did not move and other machinery was left behind. However a new marketing brochure predicted 'The Best Is Yet To Come', with the new custom built factory being the envy of the industry worldwide. It went on to predict, 'As the year 2000 approaches it will become the launchpad for Crompton which will then propel us forward for another 200 years.'

With less than 150 employees completing the move to Haydock, a new 'world class' initiative seemed to be paying dividends and the factory was given glowing reports by many visitors. Competition was increasing though, especially from abroad, and subsidies meant hinges could be brought into the country from China cheaper than Crompton could purchase raw material for. The business was wound down and its assets moved to sister company ERA in Willenhall in 2000 ending over 250 years of hinge making in the Ashton-in-Makerfield area.

 Personal Memories

Kenee - I spent many a Saturday afternoon watching ‘Cromptons Recs' with my dad, a bottle of pop and a bag of crisps (one flavour was available, plain - with a little blue bag of salt).

Cloie - My mother worked at Cromptons right out of school in 1939. She did piece work - and because of her youth and personal drive - did too many pieces for the company's taste - so they moved her to a different part of the factory so it wouldn't cost them as much! 

Denise - My mum and dad worked there for over 25 years until it closed . Dad was a coupler man, and as kids we used to pick the scabs off his skin (wouldn't contemplate it these day yuk). Mum was in the sorting shed.

Colin & Ade - The Hingemakers Arms in Heath Rd was named after Cromptons. The only pub in the country called the Hingemakers.

Lilian - I worked there in the fifties it was a great firm to work for when it was cromptons, we used to do a pantomime every year in the canteen which was on the top floor happy memories.

Micheal - Going back to the 50’s it was my grandad Jack Rigby and his brother Ron played for the cricket team and my nan Mary Rigby did the scoring for the team. I’ve often wondered if anyone on here remembers or heard of them.

Alan - My Dad was Captain of the football team after he left Wigan Athletic and he met my mum there who was working at Cromptons at the time and part of the Cromptons Pantomime Section.  

Betty - I worked in the office at Thos Crompton, as a wages clerk. I remember having to go into the sawmill to collect the time sheets. It scared me stiff seeing the saws whizzing round and the whining noise they made. 

The Author - I started at Gerard Street on April Fool's Day 1974. The first person I met was Tony who asked if I was the 'new guy'? When I told him I was, he replied, "I don't know why you've come here, we'll be closed by Christmas!" I stayed 26 years and was one of the last out of the doors when the Haydock site closed at Christmas 2000. A sad day for those left.