What's new
What's new

Keighley UK Machine Tool builders - Question

jlegge

Stainless
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Location
Grayslake, IL
I know that Dean Smith and Grace was based in Keighley, UK. I read that there were other well know machine builders located in there as well. I haven't been able to find any other mention in my internet searches. Can some of our UK members shed some light on who they were?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

John
 
I know that Dean Smith and Grace was based in Keighley, UK. I read that there were other well know machine builders located in there as well. I haven't been able to find any other mention in my internet searches. Can some of our UK members shed some light on who they were?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

John

I think " Lund " who became " Landis-Lund " were in Keighley. They made grinding machines. There was another lathe maker over there but their names escapes me at the moment.

Edit " Mitchell " of Keighley made lathes. They were OK in terms of quality. The company I was thinking of was " Darling & Sellars " , they made a very nice lathe indeed.

Regards Tyrone.
 
Any reason, other than proximity to cotton mills, that Keighley, Bradford, Halifax made so many good machines?

L7
 
Any reason, other than proximity to cotton mills, that Keighley, Bradford, Halifax made so many good machines?

L7

My understanding is most of the machine tool companies grew up around the local textile industry. The Cotton manufacturing scene was predominently a Lancashire industry, Yorkshire was predominently Woollen manufacturing.

Regards Tyrone.
 
John,

Go to this page, and click on the companies I've listed below:-

Category:Town - Keighley - Graces Guide

Keighey Machine Tool Makers:-

Ambler and Dickinson
Butterfield and Co
Croft, Butterfields and Wilkinson
Darling and Sellers
Darling, Brown and Sellers
Dean, Smith and Grace
Dean, Spencer and Co
Dickinson Machine Tool Co
John Dickinson and Co
Hudson and Griffith
Hudson, Ward and Haggas
Keighley Grinders
Landis Lund
John Lund
Lister and Co (Keighley)
Miley's Machine Tool Co
D. Mitchell and Co
Pickersgill Brothers and Co
Robson Machine Tool Co
Scott Brothers and Co
Smith Peach (Keighley)
Ward and Haggas
Ward, Haggas and Smith
Wilkinson and Lister
G. Wilkinson and Son
George Wilkinson and Son

If you click on any other companies in the Grace's Guide Keighley list, you'll probably find that if they didn't make machine tools, there's a good chance that they made other types of machinery - textile machinery, cranes, engines, etc.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like this was the UK version of precision valley or our Cincinnati area where machine tool builders were concentrated here in the U.S. Thank you for the great info.

John
 
Sounds like this was the UK version of precision valley or our Cincinnati area where machine tool builders were concentrated here in the U.S. Thank you for the great info.

John
Yes, in that little area around Halifax in West Yorkshire you had a real centre for machine tool building. You could have got nearly any machine tool you wanted from companies in that area. The Manchester area was also a centre for machine tool building, particularly the Broadheath district in Altrincham

Regards Tyrone.
 
You could also include Coventry, Birmingham and Leicester as centres for machine tool builders. They are in the English midlands.

I was an apprentice in Coventry. The concentration of industry there was enormous; much less now of course. Some world class companies had factories there, including Rolls Royce and GEC . The largest machine tool maker in UK (and a major world player) during the first half of the 20th century was Alfred Herbert - based in the North of the city. A very strong concentration of auto companies and all their suppliers made it the 'UK Detroit'. Aircraft production and aero engine makers were all round the city outskirts. No wonder that the city centre was flattened during WW2, but it bounced back strongly in the 50s and 60s.
 
You could also include Coventry, Birmingham and Leicester as centres for machine tool builders. They are in the English midlands.

I was an apprentice in Coventry. The concentration of industry there was enormous; much less now of course. Some world class companies had factories there, including Rolls Royce and GEC . The largest machine tool maker in UK (and a major world player) during the first half of the 20th century was Alfred Herbert - based in the North of the city. A very strong concentration of auto companies and all their suppliers made it the 'UK Detroit'. Aircraft production and aero engine makers were all round the city outskirts. No wonder that the city centre was flattened during WW2, but it bounced back strongly in the 50s and 60s.

Wickmans were in Coventry - IIRC, Banner Lane near the Massey Ferguson factory???
 
Yes, Wickmans were down there, together with Massey Ferguson and Standard Triumph. A lot of very high tech smaller businesses nearby. I lived just off Banner Lane for a few years. Webster and Bennet were part of Wickmans for some time, but I'm not sure of the precise history. Wickman Wimet made carbide inserts and other carbide tooling - I once visited their factory - very interesting processes. The Matrix factory was quite close on the A45. If you went the other way back into Coventry you would pass the Alvis factory - quite often saw fighting vehicles lined up outside.
 
Grace's Guide now has a category specifically devoted to machine tool makers in West Yorkshire:-

Category:Machine Tools - West Yorkshire - Graces Guide

West Yorkshire is a part of the county of Yorkshire. In quite a small area measuring roughly 30 miles east-west and 15 miles north-south which includes Keighley, Halifax, Leeds, Hebden Bridge, Shipley and a few other industrial towns, just over 180 machine tool makers are listed, although there may be a few duplicates.

Another part of Yorkshire - the Sheffield area, in South Yorkshire - was also highly industrialised, but with the emphasis on steel production and coal mining. It was home to a few machine tool makers, but not many.
 
Grace's Guide now has a category specifically devoted to machine tool makers in West Yorkshire:-

Category:Machine Tools - West Yorkshire - Graces Guide

West Yorkshire is a part of the county of Yorkshire. In quite a small area measuring roughly 30 miles east-west and 15 miles north-south which includes Keighley, Halifax, Leeds, Hebden Bridge, Shipley and a few other industrial towns, just over 180 machine tool makers are listed, although there may be a few duplicates.

Another part of Yorkshire - the Sheffield area, in South Yorkshire - was also highly industrialised, but with the emphasis on steel production and coal mining. It was home to a few machine tool makers, but not many.

The only Sheffield machine tool makers I can think of are " Snow " grinding machines and " Keetona " press brakes and guillotines. They're the only ones I worked on anyway.

Regards Tyrone.
 
Tyrone,

I can name about a dozen more machine tool makers in Sheffield, and a few more if makers of forging presses and hammers are included.

Not many were still in business in our days, and of course that applies to the 180+ in the West Yorkshire list, which spans about 200 years.

Sheffield machine tool makers:-

George Addy
Crooks, Roberts & Co
Davy Bros
William Easterbrook/Easterbrook, Allcard
John Gallimore
Roper and Wreaks
Snow & Co
Tasker’s Engineering Co
Theaker & Swift
Watts Bros

There were also two Portass companies, and other makers of small hobby lathes af various standards, including Faircut, Record, and Flexispeed.

I should point out that although there weren’t many makers in Sheffield, the two Portass companies turned out large quantities of lathes, in the form of the tiny ‘Adept’, for which I’ll imagine these purchasers’ reviews:-
“Oh.”
“Everything I’d expect for £1”

The lathe.co.uk entries for Portass and Adept are woth a read.
 








 
Back
Top