Hi All,
Little history of the place before my brief ramblings on!
The historyof Fletchers as a business can be traced back to 1829 and a company called Ralph Crompton & Nephews Bleachers and Papermakers in Stoneclough. A young Robert Fletcher began working there in 1830 and was quickly promoted, becoming bleaching dept manager and eventually manager of the whole operation.
The last of the Cromptons, Roger, left Fletcher the principal trusteeship and the option of succeeding him in the company. On Crompton's death Fletcher did just this, building the business until his death in 1865 when it passed to his sons John and James Fletcher, who in turn passed it to their sons John Robert and James.
In 1897 the busines was incorporated as a Ltd company, employing two hundred staff, eventually rising to around a thousand. The Stoneclough site had seven machines but produced a fraction of the eventual output of the three at Greenfield.
The Greenfield factory opened in 1921 on a site where milling in one form or another can be traced back to 1780, producing first wool then cotton.
Fletchers continued to be successful through to the late 1990's when increased pulp and energy costs combined with a financial downturn saw the business begin to struggle. In 1997 the turnover was around £17m with shareholders funds of £9m. By 1999 this had dropped to £8.2m and £4m respectively.
To try to save the business the Stoneclough site was closed in 2000 with the loss of 120 jobs there but the production of 50 more at Greenfield.
This wasn't enough to save Fletchers though, in July 2001 several creditors applied for a winding up order resulting in the overnight closure of the factory.
Visited this place a couple of times now, one me and a friend walked around the outside for a "scope" around and the second TLR kindly met up with me despite first being very cautious - I fully understand i could be anyone!
I can't believe the lodge house is still intact with everything still in place, the other thing that has really changed is the dust!
Me & TLR got to the site and we immediately saw a flat bed and some shutters wide open - He said lets crack on! Saw a security guard who was looking towards where we was a little into the explore, so we stayed where we was for about 10 mins. The was a pickup truck that we saw a couple of time aswell driving around? Upon exit we could hear voices very very close to where we was, so we took our time and made it out "un-captured"! Upon looking back we could see another large van (sprinter large) and it was driving into the building along with a fork lift buzzing around, unsure what they was doing but TLR picked the right moment to leave ! Also once me and TLR departed company i went to the shop to buy some dinner, and it appears i lost something inside the mill
And me taking a picture of TLR taking a picture!
Sorry for the images but these were taken on my Samsung S3 - Marsden1002
Little history of the place before my brief ramblings on!
The historyof Fletchers as a business can be traced back to 1829 and a company called Ralph Crompton & Nephews Bleachers and Papermakers in Stoneclough. A young Robert Fletcher began working there in 1830 and was quickly promoted, becoming bleaching dept manager and eventually manager of the whole operation.
The last of the Cromptons, Roger, left Fletcher the principal trusteeship and the option of succeeding him in the company. On Crompton's death Fletcher did just this, building the business until his death in 1865 when it passed to his sons John and James Fletcher, who in turn passed it to their sons John Robert and James.
In 1897 the busines was incorporated as a Ltd company, employing two hundred staff, eventually rising to around a thousand. The Stoneclough site had seven machines but produced a fraction of the eventual output of the three at Greenfield.
The Greenfield factory opened in 1921 on a site where milling in one form or another can be traced back to 1780, producing first wool then cotton.
Fletchers continued to be successful through to the late 1990's when increased pulp and energy costs combined with a financial downturn saw the business begin to struggle. In 1997 the turnover was around £17m with shareholders funds of £9m. By 1999 this had dropped to £8.2m and £4m respectively.
To try to save the business the Stoneclough site was closed in 2000 with the loss of 120 jobs there but the production of 50 more at Greenfield.
This wasn't enough to save Fletchers though, in July 2001 several creditors applied for a winding up order resulting in the overnight closure of the factory.
Visited this place a couple of times now, one me and a friend walked around the outside for a "scope" around and the second TLR kindly met up with me despite first being very cautious - I fully understand i could be anyone!
I can't believe the lodge house is still intact with everything still in place, the other thing that has really changed is the dust!
Me & TLR got to the site and we immediately saw a flat bed and some shutters wide open - He said lets crack on! Saw a security guard who was looking towards where we was a little into the explore, so we stayed where we was for about 10 mins. The was a pickup truck that we saw a couple of time aswell driving around? Upon exit we could hear voices very very close to where we was, so we took our time and made it out "un-captured"! Upon looking back we could see another large van (sprinter large) and it was driving into the building along with a fork lift buzzing around, unsure what they was doing but TLR picked the right moment to leave ! Also once me and TLR departed company i went to the shop to buy some dinner, and it appears i lost something inside the mill
And me taking a picture of TLR taking a picture!
Sorry for the images but these were taken on my Samsung S3 - Marsden1002
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