THE KETTLESHULME GUNPOWDER HUT

Marie Cunningham has been researching a footpath leading westwards from Neighbourway Farm in Kettleshulme and in doing so has discovered some fascinating local history. 

Turn down Side End Lane, alongside St.James Primary School, and after about 150 metres a narrow road leads off to the right. This road only serves a few farms and eventually peters out. About half way along is Neighbourway Farm which is also known as Green Low Heath. Opposite the farmhouse is a short track leading across the field and this is the start of an alleged footpath leading westwards across Todd Brook, towards Charleshead Farm. Although the path appears on some maps, its route is uncertain and the right of way has never been enforced. This little road is just over 150 metres long and at the end is a small windowless brick built structure which had a slate roof which has fallen in but the walls are still standing. Not much is known about the hut but Peter Garlick of Neighbourway has always known it as the Gunpowder Hut. The Garlick family has lived at Neighbourway since c1930.  Jim Etchells who lived close by at Near Carr told Peter that a member of the Hewitt Family lived at Charleshead and collected gunpowder from the hut. He stated in 1993 that the gunpowder hut was used up to the time of the first World War.

 The Hewitt family were involved in mining in the area. 

 Jas Hewitt lived at Green Low Heath (Neighbourway farm)  Kettleshulme. (Kelly's Directory of Cheshire 1892, the 1901 census and the Finance Act (1910) record of 1913.  

 John Hewitt lived at Winters Close, Rainow. (The 1910 Finance Act records)

 Margaret Hewitt was at Dales Farm c1913

 Sydney Hewitt was an agricultural implement dealer in Kettleshulme - no location given (Kelly's directory of Cheshire 1914)

 William Hewitt was an iron steel and implement merchant and in 1906 was Kettleshulme sub-postmaster (Kelly's directory 1906) 

 

Dales farm, as well as being the post office, is the location of the shop which Marie believes was where the gunpowder was sold. It's a stone built low level building at the end of the house which fronts the main road opposite the school but it is two storey at the rear. Raymond Lomas can remember c1950 the paraffin cans etc which had been left behind when the shop closed 

 

Could Mr Hewitt have lived at Greenlow Heath and built the gunpowder hut because he was an agent for the Nobel Dynamite Company ?

Marie has found a snippet of information in a book "Rainow Caught in Time" written by the Rainow History Group it reads 

"In June 1878 there was an experiment with dynamite at the home of Mr Sutton in Tower Hill.  Several unsuccessful attempts had been made by a local miner to blow up a very large tree root with ordinary blasting powder. 

Mr Hewitt of Kettleshulme, agent for the Nobel Dynamite Company experimented with the use of dynamite and successfully blew it to pieces"

On the other side of Todd Brook is an area of marshy land which was used to grow willow for basket making. The man-made clay pans and drainage channels used for growing the willow can still be seen on the ground but once again more detail is not known

The Hewitt family were long associated with Furness Clough Colliery as well as managing Castedge Mine in the Goyt Valley and the pits at Charleshead.

Dynamite was the invention in 1867 of Swedish chemist and inventor, Alfred Nobel (1833 - 1896), just one of his 355 patents. On his death, most of his wealth was left in trust to fund the Nobel Prize. 

The British Dynamite Company was established by Nobel in Ayrshire in 1871. At its peak it employed nearly 13,000 workers. The name changed to Nobel's Explosives Ltd in 1877 but the name disappeared through mergers at the time of the First World War although it was resurrected in 1920.

Marie is still researching the subject of both the Gunpowder Hut and the footpath and would appreciate any further information. Please write to furnesshistory@gmail.com

from a Macclesfield newspaper of June 1878

Location of Neighbourway and the Gunpowder Hut

The Things They Made.

We often associate local industry of the past with the textile trade or perhaps coal mining. A much wider and sometimes unusual range of products was also made in this locality. Here are just a few:

Bed Springs.

              The Britannia Mill at Bugsworth was built as a cotton spinning mill.  In 1903 the Britannia Wire Works Company took over the business manufacturing springs for upholstery and mattresses as well as fro the railway and aviation industries.  It closed in 1969.

Soap and Leather

                In the early 1860’s a hatters leather manufacturer was established in Ringstones Clough by John Scholes and John Handford. The business continued for more than 20 years and at one time employed 21 people. The site was

Kettleshulme Candle Wick Mill

Tucked away in a valley at the back of Kettleshulme in Cheshire is the derelict Lumb Hole (or Grove) Mill better known as the Candlewick Mill.

This dates from  1797 although it was extensively re-built in 1823 with further extensions later in that century. The three storey building is of sandstone with a Kerridge slate roof. The buildings opposite included the manager's house and offices. The upper part of the boilerhouse chimney has been removed and the lantern above the stairwell has been lost. This had originally been a cotton mill and was purchased by Mr Sheldon following a fire in the 1820's. The mill was re-equipped to manufacture candle wick, especially for miner's lamps, a trade which continued until closure in 1937.  The company was originally styled "John Sheldon and Son", a partnership between John and John Thomas Sheldon which was dissolved in 1875. The company was later known as Sheldon Brothers.