David Brown's Foundries

A Steelworks for Penistone
Penistone Steel and Iron Works. The foundation stone on the Green Road site was laid on 9th June 1862 (Whit Monday), and the factory was being built by Daniel Adamson. It in 1863 as Yorkshire Steel and Iron Works, Penistone. The 'first blow' of the hammer took place on 1st May 1863. A year later, in 1864, Charles Cammell and Co. purchased the new Penistone works from Messrs. Bensons, Adamson and Garnetts.

This was when the railway network was rapidly expanding throughout the country. The works brought a lot of employment to the area and the increased population caused the Methodist congregation to outgrow the old chapel on Penistone High Street (opposite the current 'Adore' gift shop, opened 1808). The New Wesleyan Chapel was built and was dedicated to St Paul. It opened in 1872. The current St Andrews Church later replaced St Paul's, on the same site.

In May 1873, a serious waggonette accident took place at Thurgoland Bridge to members of Yorkshire Steel and Iron Works Cricket Club, Penistone. Benjamin Revel was killed and several others seriously injured. In 1884, an explosion at Yorkshire Steel and Iron Works led to seven men injured, one of whom died shortly afterwards. On 27th August 1898, a rapidly spinning flywheel of 30 feet diameter and 40 tons in weight shattered and caused great destruction. Two men were killed. See Grace's Guide.

Penistone ShowCubley PlanCubley Plan

The history timeline is worded such that, in 1914, an Iron and Steelworks was started in Penistone by Messrs Benson, Adamson and Garnet. Three years later it was sold to Charles Cammel, to become Cammell Laird and Co. Ltd steelworks, whose main product was railway lines. The date of the above Penistone Show picture is uncertain but you can see the puther from Cammel-Laird's works in the background.

Cubley Model Village
In 1921-22, the Cubley housing estate was started on land purchased in 1919. It was planned as a 'model village', mostly on the old 'Race Common' where horse races were held many years ago to accommodate Cammell Laird steelworks workers. The centre picture above (from an old Penistone Almanac) shows the plan in some detail. It is interesting that it features allotments, bowling club, village green, a monument, two churches, a hostel, recreation ground and school. So it was quite self-contained except (just as in modern times) for no new shops. Given that Cubley Hall was a gentleman's residence at the time, we might also note that the plans did not include any public houses.

You can view the actual plan in Cubley Hall near the bar area (also shown here, with the kind permission of Cubley Hall). The design was by top architect Herbert Baker, who had worked with Sir Edward Lutyens on New Delhi. The Chairman of Cammell-Laird's, Mr WL Hichens, said that they planned to erect about 500 houses on the estate, starting with a hundred. They hoped that the village would become a model for the rest of the country. Only part of the plan was ever built, mostly that which was on land transferred to Penistone Council in 1921.

Bad Times on the Horizon
In 1929, The English Steel Corporation Ltd was formed from a merger of steel industry companies, which involved parts of: Vickers, Vickers-Armstrong and Cammell, Laird and Co. (Grace's Guide gives the year as 1928). In Penistone, our Yorkshire Steel and Iron works, under the English Steel Corporation Ltd., was part of Cammel-Laird.

The Great Depression had started; with lost orders, mass lay-offs and debt. The great shadow of misery and depravation was falling across the land. In 1930, The Yorkshire Steel and Iron works closed in Penistone, at a time of high unemployment. At its peak, the works had employed 1,500 men and most would have been locals. Penistone MP Mr Rennie Smith asked Parliament about the availability of facilities for Penistone, as a depressed area. (See Hansard).

Wartime at David Brown's
An interesting message popped up on Facebook in 2023 from Roger Waddington, concerning a Penistone connection in the Second World War. This appeared on the Penistone Archive newsfeed with supporting photographs:

'Penistone's connection with Barnes Wallace's Grand Slam bomb.
'The Grand Slam 22,000 lb or 10 tonne aerial bomb was the invention of Barnes Wallace as well as the bouncing bomb that successfully penetrated Germany's dams. The casting for the shell was produced at Sheffield's Vickers foundry but the pattern equipment that was required to form the shell was manufactured in the Patternshop at David Brown's, Green Rd, Penistone.

'The bomb was also known as the Earthquake Bomb, as it would penetrate the impact point and explode as much as 30ft below ground creating a local earthquake that would have destroyed buildings within a large area. The Avro Lancaster was used to deliver the bomb as this was the most powerful bomber aircraft at the time, although it had to be lightened out to the maximum to carry the load.'

In reply to a comment about RAF Coningsby, Roger continued:
'That’s where he is based. Nothing flies unless he’s approved it.He goes goes all over getting parts. My other son is involved in space ships, satellites and fast jets, working for himself. My father was in the team that designed the Beaufighter and lived with Johnny Johnson the fighter pilot, before the war when they were engineering students.'

Also, from Peter Lawford:
'I don't have information on all the bombs but my father machined parts for the 12000 lb 'Tallboy' at DB Penistone during WWII. He returned to DB's in c.1965 and worked on either the same type of vertical lathe, or very similar, producing large diameter steel rings for Jet Engines. He retired from there in 1974.'

And from Peter again, regarding Hoyland's umbrella factory:
'In WWII, I don't know about WWI, they made a lot of military webbing. I worked there in 1970, (for five weeks) before moving to PPMV. Went up into the roof space ( I don't know why), there were piles upon piles of the stuff. I should have rescued some of it, but........ and we didn't carry a camera on our hip.'

Peter has also contributed plenty of material to this website on the PPMV page (vinegar brewery).
Any further comments about DB's can be contributed to the Penistone Archive link above.

David Brown in 1934
Founded in 1860, David Brown & Sons (Huddersfield), Ltd. was a general manufacturing company and was known for making wooden gear patterns for the textile industry. It was named after the company's founder, David Brown, though it became more closely associated with his grandson, Sir David Brown. From 1873 it focussed production on gear-cutting. The original Mr David Brown, patternmaker and gear cutter, passed away in 1901 at the age of 59. The company continued under the name of David Brown and Sons.

In 1934, the David Brown company came to Penistone by buying the now-disused Penistone steelworks, for a new foundry. This opened in 1935 and brought much-needed employment returned to the area after a five-year hiatus. David Brown Foundries began making high grade steel and steel castings. In 1936, in collaboration with Harry Ferguson, Ferguson-Brown Tractors were built in David Brown's Gear Factory.

During the Second World War, armour plating for Churchill and Cromwell tanks and blockbuster bomb casings were made at the Penistone works. An aircraft foundry was also built for aeroplane engine castings and for cables which would be used to assist the Normandy landings.

In 1951, David Brown Corporation was formed as the parent of a variety of David Brown companies, which included Aston Martin (since 1947) and Lagonda (since 1948). The David Brown investment led to the DB series of Aston Martins and was, therefore, a connection with that great, fictional secret agent 007 James Bond.

In 1972, David Brown Tractors was bought by Tenneco Inc. of Houston, Texas and DB became affiliated to JI Case, which was also majority owned by Tenneco through its ownership of Kern County Land Company. JI Case (formerly Case International) is well-known for its tractors. In 1994, Tenneco started to divest itself of its agricultural businesses.

In 1993 the company was floated on the Stock Market as a public company, to be acquired by Textron Inc. five years later. For more reading, David Brown's history is neatly listed in Grace's Guide: David Brown and Sons. See also Reading Uni's DB Collection and Wikipedia.


Pictures
This collection of pictures is from David Brown's Foundries, Green Road, Penistone and was kindly donated by Mr Michael Selby, who is a leading light at Penistone Royal British Legion and to whom I give my thanks. Here is a small selection to get the show on the road.

The first picture, top-row was from a party night which was most likely at Christmas. The setting was most likely to have been Penistone Working Men's Club. The second is a Long Service presentation to Mr C C Purdie in 1974 and the third is a Remembrance Ceremony at the works in 1961.

A PartyMr Purdie's Long Service awardRemebrance Service
AwardsDavid Brown'sOxspring Gala

On the second row, the first picture is an award being given to David Beaumont, with Steve Faxon stood on his right. The second one has a huge children's party, which appears to have been in the works canteen, date unknown. The third shows an event at Oxspring Gala. The connection is likely to be that the Gala was on DB's sports field and it was presumably sponsored by the company.


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