Facebook post #053 (Jan 2021)
Back in Post #046, I promised some metal-bashers from Mum’s side. So, my 3rd great grandfather, William Green, was born in 1823 in Darfield nr Barnsley. By 1851, he’d married Mary Rowland, and was farming 180 acres in Stainborough Folds, also nr Barnsley.
Mary was born in Saxton-in-Elmet and was daughter of Richard Rowland. Richard was born in Ireland, and worked on the Parlington Hall estate of the Gascoigne family as a gamekeeper. The Gascoignes also held the estate of Castle Oliver, Limerick, Ireland – and let the estates decay by turn. I visited Parlington to photograph its Triumphal Arch (pic), probably unique in British monumental architecture as it celebrates a British defeat – in the American War of Independence. George IV (post #049) apparently made it up from Brighton for lunch on one occasion but refused to pass through the unpatriotic arch. Parlington Hall has largely been demolished but I did happen to photo the gamekeeper’s cottage (pic) – before I knew about Richard.
William’s brother was a miller in Darfield, another family member was a miller on Ecclesfield Common, Sheffield, and another – John Green – had a foundry next door. William set up a small foundry himself – on West Bar Green, Sheffield – to manufacture small tools. He took out a patent relating to cooking equipment in 1855. By 1861, he had inherited the Ecclesfield foundry and he and Mary – with five of their eventual nine children – had moved to the Common. He was employing 13 men at the foundry; by 1871, this had risen to 28 men and 12 boys.
According to one source, Green’s were among the first to manufacture small, compact, portable cooking ranges for emigrants who undertook the long treks by ‘covered wagons’ across to America’s west (pic). This probably dated back to John Green’s time but the wagon trails were still in use into the 1860s.
By 1889, William was still operating both premises. The Ecclesfield foundry was now known as the Norfolk Foundry (see pic), and powered by the old mill’s water wheel. The company were ‘Manufacturers of all kinds of cooking ranges, grill stoves, hot plates, confectioners’ ovens, steam closets, gas hobs and carving tables, stove grates, tile registers, dog grates, mantels, and overmantels, kerbs, fenders, ash pans etc. I found an advertisement for a neat combination fireplace and oven (pic) – a real example is preserved at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet (pic).
Later directories show Green’s to also have been makers of ships’ galley and cabin stoves – and even of steam hammers, sluice gates and lock gates. During both world wars the company supplied catering equipment to all three of the armed forces. Pictured is a US patent for a military camp kitchen, filed in 1916. A relative, Walter Green made penknives until the 1940s.
Green’s withdrew from stove grate production during the late 1960s but continued with the manufacture of large scale catering equipment (I found a metal label from this time – see pic) and sub-contract castings. This side was bought out by local competitor Brightside Engineering, and closed in 1983-4. The site has been occupied by a Morrisons supermarket since 1997, and there are, apparently, historical pictures in the entrance foyer. The West Bar showroom became an ironmongers, and heating and plumbing distributors: it closed in 1980.
