Dudbridge
Encyclopedia
Dudbridge is a suburb on the southern edge of Stroud
in Gloucestershire
, England
.
in the location, which spanned the River Frome
. This made it an important crossing point for traffic heading south from the Cotswolds
to the port of Bristol, which is reflected in the fact that it is the meeting point of four parishes: Stroud in which lies, plus Rodborough
to its east, and Stonehouse
and Kings Stanley to its south.
The fast flowing river made Dudbridge a natural location for early industry, with the eariest record of a mill dating from 1235. Later industries included dying
, forging
and metalwork.
The original Lightpill site is one actually located in Rodborough, but in light of inter-war and 1960s developments, exists now further in Dudbridge. A cloth mill from the 17th century, in 1910 it became home to a printing works. In 1910 Syrolit Ltd became one of the worlds first plastic
manufacturers, which in 1914 was reorganised into Erinoid ltd in order to gain a UK license to manufacture a German
process to manufacture a new plastic substance used for buttons and ornaments. By 1933, the business had expanded south on the site and employed 500 people. Taken over by O. & M. Kleeman Ltd in 1957, it was than merged into Mobil Chemicals Ltd
in 1961. In 1965 complex was acquired by British Petroleum, operating initially as BP
Plastics
and later as BP Chemicals International Ltd. After takeover the site expanded west up to the Stroud railway line spur, producing Polyvinyl Chloride
products, latterly bin bag
s. In 1973, when 700 people were employed, the factory manufactured polystyrene, articles in thermo-plastic materials for use in the electrical and building industries, and casein and polyester button blanks. To accommodate increased production, three large chemical containers were constructed on the west side of the railway line on the former dye works, supplied daily by Wincanton Transport trucks shipping raw chemical products from the docks at Southampton
, Bristol and Sharpness
. Closed in the late 1980s, the production site became the Bath Road Trading Estate, while the former dye works/chemical storage area became a new housing estate.
In 1770, dyer Richard Hawker built Dudbridge House close to the river and his works. Today the house has been converted into flats, and faces a housing estate which was built in the 1980s on part of the old dyeworks.
In 1849, Kimmins Mill was constructed to mill flour
. After ceasing milling in 1935, it was used as a storage facility, including textile machinery. Now located next to Sainsburys carpark, it is now the Stroud Mills Heritage centre, with a national collection of books and information about the construction industry, and historic information about the Stroud area.
Up until 1900, the site where Sainsbury's supermarket now sits was an orchard
, with an attached small foundry. Before the First World War, James Apperley founded the Dudbridge Patent Machine Works to manufacture textile machinery, but after his business failed H G Holbrow manufactured steam engines, and then J D Humpidge manufactured gas engines. In the late 1920s, Hampton cars were assembled here. After their failure, the site reverted to a foundry until the late early 1990s, home to the cupola iron
furnaces of Lewis & Holes Ltd.
To the top of Dudbridge Hill, and on the junction between Dudbridge and Rodborough on the A46 road
to Bath, lies the Daniels industrial estate. In 1840, Thomas Daniels founded an engineering, millwrighting and foundry business which quickly grew. After his death of Lionel Daniels in 1956, the company became the London Stock Exchange listed Daniels plc, which was taken over by Unichrome International in 1968. After the site closed in the late 1980s, it was converted to an industrial estate, with the tenants including a Focus
DIY store.
had been formed in Kings Norton
, Birmingham
in 1912, but after it went into receivership, in 1919 the company was re-established as a joint venture
between William Paddon and Charles Apperley of the Stroud Metal and Plating Company, and production was transferred to Dudbridge. The first post war car was the Hampton 11.9 with either a 1496 cc or 1795 cc Dorman four cylinder engine but only a few were made before the money ran out and the company was bought by a major shareholder John Daniel and re-registered as Hampton Engineering Co (1920) Ltd. In 1925 a receiver was appointed yet again, but Hampton bounced back again as Hampton Cars (London) Ltd with finance from businessman John Hatton-Hall. The company moved to smaller premises on Selsley Hill
, before ceasing production just before World War II
.
, while the housing rises higher up towards Rodborough. Redevelopments of the late 1990s brought about the building of a major Sainsburys supermarket, serving southern Stroud and onwards to Stonehouse.
Along with most of Stroud, Dudbridge has low levels of burglary, theft of motor vehicles, with numbers of serious and fatal road traffic accidents lower than the county average. The percentage of young offenders resident in the area and of children with low scores at key stages 1–3, are also below the Stroud and county averages.
, later part of the Midland Railway
, opened a railway station
. Opened as "Dudbridge for Stroud," the buildings included a two-storey station-master's house, and though there was originally only a single platform, the station was a passing place on the single-track branch line.
In 1885, the Midland Railway built a very short branch line from Dudbridge to Stroud
. The new line opened for goods traffic in 1885 and for passengers the following year, at which point Dudbridge became a junction station, and a second platform was built. Passenger services were suspended on the line as an economy measure to save fuel in June 1947, and were officially withdrawn from 8 June 1949. Dudbridge remained open for goods traffic until 1966, when the Beeching cuts closed the line. The station building remained until the early 1990s, when it was demolished to make way for the route of the Ebley Bypass.
Stroud, Gloucestershire
Stroud is a market town and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District.Situated below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills at the meeting point of the Five Valleys, the town is noted for its steep streets and cafe culture...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History
Dudbridge gains its name from the first bridgeBridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
in the location, which spanned the River Frome
River Frome, Stroud
The River Frome, once also known as the Stroudwater, is a small river in Gloucestershire, England. It is to be distinguished from another River Frome in Gloucestershire, the Bristol Frome....
. This made it an important crossing point for traffic heading south from the Cotswolds
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds are a range of hills in west-central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, an area across and long. The area has been designated as the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
to the port of Bristol, which is reflected in the fact that it is the meeting point of four parishes: Stroud in which lies, plus Rodborough
Rodborough
Rodborough is a civil parish in the district of Stroud, Gloucestershire, in Southwest England. It is directly south of the town of Stroud, north of the town of Nailsworth and north-west of the village of Minchinhampton...
to its east, and Stonehouse
Stonehouse, Gloucestershire
Stonehouse, Gloucestershire is an urban area within the Stroud District, in the UK. It is home to a number of factories, such as Dairy Crest and Schlumberger. The town is close to the M5 motorway. Stonehouse railway station has a regular train service to London...
and Kings Stanley to its south.
The fast flowing river made Dudbridge a natural location for early industry, with the eariest record of a mill dating from 1235. Later industries included dying
Dye
A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....
, forging
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
and metalwork.
Industry
The Redlers industrial estate is the site of the original Dudbridge Mills, located directly beside the River Frome. From the mid-18th century onwards it housed the three mills of Daniel Chance, who sold it to in the mid 18th century, owned three mills: one corn; one gig and a dyehouse with eight drying racks. In 1794, John Apperley in 1794, whose family for the next 140 years used the site for woll and cloth making. After the business collapsed in 1933, Redlers conveyors manufacturer industrial handling equipment on the site until the mid-1990s, when it became an industrial estate.The original Lightpill site is one actually located in Rodborough, but in light of inter-war and 1960s developments, exists now further in Dudbridge. A cloth mill from the 17th century, in 1910 it became home to a printing works. In 1910 Syrolit Ltd became one of the worlds first plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
manufacturers, which in 1914 was reorganised into Erinoid ltd in order to gain a UK license to manufacture a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
process to manufacture a new plastic substance used for buttons and ornaments. By 1933, the business had expanded south on the site and employed 500 people. Taken over by O. & M. Kleeman Ltd in 1957, it was than merged into Mobil Chemicals Ltd
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
in 1961. In 1965 complex was acquired by British Petroleum, operating initially as BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
Plastics
Ineos
INEOS Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom...
and later as BP Chemicals International Ltd. After takeover the site expanded west up to the Stroud railway line spur, producing Polyvinyl Chloride
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
products, latterly bin bag
Bin bag
A bin bag, swag sack or bin liner or garbage bag, trash bag, refuse sack, black sack, or can liner is a disposable bag used to contain rubbish. Such bags are useful to line the insides of waste containers to prevent the insides of the receptacle from becoming coated in waste material...
s. In 1973, when 700 people were employed, the factory manufactured polystyrene, articles in thermo-plastic materials for use in the electrical and building industries, and casein and polyester button blanks. To accommodate increased production, three large chemical containers were constructed on the west side of the railway line on the former dye works, supplied daily by Wincanton Transport trucks shipping raw chemical products from the docks at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, Bristol and Sharpness
Sharpness
Sharpness is an English port in Gloucestershire, one of the most inland in Britain, and eighth largest in the South West. It is on the River Severn at , at a point where the tidal range, though less than at Avonmouth downstream , is still large .The village of Sharpness is pronounced with the...
. Closed in the late 1980s, the production site became the Bath Road Trading Estate, while the former dye works/chemical storage area became a new housing estate.
In 1770, dyer Richard Hawker built Dudbridge House close to the river and his works. Today the house has been converted into flats, and faces a housing estate which was built in the 1980s on part of the old dyeworks.
In 1849, Kimmins Mill was constructed to mill flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
. After ceasing milling in 1935, it was used as a storage facility, including textile machinery. Now located next to Sainsburys carpark, it is now the Stroud Mills Heritage centre, with a national collection of books and information about the construction industry, and historic information about the Stroud area.
Up until 1900, the site where Sainsbury's supermarket now sits was an orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
, with an attached small foundry. Before the First World War, James Apperley founded the Dudbridge Patent Machine Works to manufacture textile machinery, but after his business failed H G Holbrow manufactured steam engines, and then J D Humpidge manufactured gas engines. In the late 1920s, Hampton cars were assembled here. After their failure, the site reverted to a foundry until the late early 1990s, home to the cupola iron
Cupola furnace
A Cupola or Cupola furnace is a melting device used in foundries that can be used to melt cast iron, ni-resist iron and some bronzes. The cupola can be made almost any practical size. The size of a cupola is expressed in diameters and can range from . The overall shape is cylindrical and the...
furnaces of Lewis & Holes Ltd.
To the top of Dudbridge Hill, and on the junction between Dudbridge and Rodborough on the A46 road
A46 road
The A46 is an A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway development...
to Bath, lies the Daniels industrial estate. In 1840, Thomas Daniels founded an engineering, millwrighting and foundry business which quickly grew. After his death of Lionel Daniels in 1956, the company became the London Stock Exchange listed Daniels plc, which was taken over by Unichrome International in 1968. After the site closed in the late 1980s, it was converted to an industrial estate, with the tenants including a Focus
Focus (DIY)
Focus DIY was a privately owned chain of DIY stores in the UK. It served the consumer DIY market sector, and most stores had some form of garden centre....
DIY store.
Hampton Cars
The Hampton Engineering CompanyHampton (car)
The Hampton was a British car made by the Hampton Engineering Company which was based in Kings Norton, Birmingham from 1912 to 1918 and at Dudbridge in Stroud, Gloucestershire from 1918 to 1933-Early history:...
had been formed in Kings Norton
Kings Norton
Kings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the formal district of Northfield.-History:...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
in 1912, but after it went into receivership, in 1919 the company was re-established as a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
between William Paddon and Charles Apperley of the Stroud Metal and Plating Company, and production was transferred to Dudbridge. The first post war car was the Hampton 11.9 with either a 1496 cc or 1795 cc Dorman four cylinder engine but only a few were made before the money ran out and the company was bought by a major shareholder John Daniel and re-registered as Hampton Engineering Co (1920) Ltd. In 1925 a receiver was appointed yet again, but Hampton bounced back again as Hampton Cars (London) Ltd with finance from businessman John Hatton-Hall. The company moved to smaller premises on Selsley Hill
Selsley
Selsley is a village within the civil parish of King's Stanley and district of Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. It is composed of around 175 houses-scattered around the western and eastern edge of a Cotswold spur-located approximately south of Stroud...
, before ceasing production just before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Present day
Dudbridge today is a mixed industrial and housing development, with the industry towards the foot of the valley on one side of the A419 roadA419 road
The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England....
, while the housing rises higher up towards Rodborough. Redevelopments of the late 1990s brought about the building of a major Sainsburys supermarket, serving southern Stroud and onwards to Stonehouse.
Along with most of Stroud, Dudbridge has low levels of burglary, theft of motor vehicles, with numbers of serious and fatal road traffic accidents lower than the county average. The percentage of young offenders resident in the area and of children with low scores at key stages 1–3, are also below the Stroud and county averages.
Transport
Being low in the Stroud Valleys, and an already formed crossing point, Dudbridge was a natural point of congregation for transport. The Stroudwater Canal opened a wharf in 1779 in Dudbridge, while in 1886 the Stonehouse and Nailsworth RailwayStonehouse and Nailsworth Railway
The Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway was a short railway line in the county of Gloucestershire, England, which brought the Cotswold town of Nailsworth into the UK national rail network....
, later part of the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
, opened a railway station
Dudbridge railway station
Dudbridge railway station served the Stroud suburb of Dudbridge and the village of Selsley, little more than a mile from Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. The station was on the 9.3 km-long Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway, later part of the Midland Railway.The station opened as "Dudbridge...
. Opened as "Dudbridge for Stroud," the buildings included a two-storey station-master's house, and though there was originally only a single platform, the station was a passing place on the single-track branch line.
In 1885, the Midland Railway built a very short branch line from Dudbridge to Stroud
Stroud Wallgate railway station
Stroud railway station served the town of Stroud, in Gloucestershire, England. The station was on a short 2 km-long branch from Dudbridge on the Stonehouse and Nailsworth Railway, part of the Midland Railway...
. The new line opened for goods traffic in 1885 and for passengers the following year, at which point Dudbridge became a junction station, and a second platform was built. Passenger services were suspended on the line as an economy measure to save fuel in June 1947, and were officially withdrawn from 8 June 1949. Dudbridge remained open for goods traffic until 1966, when the Beeching cuts closed the line. The station building remained until the early 1990s, when it was demolished to make way for the route of the Ebley Bypass.