Stott and Sons
Encyclopedia
Stott and Sons was an architect
ural practice in Greater Manchester
between 1847 and 1931. It specialised in cotton mill
s, designing 191 buildings of which 130 were mills or buildings related to the cotton
industry.
Abraham Henthorn Stott was born on 25 April 1822 in the parish of Crompton
. He served a seven year apprenticeship with Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament and Manchester Art Gallery
. Abraham returned to Oldham
in 1847 and founded the architectural practice of A H Stott. It was known for his innovative structural engineering. His brother Joseph Stott in 1866 started his career here before leaving to start his own practice. Three of his nine children worked in the practice. Jesse Ainsworth Stott became the senior partner.Philip Sydney Stott
spent three years in the practice before starting his own. After Abraham's retirement his practice was renamed Stott and Sons.
in 1847. The owner, Abraham Henthorn Stott, had just finished his architectural apprenticeship with Charles Barry's practice. It is thought that he obtained this position through the influence Jesse Ainsworth. Indeed. on 30 December 1851 he married Jesse's niece Elizabeth or Eliza Ainsworth. The Ainsworths were prominent land and property owners in Oldham; the first identified mill that A. H. Stott designed was room and power mill, Summervale Mill, Fletcher Street, Oldham for Jesse or Hannah Ainsworth (née Lees). The Lees were another prominent Oldham family.
Family connections were important in mid-Victorian Oldham. James and Mary Stott (née Henthorn) were married at the parish church of Prestwich-cum-Oldham
on 18 June 1821. James was a stonemason, and was illiterate. They had four children in the township of Crompton, and two further children after a move to Oldham. Abraham was the first child and the first boy. Both Abraham and Joseph started work as stonemasons. A further cousin of A. H. Stott was a master cotton spinner called Abraham Stott and he owned Osborne Mills, which were built in 1872. The cousin traded under the name of Abraham Stott Ltd. A. H. Stott was a freemason. The offices moved to 37a King Street, Oldham in 1854.
(1863) is a Grade II+ listed building and is a good example of a 1860's cotton mill. Work was also done for Hilton Greaves of Derker Mills, Oldham.
However in 1860, the Oldham Limiteds
concept was born. Initially, workers in the industry gathered together to build their own mill, but when the concept had been proven all started to speculate. This provided A.H.Stott many new mills to build, but also he indulged in the speculation. The Abbey Mill Spinning Company was registered in 1875, of the first 490 ₤5 shares taken up, 200 went to Abraham H. Stott and 200 to George Preston, a civil engineer. As a rule of thumb, a 58,000 spindle mill would cost about ₤64,000 to build or about ₤1.10 a spindle, and the architect would claim a 2½% fee. Abraham was not as active building mills as his brother Joseph in the 1870s. Example mills may be Butler Green Cotton Spinning Ltd, Chadderton (1862), Reddish Spinning Company Mills (1874), a finishing works for J. Chadwick & Co Ltd (1875), and John Broadbent & Sons, Oakfield Mill, Droylesden.
It was in 1871 he filed a patent
for "Improvements in the construction of Fireproof and other Flooring". He had previously in 1864 attempted to file a patent on improvements to design of steam boilers with limited success. By 1873, A. H. Stott was describing himself as an "Engineering Architect". The firm opened its first Manchester Office in 1875. His sons Jesse Ainsworth Stott and Abraham Henthorn Stott, jnr. joined the business in 1875 and 1877, and the company name was altered to accommodate the changes.
. A.Henthorn Stott, jnr moved his home to Bowden, Cheshire in 1894 and the Oldham office closed in 1896. Jesse Ainsworth Stott moved to Broomfield Rd, in Heaton Moor
1890 and built himself Greystead, on Buxton Road, Stockport in 1895. The peaks and troughs of their mill building activity matched that of the industry. The majority of mills were now for Limited Liability Companies
and the partners often took shares in the mills they built.
Work was forthcoming outside the Lancashire cotton belt. In 1884 they designed a mill of 30,000 spindles in Oldenzaal in the Netherlands, and designs were made for mills for the Lings Spinning Company in Pennsylvania
.
, near Conway
in Gwynedd
. The new house was completed in 1882. On 5 April 1887, fire broke out in the old part of the house, and A .H. Stott was charged with arson
. He stood trial on 12–13 July 1887 before Mr Justice Denman at the Caernarfon
assizes. He was acquitted on grounds of insufficient evidence. His brothers had been concerned about his mental health saying he talked of suicide
because he could not persuade his wife and other family members to move to the Pensychnant Estate.
water towers, the use of horizontal bands of yellow brick above the window, and terracotta ornamentation. Examples are the Goyt Mill, Marple (1905), Broadstone No.1 Mill], Reddish
(1904) and Coppull Ring Mill (1905) that had identical water tower, Fernhurst Mill, Chadderton (1905), Butt's Mill, Leigh (1907), Pear Mill, Stockport (1907), Ram Mill, Chadderton (1907).
and the preservation of Thomas Telford
's Menai Suspension Bridge
. He died in 1931, the architectural practice was dissolved and his wealth of ₤132,439 divided.
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
ural practice in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
between 1847 and 1931. It specialised in cotton mill
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
s, designing 191 buildings of which 130 were mills or buildings related to the cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
industry.
Abraham Henthorn Stott was born on 25 April 1822 in the parish of Crompton
Prestwich-cum-Oldham
Prestwich-cum-Oldham was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, England...
. He served a seven year apprenticeship with Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament and Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery is a publicly-owned art gallery in Manchester, England. It was formerly known as Manchester City Art Gallery.The gallery was opened in 1824 and today occupies three buildings, the oldest of which - designed by Sir Charles Barry - is Grade I listed and was originally home to...
. Abraham returned to Oldham
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
in 1847 and founded the architectural practice of A H Stott. It was known for his innovative structural engineering. His brother Joseph Stott in 1866 started his career here before leaving to start his own practice. Three of his nine children worked in the practice. Jesse Ainsworth Stott became the senior partner.Philip Sydney Stott
Sir Philip Stott, 1st Baronet
Sir Philip Sidney Stott, 1st Baronet , usually known as Sidney Stott until 1920, was an English architect, civil engineer and surveyor....
spent three years in the practice before starting his own. After Abraham's retirement his practice was renamed Stott and Sons.
Foundation
The firm of A. H. Stott probably started in Clegg Street, OldhamOldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
in 1847. The owner, Abraham Henthorn Stott, had just finished his architectural apprenticeship with Charles Barry's practice. It is thought that he obtained this position through the influence Jesse Ainsworth. Indeed. on 30 December 1851 he married Jesse's niece Elizabeth or Eliza Ainsworth. The Ainsworths were prominent land and property owners in Oldham; the first identified mill that A. H. Stott designed was room and power mill, Summervale Mill, Fletcher Street, Oldham for Jesse or Hannah Ainsworth (née Lees). The Lees were another prominent Oldham family.
Family connections were important in mid-Victorian Oldham. James and Mary Stott (née Henthorn) were married at the parish church of Prestwich-cum-Oldham
Prestwich-cum-Oldham
Prestwich-cum-Oldham was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, England...
on 18 June 1821. James was a stonemason, and was illiterate. They had four children in the township of Crompton, and two further children after a move to Oldham. Abraham was the first child and the first boy. Both Abraham and Joseph started work as stonemasons. A further cousin of A. H. Stott was a master cotton spinner called Abraham Stott and he owned Osborne Mills, which were built in 1872. The cousin traded under the name of Abraham Stott Ltd. A. H. Stott was a freemason. The offices moved to 37a King Street, Oldham in 1854.
Building a reputation, 1860–1880
Established in Oldham Society and well connected, A. H. Stott was attracting contracts from major cotton spinners. He built mills for Callender of Manchester, then for William Houldsworth who was moving from Manchester city centre to rural Reddish, this involved ten years work building the mills, houses and community buildings. Houldsworth MillHouldsworth Mill, Reddish
Houldsworth Mill, also known as Reddish Mill, is a former mill in built in 1865 in Reddish, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England . Designed by Abraham Stott, it was constructed for Henry Houldsworth, a prominent mill owner at the time...
(1863) is a Grade II+ listed building and is a good example of a 1860's cotton mill. Work was also done for Hilton Greaves of Derker Mills, Oldham.
However in 1860, the Oldham Limiteds
Oldham Limiteds
Oldham Limiteds were the 154 cotton manufacturing companies founded to build or operate cotton mills in Oldham in northwest England, and predominantly during the joint-stock boom of 1873–1875.-History:...
concept was born. Initially, workers in the industry gathered together to build their own mill, but when the concept had been proven all started to speculate. This provided A.H.Stott many new mills to build, but also he indulged in the speculation. The Abbey Mill Spinning Company was registered in 1875, of the first 490 ₤5 shares taken up, 200 went to Abraham H. Stott and 200 to George Preston, a civil engineer. As a rule of thumb, a 58,000 spindle mill would cost about ₤64,000 to build or about ₤1.10 a spindle, and the architect would claim a 2½% fee. Abraham was not as active building mills as his brother Joseph in the 1870s. Example mills may be Butler Green Cotton Spinning Ltd, Chadderton (1862), Reddish Spinning Company Mills (1874), a finishing works for J. Chadwick & Co Ltd (1875), and John Broadbent & Sons, Oakfield Mill, Droylesden.
It was in 1871 he filed a patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for "Improvements in the construction of Fireproof and other Flooring". He had previously in 1864 attempted to file a patent on improvements to design of steam boilers with limited success. By 1873, A. H. Stott was describing himself as an "Engineering Architect". The firm opened its first Manchester Office in 1875. His sons Jesse Ainsworth Stott and Abraham Henthorn Stott, jnr. joined the business in 1875 and 1877, and the company name was altered to accommodate the changes.
Mature firm
In 1883, the firm moved their Manchester offices to 60 Haworth Buildings, Cross Street a prestigious address and it was here that it remained until 1931. This building was designed in 1876–8 by Alfred WaterhouseAlfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...
. A.Henthorn Stott, jnr moved his home to Bowden, Cheshire in 1894 and the Oldham office closed in 1896. Jesse Ainsworth Stott moved to Broomfield Rd, in Heaton Moor
Heaton Moor
Heaton Moor is a suburb located in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is one of the Four Heatons and borders onto Heaton Chapel, Heaton Norris and Heaton Mersey...
1890 and built himself Greystead, on Buxton Road, Stockport in 1895. The peaks and troughs of their mill building activity matched that of the industry. The majority of mills were now for Limited Liability Companies
Oldham Limiteds
Oldham Limiteds were the 154 cotton manufacturing companies founded to build or operate cotton mills in Oldham in northwest England, and predominantly during the joint-stock boom of 1873–1875.-History:...
and the partners often took shares in the mills they built.
Work was forthcoming outside the Lancashire cotton belt. In 1884 they designed a mill of 30,000 spindles in Oldenzaal in the Netherlands, and designs were made for mills for the Lings Spinning Company in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
Arson 1887
As would be fitting for an upwardly mobile Manchester family, A. H. Stott bought the Pensychnant EstateSychnant Pass
Sychnant Pass in Conwy County Borough, Wales, links Conwy to Penmaenmawr via Dwygyfylchi. Much of the pass is in Snowdonia National Park, and a large area of land within it has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.Before the coming of the railroad to the north Wales coast, the...
, near Conway
Conwy
Conwy is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. Conwy has a population of 14,208...
in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
. The new house was completed in 1882. On 5 April 1887, fire broke out in the old part of the house, and A .H. Stott was charged with arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
. He stood trial on 12–13 July 1887 before Mr Justice Denman at the Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...
assizes. He was acquitted on grounds of insufficient evidence. His brothers had been concerned about his mental health saying he talked of suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
because he could not persuade his wife and other family members to move to the Pensychnant Estate.
Edwardian mills
Stott and Son led by A. Henthorn Stott, Jun., were big players in mill building in the 20th century. Of the 16.8 million spindles that were added between 1900 and 1914, 2.61 million were in the 24 mills designed by Stott and Son. These mills were distinctive, embracing the flamboyant architecture of that time. Considerable attention was give to the water tower that would usually advertise the name of the mill, or when the water tower was too elaborate, on the parapet of the main mill block. They used pitched roofs shielded by parapets. Stott and Son favoured Byzantine-styleByzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
water towers, the use of horizontal bands of yellow brick above the window, and terracotta ornamentation. Examples are the Goyt Mill, Marple (1905), Broadstone No.1 Mill], Reddish
Broadstone Mill, Reddish
Broadstone Mill was a double cotton spinning mill on the northern bank of the Stockport Branch Canal in Reddish, Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. The mills were started in 1903 and completed in 1907. They closed in 1957, and the southern mill was demolished and engine houses were...
(1904) and Coppull Ring Mill (1905) that had identical water tower, Fernhurst Mill, Chadderton (1905), Butt's Mill, Leigh (1907), Pear Mill, Stockport (1907), Ram Mill, Chadderton (1907).
Decline
The Edwardian boom ended in 1908, and many mills that had been started were left uncompleted for 5 years. When the economy turned investment started again, which in many cases was unwise. The final mill was the Swan Lane Number3 Mill in 1914. Jesse Ainsworth Stott died in 1917, and the business was continued by his brother A. Henthorn Stott. Jesse'ś two sons were both involved in the running of J. Chadwick and Co Ltd, a private limited liability company, who were calico printers, bleachers, finishers and dyers. Jesse was married to Chadwick's daughter, and A. Henthorn Stott was the managing director. For the next fourteen years little work was done in the cotton sector, A. Henthorn Stott who had built a house, Plas Dolydd on the Pensychnant Estate showed and interest in convervation issues such as quarrying at PenmaenmawrPenmaenmawr
PenmaenmawrConwyPenmaenmawr is a town in the parish of Dwygyfylchi, in Conwy County Borough, Wales. The population was 3857 in 2001. It is a quarrying town, though the latter is no longer a major employer, on the North Wales coast between Conwy and Llanfairfechan.The town was bypassed by the A55...
and the preservation of Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
's Menai Suspension Bridge
Menai Suspension Bridge
The Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1826, it was the first modern suspension bridge in the world.-Construction:...
. He died in 1931, the architectural practice was dissolved and his wealth of ₤132,439 divided.