Monument record MWX199 - Bridport Industries, St Michael's Lane, Bridport

The Bridport Industries building is a long two-storeyed factory in red brick with a prominent central clock tower, built in the early 20th century on the site of an earlier rope walk. It was the main building of the firm of William Edwards and Sons, who specialised in sports netting. Bridport Industries was formed in 1947 by the merger of Edwards & Sons with William Gale & Sons and Hounsell’s (Bridport) Limited.

The Bridport Industries building is a long two-storeyed factory in red brick with a prominent central clock tower. It was built by William Edwards & Sons in the late 19th & early 20th century on the site of an earlier rope walk <1>.

The complex comprises a wide range of industrial building types, most of which are externally well-preserved and some are architecturally distinctive. The main Bridport Industries building includes a prominent sprinkler tower and may also include buildings related to steam or electric power supply. A possible former boiler house to northwest of the main building is in coursed rubble with red brick jambs. The apex skylight may have formerly been a ventilation louvre. The boiler house is probably of late 19th century date. A two-storied building of five bays is attached to north, it has a hipped roof. The 20th century buildings are mainly brick sheds and are located in the northern part of the site. These include a small building with conical metal roof ventilators said to have been formerly used as a tar house.

It was the main building of the firm of William Edwards and Sons, who specialised in sports netting. Bridport Industries was formed in 1947 by the merger of Edwards & Sons with William Gale & Sons and Hounsell’s (Bridport) Limited <2>.

Bridport has been an important centre for the production of rope, twine and netting, originally from flax and hemp, from at least the 13th century, and possibly earlier. By the 16th century the town was a nationally-important centre for the production of rope for the Navy. Between the late 16th century and mid-19th century tackle, cordage and nets were made for the Newfoundland fisheries; sailcloth, sacking and tarpaulin were also produced. The Napoleonic Wars stimulated the trade of finished ropes and nets, for example, and gave Bridport its great period of prosperity. From the mid-19th century onwards the town was synonymous with the manufacture of nets for fishing, agricultural, sporting and other purposes, exporting them throughout the world. The First World further stimulated the industry leading to the manufacture of products for the military. By the mid-20th century many of the town's smaller cordage businesses had amalgamated and there were two main manufacturers: Bridport Industries Ltd and Joseph Gundry & Co who subsequently merged in 1963.

Map and documentary evidence indicates that a number of open walks and ancillary buildings were present in the area to the west of St Michael's Lane from the mid-19th century, but the area was extensively developed as an area for net, twine and rope production in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century in response to the expansion of the Bridport’s cordage industry.

The former Stover Place Works was constructed in the 1920s by Williams Edwards & Son as an extension of their existing net-making business, St Michael’s Works (also known as Bridport Industries and the subject of a separate assessment) to the south. The Ordnance Survey map of 1928 depicts both complexes and describes the entire site as St Michael’s Works (rope, net and twine). Stover Place Works is located to the north and west of the now-demolished cattle market and a plan of 1929 provides evidence for its layout. Most buildings were used for twisting, net making, drying and storage; others are identified as a mechanic’s shop, coal bunkers, a saw mill and a timber store, while part of one building housed a gas engine that supplied the power. There was also a tarring house since tar helped to preserve the nets. After the First World War William Edwards and Son reverted to the manufacture of fishing and sports nets and in 1947 merged with Hounsells to form Bridport Industries Ltd. The complex was enlarged and altered in the late 1940s at which time the double-gabled roof to the two-storey Stover Building was replaced with a single-span roof of steel trusses. Stover Place Works (St Michael’s Works) went into gradual decline after further mergers and the creation of Bridport Gundry Ltd in 1963, and closed in the mid-1960s. The buildings were subsequently sold and the area was developed as a trading estate but one of the buildings is still (2013) used for the manufacture of nets.

MATERIALS: constructed principally of brick and some stone rubble under hipped and gabled roofs clad in double Roman tiles, and asbestos and formed metal sheeting.

PLAN: an irregular plan with rectangular north-lit sheds running west-east from St Michael’s Lane, a large two-storey building (Stover) offset to the north and north-east which has a truncated, attached range to the west; and a group of attached buildings to the south (to the west side of the former cattle market), possibly incorporating some 19th century structures.

DESCRIPTION: at the southern end of the site is a former tarring house which is built of stone rubble. There are brick surrounds to the openings; there are timber casements under segmental heads; the door to the end bay in the south elevation is late 20th century. The east gable end is coped and there is a clerestory to the ridge that would have aided ventilation. Internally a late-19th / early-20th century top-hung, sliding door survives. It has been suggested that an arch with curved timber surround above the rafters in the north wall may be for a rotary mechanism for winding nets or twine during the tarring process. The roof trusses have king posts with angled and braced struts. Constructed against the north side of the former tarring house is hipped two-storey building of two phases with brick and artificial stone dressings. The east elevation has a plat band (south end is missing) and at least three entrances with semi-circular lintels and keystones; the doors are modern replacements. The other ground-floor openings have large modern doors so it is unclear whether they are original. The first floor rises from a string course and the brickwork differs to the lower part. It is divided into five bays by strip pilasters with mid-20 three-light windows to four of the bays; the left-hand opening is blocked and has been replaced by a doorway accessed from a metal staircase. To the north are three attached gabled buildings; the northernmost retains a number of metal roof ventilators. To the rear (west) are several industrial sheds; the largest building has a double-pitched roof and steel trusses.

To the north-east, fronting onto St Michael’s Lane is large north-light building characterised by its asymmetrical multi-ridge roofs. The 1929 plan indicates that its eastern half was used for twisting and stores while the central area contained a gas engine. The roadside elevation has been altered with the insertion of modern openings, but there is a blocked oculus in the apex of the north gable end. A long single-storey range built largely of blockwork has been erected against the south elevation obscuring the openings. Internally the roof is carried on timber trusses with angled braces and parts of the range have tiled floors. On the opposite (north) side of Spinning Path (a narrow walk) is a former office and storage building. The single-storey east block is flat roofed and has a brick string course. There are segmental-headed window openings to the south elevation, though the frames have been replaced, and a window and doorway with early-21th century door to the east return. The two-storey section is shown on the circa 1912 map. It also has openings with segmental heads with late-20th century windows; several of which have replaced former doorways.

The two-storey structure to the west is known as the Stover Building and is shown on the 1902 map as a rope and twine works; by 1930 it was extended and used for rope, twine and net, and was further enlarged and altered in the late 1940s. The east gabled end has a number of inserted openings, some of which cut into earlier round-headed openings. The first-floor loading doorway is a later insertion and from here a bridge formerly crossed to the storage building opposite. The north elevation has a similar arrangement of openings with metal-framed windows inserted into former round-headed openings on the ground floor, and metal- and timber-framed windows to the upper floor. There are large inserted openings, including a loading bay to the west end of the north elevation and an off-centre entrance at first floor approached by a modern timber staircase and evidence for a hoist. The south elevation has a mix of multi-pane, metal-framed windows and modern replacements to both floors. Internally the building is divided into two sections with a timber-framed partition wall. To the ground floor is a lightweight steel framework of girders and columns, as well as some cast-iron columns, which support the timber joists of the first floor. In the mid-20th century the roof was replaced with steel trusses. Attached to the west is a single-storey brick range which dates from the mid-20th century; to the north-west is a large late-20th century shed.

The former Stover Place Works, St Michael’s Trading Estate in Bridport is not listed for the following principal reasons:

Relative date: having been constructed principally in the 1920s and subsequently extended and altered, Stover Place Works is late in the history of Bridport’s rope, twine and net industry;

Architectural interest: on the whole the buildings have been constructed to a standard design for industrial structures of this date, and as such are not rare or architecturally distinguished;

Alteration: the sheds and buildings have undergone significant losses and alterations which have obscured their original purpose. <11>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Various, Ordnance Survey Map, Dorset Sheets, 1888 OS map, Dorset sheet 38.10.6 (Map). SWX1299.

<2> Williams, M, 2006, Bridport and West Bay. The buildings of the flax and hemp industry, 42-43 (Monograph). SDO10498.

<4> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/063 South West Textile Mills Project (Unpublished document). SDO17323.

<5> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 2K/08440 (Index). SDO14738.

BRIDPORT SURVEY. No model release for DP000830 - DP000832

<6> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BF111624 (Index). SDO14738.

Bridport Project

<7> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DP000809 (Index). SDO14738.

Exterior view along the Bridport Industries building, St Michael's Lane, Bridport

<8> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DP000810 (Index). SDO14738.

General view of the Bridport Industries building, St Michaels' Lane, Bridport

<9> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DP005122 (Index). SDO14738.

Exterior view of the former Bridport Industries building, St Michael's Lane, Bridport

<10> Historic England, Historic England Archive, DP005123 (Index). SDO14738.

Exterior view of the former Bridport Industries building, St Michael's Lane, Bridport, from the west

<11> English Heritage, English Heritage Listing File, 1413616 (Scheduling record). SDO17502.

No-list case number 1413616, assessed in 2012.

<12> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1305399 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Dec 19 2022 4:10PM