Nuts and Bolts

Darlaston is best known for its nuts, bolts, and fastenings which were made in vast quantities in large factories, employing thousands of people. It is not known when the industry began in the town, but it appears to have its origins in the early nineteenth century.

Originally nuts and bolts were forged by blacksmiths on an anvil using only a hammer and a few simple tools. The bolts had square heads with bevelled corners which were known as ‘Gothic’ heads. It seems likely that the early manufacturers adopted a simple device used by nail makers, called the ‘devil’ which consisted of a two-part casting with dies in the upper half that were closed by treadle-operated toggles. The heated bolt rod was gripped between the dies to form the head, and upset by the hammer into the recess provided. The mechanism was then modified into a form that would work with the ‘oliver’ treadle-operated hammer, that had been in use since the middle ages


Using an 'oliver' hammer at Charles Richards & Sons.

 Although nut and bolt makers do not appear in local trade directories until well into the nineteenth century, many screw makers can be found in early nineteenth century editions.

It may be that some of them began making nuts and bolts, an industry which almost certainly began in small backyard workshops.

The 1851 census states that Thomas Wilkes of 26 Blakemore Lane was a bolt forger. His son, aged 16, was also a bolt forger, and his wife and two daughters aged 14 and 12 are described as screw wormers, who probably cut the threads on the bolts and nuts. This would have been a family business with a small backyard workshop, similar to the ones used by the nailers.

One of the largest, most successful, and longest surviving nut and bolt manufacturer was F. W. Cotterill. The business was founded by Alexander Cotterill in about 1800. In 1802 he was referred to as a coach bolt maker, and by 1818 was listed as a tool maker at Butt Croft Works, where he produced ‘setts’, tools fitted to anvils and treadle hammers.

In 1834 he was listed as a maker of buckles, coach, bed and machine screws, and in 1835 as a screw manufacturer. In 1845 he produced coach and railway carriage bolts, and around 1850 became a machine bolt maker. By 1851 he employed 26 people. After his death in the 1850s his son Frederick took over. Frederick installed the latest powered machines, and the firm rapidly grew in size. He is listed in the 1861 census as an employer of 75 men. The census lists another 64 firms making nuts and bolts in the town, but none of them employed more than twenty people.

In the 1860s Cotterills were also manufacturing machines. At the time, the expanding railways needed large quantities of nuts and bolts, and so the industry rapidly grew.

In 1874 Frederick Cotterill died, and the business was taken over by J. E. Wilson and J. Slater. In the same year the firm moved to Atlas Works in Station Street, and in 1880 the business became a private limited company.


An advert from 1936.
Ten years later, Tom S. Peacock became Managing Director, and in 1912 the firm acquired the forging works of John Garrington and Sons. In August 1919 the whole concern was taken over by Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, who eventually acquired a number of Darlaston’s nut and bolt manufacturers.

By the end of the Second World War, Atlas Works covered more than 20 acres and employed about 3,000 people, and their nuts and bolts were sold world wide.


The finishing shop at Atlas Works.


An advert from 1943.

  


An advert from 1960.

Darlaston had a large number of factories producing all kinds of nuts, bolts and fastenings, including:

The Darlaston Bolt & Nut Company.
David Etchells & Sons Limited, Bull Piece Works (also produced machinery etc.).
Horton & Son Limited, Alma and New Alma Works.
Thomas Mayer & Company Limited, Crown Nut & Bolt Works.
Nuts & Bolts (Darlaston) Limited.
Charles Richards & Sons Limited, Imperial Works.
J & R Rose Limited, London Works.
Staffordshire Bolt, Nut & Fencing Co. Limited, London & North Western Works.
The Steel Nut & Joseph Hampton Limited, Woden Works.
James Wiley & Sons Limited, Eagle Works.
Wilkes Limited, Grand Junction Works.
Enoch Wilkes & Company Limited, Britannia Works.
W. Martin Winn Limited, Station Works.

And many, many more.

Although most of the nut and bolt manufacturers are long gone, a few remain, including Alca Fasteners Limited, in Salisbury Street, and Kebrell Nuts & Bolts Limited, in Heath Road.


An advert from 1930.


An advert from 1949.

   
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