Robert Heywood
of Crescent Bleach Works, Adelphi Street, Salford.
1842
'FALLING OF A BUILDING.-NARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH - On Tuesday morning, about eleven o'clock, the roof and a part of the end wall of the bowk-house, attached to the bleach works of Mr. Robert Heywood, Bank Mill Lane, Salford, fell in with a tremendous crash. There were three men at work in the house the moment before the timbers supporting the roof began to give way; and, hearing the noise, two of them escaped into the adjoining building, the door of which was open, and within a few feet of the place where they were at work. The third, whose name is William Matthewman, was not quite so successful. A piece of the falling timbers struck him at the back of the neck, and knocked him down. Fortunately, however, he fell between a stone kier and a barrow full of calicoes ; and some large timber, falling across these, protected him from further danger. He was taken out in a state of insensibility, and continued so for about an hour and a half. A slight ruffling of the skin, where the rafter struck him, was the only external injury he received. In the evening he complained of a pain in the head, but in other respects he was as well as before the accident occurred. The roof of the bowk-house was, on a rough calculation, about 37 feet high at one end, and 24 feet at the other. The walls on which it rested were about 18 yards apart; and, though so very flat, it had no central support, The steam arising from a number of kiers, constantly at work, rotted the timbers, and rendered them incapable of supporting the slates. The damage done to the machinery was inconsiderable.'[1]
1891 Directory: Listed as bleacher and finisher. More details
1900 Acquired by the Bleachers Association.[2]