Silverdale Co
Iron smelting was being carried in two furnaces out at Silverdale in the 1790s, on land leased by a partnership of Thomas Breck, John Breck, William Hyatt, Thomas Pool, and Samuel Hopkins (of Lea Forge, Cheshire). The partnership was formed in April 1792, and George Wood joined in 1794. Walter Sneyd became involved at some point.[1]
1851 Dissolution of the Partnership between Ralph Sneyd, of Keele, in the county of Stafford, Esquire, and Francis Stanier, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Gentleman, carrying on business at Silverdale, in the said county, as Coal and Iron Masters, under the firm or style of The Silverdale Company. The business was carried on by Francis Stanier[2]
The Silverdale Iron Co. had works in Silverdale, Knutton and Chesterton, covering both collieries and blast furnaces; that of the Knutton and Chesterton Works were limited to the manufacture of finished iron. Not long after Thomas Udall joined these concerns in 1866, his firm acquired the collieries and blast furnaces at Apedale, also in North Staffordshire. Later the joint concerns were put together as one undertaking with the name of Stainer and Co.[3]