Witney Blanket Co
From Graces Guide
of Buttercross Works, Witney, Oxon
- The Witney Blanket Co finished and supplied blankets, bedding clothing and shoes through the post. They also had a blanket cleaning service and made quilts, feather beds and specialist mattresses.
- c1885 The Witney Blanket Company was set up in Witney around 1885, as a blanket finishing and cleaning business. It did not manufacture blankets. Fred Clapper and Sons were the early owners of the business.
- In 1895, the business was sold to a Mr A. A. Barrell, who had moved to Witney from East Anglia.
- 1898 According to Bennett's Business Directory for Oxfordshire, the company had been trading in the town since at least the 1880s.
- 1908 Following the ruling that only blankets made in the town could legally be labelled as 'Witney' blankets, Mr Barrell turned the business into a limited company and started the novel idea of supplying blankets through mail order. Most of the blankets were made in Yorkshire but were 'tabbed' (labelled) and finished in Witney.
- In 1913, Barrell bought the premises at 39/41 Market Square (near the Buttercross), which contaained a shop.
- c1918 By the end of the First World War, he and his sons decided to expand.
- During the 1920s, the company built a large two-storey factory known as the Buttercross Works at The Leys near St Mary's Church in Witney and moved all its operations to there.
- 1939 The building was very seriously damaged by fire, and then rebult.
- 1950 Listed as a subsidiary of A. and S. Henry and Co [1]
- 1968 A second fire caused serious damage and re-building took place once again.
- 1976 The mail order side of the business closed because of increasing competition.
- The bedding factory closed shortly afterwards.
See Also
Loading...
Sources of Information
- ↑ Times, April 25, 1950
- [1] Witney Blanket Story