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Top tradesmen who built town

20/ 3/2006

<p><P>IT WAS the firm which virtually built Rochdale. No other company in history has left such an indelible stamp on the town before or since.</P> <P>R and T Howarth Ltd truly was the master builder.</P> <P>It constructed many of the magnificent public buildings which adorned the town centre in the 20th century.</P> <P>Many of them survive to this day, standing out as impressive landmarks of a bygone age.</P> <P>Howarth’s also made a huge impression on the town’s industrial landscape, erecting some of the major cotton mills and engineering workshops.</P> <P>On the domestic front it was responsible for many of the housing estates that sprang up.</P> <P>It even played a big part in the development of the Observer.</P> <P>The influence of the company, based at Crossfield Works in Norwich Street, stretched way beyond the boundaries of Rochdale through roads, sewers, bridges and reinforced concrete work right across Lancashire and Cheshire.</P> <P>It also put up public, industrial and leisure buildings throughout the North West.</P> <P>But just as its spectacular rise to success was a shining example of the town’s prosperity so its sudden, shocking crash was symbolic of its decline.</P> <P>Building had been in the Howarth family for years and there had been a firm of that name as early as 1750.</P> <P>R and T Howarth Ltd was formed in 1900 by brothers Robert and Thomas Howarth.</P> <P>From the start it made its mark on the town, being a driving force as it developed its industrial muscle.</P> <P>Its first project was the erection of the State Mill, using the then new materials of cast iron columns and beams.</P> <P>Other early projects included the Nurses’ Memorial Home, now the Broadfield Hotel, which was completed in 1905 and The Rhyddings, a private house which later became the Royal Toby, in 1910.</P> <P>But it was industrial development which was their main focus at this time.</P> <P>In 1911 the company built the imposing Arrow Mill but suffered a blow with the death of Robert Howarth.</P> <P>Thomas Howarth was left to run the firm himself and under his leadership it continued to go from strength to strength.</P> <P>Always keen to be at the cutting edge of new ideas, it swiftly adopted the then innovative mild steel and concrete.</P> <P>When it constructed Dunlop Cotton Mills in 1919 it used 52,000 tons of concrete and 7,000 tons of steel.</P> <P>During the 1920s the face of Rochdale changed dramatically with a series of stylish buildings.</P> <P>Howarth’s was at the forefront of this aesthetic revolution.</P> <P>In 1925 it completed St John the Baptist RC Church with its distinctive dome, based on the Byzantine Santa Sofia in Istanbul.</P> <P>At the time the church was hailed as: “The most striking addition to the town’s architecture since the building of the Town Hall.”</P> <P>The same year it built Champness Hall on Drake Street for the town’s methodists.</P> <P>Over the next couple of years it added the impressive head post office, the Rialto Super Cinema, the Employment Exchange and the Observer’s new printing works to the town centre landscape.</P> <P>The decade also saw the construction of Turf Hill housing estate for Rochdale Corporation.</P> <P>As ever keeping up with modern practices, it utilised the latest reinforced concrete techniques to erect Hamer Bridge.</P> <P>In 1933 two more magnificent pieces of town centre architecture were unveiled courtesy of Howarth’s.</P> <P>One was the Electric House off Smith Street and the other the Yorkshire Penny Bank in Yorkshire Street.</P> <P>A little further afield it also built the central baths, a new maternity block at Birch Hill and Greenhill School.</P> <P>Rochdale market had burnt down in a disastrous fire in 1937 but with the help of Howarth’s it began to rise from the ashes in 1939.</P> <P>The Second World War put an end to any major projects and in 1943 Thomas Howarth died.</P> <P>The early years of peace saw severe restrictions on building work and as a result the firm was largely involved in extensions and repair works to existing buildings, with the exception of Newhey estate, constructed for Milnrow UDC in 1949.</P> <P>When the restrictions finally eased in the 1950s there was plenty of work to be done.</P> <P>But during this decade many of Howarth’s biggest projects took place outside Rochdale.</P> <P>As the company continued to thrive it became known throughout the region as simply “R and T’s”</P> <P>One of the firm’s major projects in town was the new Observer offices.</P> <P>It also did a great deal of work on the TBA site, erecting a number of extensions as that firm continued its expansion.</P> <P>The 1960s saw Howarth’s heavily involved in Rochdale’s school development.</P> <P>Included in this was the building of the first phase of Bishop Henshaw Secondary School, St Gabriel’s RC Primary School and extensions to Greenhill Senior School.</P> <P>There was also construction of a new garage on Mellor Street to house Rochdale Corporation buses (now Ron Chalker’s), the Blue Ball pub in Smithy Bridge and repairs to Rakebridge Mill in Caldershaw after a fire.</P> <P>As in the previous decade, there were also an increasing number of major projects in other parts of the North West.</P> <P>Howarth’s competed the second phase of Bishop Henshaw’s in 1970-71, the same period it built the new Caldershaw Primary School.</P> <P>As the seventies progressed the firm became less involved in industrial projects and was taking on more and more school work as the town worked to modernise its education facilities.</P> <P>It built Sparrow Hill, Deeplish and Whittaker Moss Primary Schools and completed phases three and four of both Bishop Henshaw’s and Oulder Hill.</P> <P>But times were becoming increasingly difficult in the building trade with many firms experiencing cashflow problems.</P> <P>They had to contend with the economic situation, cutbacks in public expenditure – which meant less work to do – and customers taking too long to pay.</P> <P>As the situation began to bite deeper Howarth’s had sold off all its plant after discovering it was cheaper to lease it.</P> <P>Even so it was a bombshell when on 18 July 1978 the firm ceased trading and immediately halted all building operations.</P> <P>These included the first phase of Wardle High School and work at Thrum Hall Middle School.</P> <P>A receiver had been called in after the company, which had overdrafts of more than £500,000, lost the support of its bankers.</P> <P>The collapse had been so sudden Howarth’s workers, who had gathered in the works yard at Dodgson Street, had heard “not even a whisper that the firm could be in trouble.”</P> <P>But Mr R H Stewart, who had been appointed receiver, revealed: “The company had plenty of warning from the banks as it had exceeded its permitted overdraft limits for several months.</P> <P>“The bankers went along with the company for as long as they could and only acted when the company went way beyond its overdraft limits.”</P> <P>Briefly there were hopes of a rescue plan, but it was not to be and one of Rochdale’s biggest firms was consigned to history.</P> <P>Howarth’s crash sent shock waves throughout the building industry, leaving many smaller sub-contracted firms out of pocket.</P> <P>It led to a call for a change in the bankruptcy law and sub-contract payment procedures from one of many angry and frustrated creditors.</P> <P><STRONG><EM>Click on the images below for a closer look at some of Howarths' creations ...</EM></STRONG></P></p>