Sykes Bleaching Company

The Sykes Bleaching Company was a cotton bleaching business established in Edgeley, near in 1792 which grew to become one of the largest bleaching enterprises in the United Kingdom.

The bleaching business was established in 1792 by William Sykes. Sykes had been born at Wakefield and had been active in the cloth industry at Halifax and Manchester. On 27 November 1792 an advertisement appeared in the Manchester Mercury to let land at Edgeley, , Cheshire as

An Eligible situation for Bleach Ground or Print Field in which there are a number of Fine White Sand Springs with a Rivulet capable of Turning Wash Wheels etc. The Grounds lie very contiguous to the populous Manufacturing Town of Stockport where Bleachers and Printers are both much wanted and every encouragement will be given to a good tenant

William Sykes took the land, first renting, but later purchasing it, and built a bleach works. To bleach cloth, it was repeatedly steeped in natural alkaline solutions derived from ash, called "bucking". It was then washed and exposed to sun and air by being hung out in the bleachfields (known as "crofts"). After being immersed in buttermilk, called ‘souring’ it received final washing, stretching and drying. The process could take up to eight months and with cloth in the open, a watchman was employed to guard Sykes crofts at night. Theft of cloth from a croft was an offence liable to capital punishment. Handloom weavers from Edgeley, Stockport, Adswood, Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme brought cloth to the works for bleaching and these were sold on to Manchester and London merchants. An early list of Sykes customers includes well-known names as Oldknow of Nottingham, Radcliffe of Stockport (a pioneer of the fine muslin industry) and Cadbury of Birmingham, a silk mercer and father of the founder of the well-known chocolate firm. The list also mentions names of customers as far afield as Boston, Massachusetts America and Messina Italy.

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