Description and History of Site:-
The site originally comprised a house standing alongside Thomas Street flanked by two buildings used for carpet manufacture, all of three storeys. Between the buildings and Union Street was a garden for the proprietor. Robert Abbott, woolstapler was the chief creditor upon the failure of Job Lees, a carpet manufacturer in Lower George Yard, Halifax. Upon the winding up of Lees affairs, Abbott set up a new concern to acquire the business in partnership with John Crossley (former managing partner with Mr Lees) and Francis Ellerton for a term of twenty years, under the style of Abbott, Crossley & Co. In 1811 the partnership was dissolved, though retaining the same name, Crossley to charge the firm for spinning and dyeing at a fixed price for the remainder of the twenty years. Following the death of Robert Abbott in 1827, his son John Abbott, also a woolstapler, succeeded to the carpet business in partnership with Francis Ellerton, but soon afterwards in 1830 the business was sold to John Crossley. John Crossley & Sons, carpet manufacturers advertised themselves as trading both at Dean Clough and 29 Union Street in both 1845 and 1853. Thereafter the premises seem to have been occupied as wool warehouses; with James Greenwood and George Hill, wool waste dealers and Joshua P. Smith and John Thomas, woolstaplers listed in Thomas street during 1874. D. E. Pickles, wool and waste dealer and A Pinder, woolstapler were the occupants in 1905. The last occupants, when the premises were destroyed by fire, were a firm of fabric and curtain retailers.

Further Reading and References:-
R. Bretton, Crossleys of Dean Clough, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, 1950, p.5.
J. Wild, Some Local People of Note, Part 2, Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, Halifax, 1977, p. 56.
Martha Crossley, Memoirs of the early history of the firm of John Crossley, carpet manufacturers.
Holden's Directory of Halifax 1809-11, p. 226

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Key Words :- textiles carpet weaving wool warehouse

Viewing the Site :- The site can be viewed from Thomas Street and is now occupied by a car park.

Address :- Thomas Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 1PR
Grid Ref :- SE 09478 24988
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.721215 , Long -1.857847
Local Authority :- Calderdale Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- c1806 - post 2008
Record Date :- 15 April 2017

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Peter Robinson