Description and History of Site:-
The brewery was originally established in buildings attached to Clough Farm which lay to the south west of Ovenden Wood Road on the line of the present day Fountainhead Road at a point where it turns south east along the bottom of the hillside. A brewery was established prior to 1825 at Clough Farm, Ovenden Wood, owned by John Mitchell and occupied by James Smith. In 1838 the business came into the hands of Samuel Webster. Despite legal disputes with Halifax Corporation over the severing of the brewery's water supply during the re-building of the town water conduit from Dodgson Clough, the business prospered. With three of his sons also involved in the business Webster became active in the acquisition of tied houses, commencing with the Lane Ends in Wheatley during 1845. In 1873 a new brewhouse was completed to the designs of John Hogg of Halifax, and a 120 quarter maltings (qv) designed by William Bradford was added in 1900. Various additions to the brewery included a new cask washing plant in 1956, new offices alongside Ovenden Wood Road in 1957, bottling plant extensions 1958, a mineral water plant during 1961 and several additions to brewing and fermentation capacity in 1962. Eventually a new brewhouse was required, and this along with a new fermentation block, bulk beer department and a bottling plant were all commissioned around 1973. The brewhouse included an Anheuser-Busch Strainmaster conversion vessel instead of the more usual mash tuns, one of only three such units ever installed in the UK. During 1961 a trading agreement was made between the company and Watney Mann Ltd., leading eventually to an outright bid by the larger business in 1971; at the same time Watney themselves became the subject to a takeover bid by Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd. Considerable investment came with the new ownership including construction of a lager plant followed by the transfer of beer production from Wilson's Brewery at Newton Heath during 1986. In 1990 Grand Met. sold their brewing interests to Courage and thereafter the Webster brands were de-prioritised, suffering further decline following the Scottish and Newcastle takeover of Courage. During 1996 the decision was taken to close the brewery which has since been demolished and a housing development has taken its place. - Peter Robinson - 10/08/16

Further Reading and References:-
P.W.Robinson, A History of the Fountain Head Brewery, (unpublished, copy deposited with Calderdale Central Library, Reference Dept.).
P.W.Robinson, 'The Emergence of the Common Brewer in the Halifax District', Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, Halifax, 1981, pp. 86, 99-100.

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Key Words :- brewery

Viewing the Site :- No public access. The site where the brewhouse stood can be viewed from Fountainhead Road

Address :- Fountainhead Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX2 0QS
Grid Ref :- SE 06290 26748
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.737082 , Long -1.906123
Local Authority :- Calderdale Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to residential housing
Site Dates :- 1825 pre - 1996
Record Date :- 2 August 2016

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