Robin Longbottom looks at the rise, and subsequent demise, of soap manufacturing in the area

WHEN Cold Spring House, off Haworth Road, Cullingworth, came up for sale in 1874 it was bought by William Sugden, a 33-year-old schoolteacher from Manningham. He was a member of the Sugden family of Dockroyd, Oakworth, worsted spinners and manufacturers at Vale Mill. His maternal uncle William Craven had built the house and it had been put up for sale after the death of his widow.

The property was described as a modern, stone-built mansion house with farm buildings and about 24 acres of land. It also had the benefit of “the well known Cold Spring”, which arose on the property and provided an abundant supply of pure, soft water suitable for trade purposes. Sugden’s principal subject as a schoolteacher was chemistry and he planned to use his knowledge and the spring water to his advantage. By 1878 he had put his plan into action and built a soap mill with the capacity to produce 100 tons per month. The soap was to be used primarily for scouring (washing) raw fleeces to prepare them to be combed and spun into yarn.

He already had connections with the worsted industry through his Sugden relatives and his father-in-law, who was a manager at one of Isaac Holden’s mills in Bradford. His ambition was to produce a superior soft soap that would remove dirt and oils from fleeces and leave pure white wool ready for processing.

To produce soap, olive oil – also known as Gallipoli oil – was imported in huge quantities from Italy and the Middle East and combined with an alkali. The presence of a chimney at the mill suggests that Sugden was using what was known as the hot saponification process. This entailed boiling a mixture of oil and alkali solution in large kettles, usually holding one imperial ton each. This method reduced the manufacturing time to one day and when the soap set it was then packed into barrels ready to be transported to customers by train from Cullingworth Station.

Soap had always been essential for washing wool, however, before chemical alkalis were developed in the 19th century and vegetable oils were imported, it had been made using potash and animal fats. Potash was produced by burning green bracken in a kiln and literally collecting the ash in pots. The bracken had to be gathered in large quantities and local names such as Bracken Bank, Keighley, Bracken Hill, Silsden, and Bracken Ghyll, Skipton, suggest areas where it was plentiful and probably gathered during the pre-industrial era. Restrictions on soap making and a tax introduced in 1712 affected the growth of the industry. However, when these were abolished in 1853, soap makers such as William Sugden saw an opportunity and set up in business.

The enterprise at Cold Spring Mill was not the only soap business in the area. Only a mile or two away at Cross Roads there was Samuel Thompson who advertised his products from the rather grandly named Cross Roads Soap Works. However, he only employed one man and his premises were in an outbuilding at Green Head Farm. The farm was tenanted by Thomas Mitchell, who was his father-in-law and with whom he and his wife lived. It is most likely that he was making soap by the cold saponification process. In this method the cold oils and alkali were mixed into a paste which was then put into trays and left to set over a period of a week, or more. Once set it could then be cut up into blocks ready for sale. His soap was very likely used for personal washing, both in households and on industrial premises.

By 1911 Samuel Thompson had ceased business and William Sugden closed his mill when the demand for soap fell during the Great War.