The destruction of Messrs Watson's Pike Carpet Mills in Green Street, Kidderminster, on July 1, 1886, was one of the most disastrous fires ever seen in the town. The damage was estimated at the time as £80,000 and 500 workpeople were effected. One of the largest mills in Kidderminster was burnt to ruins, and the machinery reduced to a mass of twisted iron.
The main block of the building had been erected in about 1860, and seven years layer, the east end, principally used as a wool warehouse was added. It was a five-storey building, measuring about 250 ft. long by 80 ft. wide, and contained from 250 to 260 windows. It was a most substantial structure, the walls being 22 inches thick and the gables 27 inches. Adjoining this, and alongside the Stour, was a spacious carding shed, declared to be one of the largest sheds in the town. In this shed the whole of the carding machines used by the firm, 26 in number were placed, and it was believed that it was in one corner of the shed that the fire broke out. In the main building there were about 80 spinning frames, and with the price of wool down low, every inch of the space was packed with material. None of this was saved. Whether there was some suggestion of arson is not known, but an account mentions that it was at the time when Home Rulers and Coercionists were at the height of their conflict. The election meetings were just over, when about 20 minutes past 11, the fire alarm shrieked through the still atmosphere of the night.
The following is an eye-witnessed account of the fire (slightly abbreviated):
'A pillar of luminous cloud rose far into the sky... a large portion of the population watched the most terrific spectacle ever witnessed in Kidderminster. At 12 0'clock, volumes of flames poured out of every window in the west end of the building, and the heat could be felt in Oxford Street and at the end of Bridge Street. The roof for a long time resisted the flames, though floor after floor fell, and the machinery could be heard crashing horribly into the flaming chaos beneath, the dark covering remained intact. The roof at last fell with a resounding crash. Then the imprisoned flames escaped and towered towards the sky. From time to time explosions were heard...cry was raised that the boilers were about to burst. There was a momentary panic and the weak and timed rushed into entries and places of refuge.. Every girder, every rafter stood out distinctly and the inner walls were to be seen to be of a white heat. Soon the heavy pediment surmounting the front was seen to totter and fall with a majestic movement that could be heard miles away. Between Watson's carding room, where the fire commenced, and Willis's dyehouse, there was a branch of the Stour, and several men were playing upon the end of Willis's weaving shed while their companions every two or three minutes ran out and threw buckets of water over them to enable the to stand the roasting. The sight in the morning was something harrowing. The ruins still smoldering and the air was full of charcoal. Never was a ruin more complete...
Fire brigades from Worcester and Stourbridge as well as the factory brigades of Messrs Mortons, Brintons, and Woodward Grosvenor did valuable work to stop the fire spreading, and fortunately, there was no wind, or Kidderminster would have had a still more terrible experience. A new mill was built a year later in 1887.
The Pike Carpet Mills Fire - 1886 Before the Fire
Damage done in Fire
.jpg)
.jpg)