Description and History of Site:-
Siuated within a courtyard behind a series of houses, the Red Cross Brewery featured a striking six-storeyed, battlemented brewery tower surmounted by a large chimney, and a brewhouse with a barrel shaped weather vane. The brewery had a 50 barrel plant, powered by a 10 horse power engine. Parts of the building survived until the 1990s. Modern sheds and offices now occupy most of the site. Built circa 1873 by John Brook Booth to replace the former Railway Brewery (qv). A limited company was formed by a consortium of maltsters and innkeepers from Mirfield in 1874 with a share capital of £10,000 to purchase the business. A first class practical brewer was engaged and the premises were soon up and running. After an indifferent start, John Brook Booth returned in 1876 setting up a partnership with a Mr Ogden. Financial problems returned in 1883 and in the following year the business was acquired by a Mr Prynn, a native of Hull. A successful business was then built up and a small tied estate of nine houses had been established prior to its sale in 1889 to Samuel Webster & Sons Ltd. Following closure by Webster, the buildings were used by an engineering company and now form part of the wire fence making factory of Siddal & Hilton.

Further Reading and References:-
P.W.Robinson, A History of the Fountain Head Brewery, (unpublished, copy deposited with Calderdale Central Library, Reference Dept.), pp. 84-86.

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Key Words :- brewery engineering

Viewing the Site :- No public access. The site can be viewed from Calder Street.

Address :- Calder Street, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, HD6 1LT
Grid Ref :- SE 15113 22389
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.697724 , Long -1.772581
Local Authority :- Calderdale Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1873 ca - 1889
Record Date :- 8 August 2016

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