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Pottery

In the mid 1800's potteries sprang up alongside the Ashby-Burton road in Wooden Box and in Lower and Upper Midway parts of the parish. Mansfield Pottery was situated at the side of the railway station at the bottom of Station Road, Woodville. It opened in 1879 and made earthenware sanitary goods. It closed in 1958-9.

Lower Midway Pottery occupied what is now the site of the Midway lnn. It opened in the 1850's and made earthenware, one of its famous lines was earthenware jam jars for a famous marmalade firm. It closed in the 1950's.

C.W. Outrams (Hartshorne) Pottery was situated off the Hartshorne Road, against the M.R. goods station just off the Burton road. It made earthenware sanitary goods. It started in the early 1800's and closed in 1999.

Nadin and Parkers earthenware pottery was situated at the top of Station Road, it opened in the mid 1800's and closed around the 1950's.

The Upper Midway pottery making earthenware goods started in the early 19th Century and was against the Wheel Inn. It closed in 1920.

One of the Woodville potteries made a widely used roof tile called Woodville Blues until the use of slate in the late 1800's superseded them.

Besides these potteries there are quite a number of very small works on both sides of the Burton-Ashby road.

Cheese

Hartshorne Cheeses had a wide distribution in the late 1700's and 1800's and became well known in the Midlands. A large bowl called a pancion or pancheon was used in the cheese making process and these were made in Ticknall in the 1700's and then in the 1800's in Wooden Box.

Brewing

In order to supply the increasing population in the Wooden Box area in the 1800's, a number of breweries started up, amongst them were Salts Brewery and a large one called Brunt and Bucknalls, Hartshorne Brewery situated opposite the Nelson Inn. Some of its beers were bottled and sold as 'Wooden Box' ales, this brewery closed in 1920.

One of its directors was a Mr Worthington who lived at Nether Hall in the mid 1800's, his Burton Brewery by then was a large concern, no doubt his expertise was used at Brunt and Bucknalls.

Mining

Large amounts of white clays were dug in the Wooden Box area and exported within England. Records show clay being dug behind the Butt House Farm and in the area down to Goseley Wastes, also coals.

A small mine-quarry supplied Mansfields which was near this area until it closed in the 1950's.

Cattle feed

Another small industry in the parish was the manufacture of Worm Cakes. The works were situated in the village in a street called Wormcake Street. This ran from Brook Street towards what is now Kendrick's Close on Repton Road. It was started in the mid 1800's by a Mr Thomas Truelove Kendrick and was very successful. He became a wealthy man and on his death in 1872 left a small fortune as a Charity to the parish. The product was a cattle feed that also contained ingredients that cured worms in cattle.

Linen

The directories in the early 1800's show that a small cottage industry making linen existed, a Mr Toon was one of the owners.

Agriculture

The main industry throughout the existence of the parish was of course agriculture, which after the enclosures became more industrialised and productive, supplying meat, milk, cheese and cereals to the growing population of the area.

Milling

A staple industry throughout the villagers existence was the use of water power to drive corn mills, also a leather mill and a mill on the site of the Screw Mill drove bellows to smelt local ironstone at a furnace. The most well known mill of course was the Screw Mill built on the Furnace Site, this made iron screws from 1786 until about 1840.

Source: Mr Alan E Sherratt, Hartshorne - An Historical Collection, p 77-78

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