Program 10: Making the perfect black

Prestwich reflections on location

Dennis tells us about working at the dyeworks in Prestwich Clough during the last few weeks of its operation in the 1950s. He tells us how the man in the bowler hat was devastated by its closure. Having been a major contributor to the economy of Prestwich, it really marks the demise of the industrial revolution in the North-West. In particular, he tells us about working at the stenter machine. He explains how the word ‘tenterhooks’originates from the dyeing industry. Fabrics were once dried in the open fields (tenter fields) on a tenter frame. His nephew, John (whose mother also worked at the dyeworks), tells a story about a worker at the Prestwich dyeworks that ‘temporarily’ discovered the recipe for the perfect black dye.