William Stones Sheffield Brewer

[tozzin]

I wrote this article on the  12/2/2017 so things may have changed since then but Williams home is still being used as offices.

The tall chimney was part of Williams heating  system in his greenhouse where he grew different fruits including Pineapples, the fireplace still sits at the base of the chimney,  the bricks were in his garden too.

 

Today’s article concerns the Sheffield Brewer, William Stones, I had a bit of a problem finding Williams house, it was named Ash Grove on Ashgrove but I couldn’t find Ashgrove on any street guide or even on Google Earth, it finally dawned on me that I’d been to his house just last week but didn’t realise, its part of the BHP Chartered Accountants complex that was last weeks subject, George Spencer Waterfall, the small street of Ashgrove doesn’t have Name plate but it does have a stone with Ashgrove hand painted on it. Right, the clue picture shows the very ornate greenhouse chimney that William had built, he grew Peaches here besides flowers and vegetables, the greenhouse was built partly with bricks from the Brickworks of Joseph Cliff & Sons in Wortley, Leeds, you can still see these  bricks today with Cliff impressed on them.
William Stones was born in Sheffield on 29 December 1826. His parents were Eliza and Joseph, both cabinet case makers. By 1870 William was living in Sheffield's Lowfield area. William purchased a large terraced house in 1883, although he had been renting the property for several years prior to this. Stones died aged 68 on 14 November 1894, having devoted his whole life to brewing. He never married, and was one of the richest men in Sheffield, leaving over £150,000 in his will, £15,403,641 in today’s money, He left his wealth to his sister, friends and various charitable concerns.  William is said to have earned his success through clever marketing and a consistently good product. His Mother and Father had a business on Hartshead in 1825, making and selling the following goods, razor cases and strops, gentlemen and ladies' dressing cases, ladies' work boxes, portable writing desks, mahogany and oak table knife cases, pocket books, needle, knife, scissor, Spectacle and surgeons instrument cases, pattern cards and pouches for all sorts of cutlery.
In 1847, Joseph Watts of Dewsbury and William Stones of  began brewing together at the Cannon Brewery in Sheffield's Shalesmoor district near Kelham Island. The name may have come from the nearby foundry that cast gun barrels. In 1852 they acquired their first tied house, the Kelham Tavern. Watts died in May 1854 aged 46, and two years later Stones purchased his share of the business from his former partner's brother. By 1861 the brewery employed 23 men and two boys. In 1868, Stones took over the lease of the Shepherd, Green & Hatfield brewery in the Neepsend district, which had been founded as the Neepsend Brewery in 1838. He renamed it the Cannon Brewery after his original premises. In 1880 Stones built two malthouses in Worksop. When William died in 1894, and he left the brewery to his cashier, James Haynes, and Richard Wigfull, a corn miller, as tenants in common. William Stones became a limited company in 1895 with £275,000 of capital £28,647,072 in today’s money and had by this time grown to become one of the largest businesses in Sheffield, with a tied estate of 84 pubs primarily in its home city and Chesterfield. Distribution was extended to Huddersfield in 1896. William didn’t live to see the Bitter that carried his name and was loved by thousands of Sheffield drinkers, Stones Bitter was brewed at the Cannon Brewery from 1948 and was popular with Sheffield's steel workers. It was originally available across the south of Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, with distribution extended to the rest of the north of England in 1977, and nationwide from 1979, accompanied by a considerable marketing push. Increasing demand saw it also brewed at other Bass breweries from the 1970s onwards. The beer's popularity reached its apex in 1992 when it was the country's highest selling bitter, selling over a million barrels. The beer has been lauded in certain quarters as "one of Sheffield's most famous exports". A famous major television campaign ran nationally from 1983 until 1991 with the tagline "Wherever you may wander there's no taste like Stones" and starred Tony Barton and Michael Angelis. By 1987 it had become the UK's longest running bitter campaign of all time. Stones also sponsored the Rugby Football League Championship from 1986 to 1995 and its successor the Rugby Super League from 1996–7.After the Cannon's closure production was continued elsewhere. Keg Stones Bitter is brewed by Molson Coors at their brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, and the canned product at their Burton upon Trent brewery. Many a wife still curse the “Jungle Juice” as the bitter was fondly called, when their loving husbands came home worse for wear trying to sing like Mario Lanza, happy days. My two blunt blade pals, Mr Dawson and Mr Sorsby, did their best to drink Sheffield dry but never achieved success, Lovely Boys!. The company was taken over by Bass in 1968. In 2000, Bass sold its brewing operations to the Belgian brewer Interbrew who were ordered by the Competition Commission to sell the Stones brand. In 2002, the brand was purchased by the American Coors Brewing Company, who merged to become Molson Coors in 2005. Stones is still a name that’s synonymous with great beer, but today the taste has possible lost the spark that the great Sheffield workers loved and now its not easy to find in the pubs in town which are now full of expensive, impossible to pronounce, foreign beers, Im afraid the youth of today believe all the advertising hype. Stones, Tetley and Smiths never relied on silly adverts, their product adverts were just “Drink Beer" so we did.

[Heartshome]

Hi tozzin. Brill write-up.

I did a study on the family of the BHP Accountants house, which is 2 RUTLAND PARK ROAD. Didn't realise they had                  extended into the next door ASHGROVE. Often wondered what 'Greenhouse' those bricks were from! Thanks for that. 

Need to mention that anyone looking up ASHGROVE, will find some 'confusing information'!

According to Sheffield listed buildings - with a photo - Ashgrove, was at 60 Westbourne Road, built 1871,                                    and from 1973 was the home of RADIO SHEFFIELD, now a School.

Other write-ups say same!

Maybe you can sort out what has happened re:- Names & Addresses. Ok Heartshome

[tozzin]

Just opposite Mr Stones home is a stonewall and among the stones laid flat is one stood on its end and on it is the name Ash Grove.

[Edmund]

I've sent an amendment request to Historic England to correct it - 60 Westbourne Road is Ashdell Grove (and is also no longer Radio Sheffield).

[Heartshome]

42 minutes ago, Edmund said:

I've sent an amendment request to Historic England to correct it - 60 Westbourne Road is Ashdell Grove (and is also no longer Radio Sheffield).

GOOD ON YOU Edmund!👍