William Silcock and Sons

Dates: 1835 until after 1954

Location: Church Street, Warrington

Specialities: colliery screens, conveyor belts, colliery shakers, twilled wire cloth (used in preparing grain), heavy woven rice cloth, wire letter baskets, wire waste paper baskets, machinery guards, window guards

Founded in 1835 by William Silcock, a former travelling salesman for Greenings, Silcocks seems to have specialised in woven wire screens, sieves (industrial and agricultural) etc. It possibly became a subsidiary of Rylands or Lockers as (like both these companies) it was based in Church Street.

This article was written for the Wire Works Project 2020-2021, a National Lottery Heritage funded project aiming to highlight and celebrate the legacy left by the wire industry, which dominated Warrington’s employment structure for over 170 years, putting the town at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution.