Massey's Burnley Brewery Ltd

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Massey's Burnley Brewery Ltd, Bridge End Brewery, Westgate, Burnley, Lancashire.

Founded in 1750.

Registered in March 1889 to acquire the business of Lord Massey (who had died in 1877) with 118 public houses.

Acquired by Charrington United Breweries Ltd in 1966 with 312 houses.

Brewing ceased in 1974.

List of Massey's Burnley Brewery Ltd pubs in Burnley area

List of Massey's Burnley Brewery Ltd pubs outside the Burnley area

BRIDGE END BREWERY, HABERGHAM EAVES, BURNLEY, LANCASHIRE by Anthony Avis

This brewery had been established in the eighteenth century; it ceased to be used as such by the end of that century and in 1830 the extensive land and buildings were sold by Robert Holgate to Mr Lord Massey, of a well known Burnley family engaged in the cotton industry. He owned adjoining property, which was the Massey family estate, Hawk's House.

Mr Massey married Jane Stocks; Jane was the daughter of Michael Stocks, of Halifax, who had married one of Timothy Bentley's sisters, also called Jane. This was the connection with Timothy Bentley, and Lord Massey entered into a partnership with Timothy to reopen the defunct brewery. It was renovated and its first brew carried through on the 23rd December 1830. Timothy did not live to see the success of his efforts; he had died on the 31st March 1830. The Bentley family retained their interest in the venture until 1841, when they sold out to Lord Massey, who became sole proprietor. From Hawk's House he could see his brewery and it is said he visited it every day in his horse and trap. Eventually the brewery was moved to another site and the old premises incorporated into a mill.

Timothy Bentley made his will in February 1828; and in December of the same year he made a codicil to it, and Lord Massey was a witness to his signature, together with Michael Stocks and the latter's son.

Lord Massey died in 1877 and the brewery passed into the ownership of his nephew, John Massey; John had married, in 1845, Jane Hirst, of Thornton, near Bradford. The Hirst family owned a brewery there; the previous year Timothy's grandson, Robert John Bentley, had married her sister. One of Jane's brothers, Thomas Hirst, married Mary Anne Massey, a daughter of Jane Massey, and came to live in Burnley, where he had a business as a self employed brewer's agent or wholesaler. Massey family members were closely involved in public affairs in Burnley throughout the nineteenth century and the last of the line, Edward Stocks Massey, left a very considerable legacy to the council when he died.

Practical control of Massey's Brewery passed from the Massey family on it being made into a limited liability company. By the 1960s its chairman was Alfred Hall-Davis, a local MP; in 1966 its shares were acquired by Charrington United Breweries and it closed in 1975, and that terminated the long association of the Massey name in Burnley.

An assortment of images of the brewery