From Jewel in the Crown to Toxic Ruin: The Deadly Legacy of Rochdale's Asbestos Giant

For decades, it was the jewel in Rochdale's crown—an industrial colossus whose reach spanned the globe. Today, what remains of the old Turner Brothers site is a haunting testament to a legacy both celebrated and condemned.

An eerie collection of buildings, abandoned for decades, crumbles on the more than 70-acre site beside the River Spodden. Off Spod Road, the once-mighty factory lies in ruin, a skeletal reminder of the thousands it once employed on the edge of Rochdale town centre.

Manufacturing ceased in the 1990s, but the story of the world's largest asbestos factory is woven deep into the town's fabric. Generations of Rochdale families passed through its gates, feeling privileged to work for what was once the town's biggest employer. They took immense pride in the company's success, tragically unaware of the liability that was building up.

By a cruel irony, the miracle, life-saving material they helped produce was later revealed to be an indiscriminate killer.


From Humble Beginnings to Global Power

When John, Samuel and Robert Turner formed Turner Brothers in 1871, their business had nothing to do with asbestos. Housed in a section of their father's cotton mill, they manufactured packings from cotton cloth. In those early years, orders were scarce, with just five employees on the books—a stark contrast to the global prominence that lay ahead.

The company's fortunes changed forever in 1879. A forest fire in Quebec, Canada, had uncovered vast deposits of a strange, fibrous mineral. When the first consignment of this raw asbestos arrived in Britain, Turner's landed a contract to produce goods from it. They immediately began buying machinery to spin asbestos yarn and weave it into cloth.

The 20th century saw explosive growth. Between 1900 and 1910, the premises expanded to accommodate new products like proofing cloths and compressed asbestos fibre jointing. The company stepped onto the world stage in 1907, registering a Canadian selling agency, and later opened an asbestos cement plant in Trafford Park. Demand during the First World War spurred further modernisation, with a private railway siding installed to handle the sheer volume of materials. The company’s reach extended to Southern Rhodesia, where it acquired its own asbestos mining properties.

In 1920, a merger with three other firms created the industrial giant Turner and Newall Ltd. With major policy decisions made at the group headquarters in Rochdale, the factory became one of the biggest of its kind in the world.


The First Warnings Ignored

Amidst this relentless expansion, a dark shadow fell. In 1924, former employee Nellie Kershaw died of what was described as, "asbestos poisoning"—the first recorded fatality of its kind in the country.

Born in 1891, Nellie had worked at Turner Brothers since 1917, spinning raw asbestos fibre into yarn. After years of symptoms, she was certified unfit to work in 1922. When she sought sickness benefits, the company refused, arguing that asbestos-related illness was not a recognised occupational disease. The firm denied any involvement in her death. Nellie died on March 14, 1924, aged just 33, and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Her tragedy was widely reported, even appearing in the British Medical Journal. Yet, the warnings went unheeded. The asbestos industry, with Turner Brothers at its helm, continued to flourish. In 1936, another former Turner's employee, William Pennington, became the first recorded victim of mesothelioma, the aggressive lung cancer exclusively caused by asbestos exposure.


A Post-War Boom and a Community's Pride

The Second World War and the subsequent decades marked the peak of Turner's power. The 1930s had seen a surge in demand for asbestos in building materials and car parts. After the war, growth was staggering. A new factory opened in Hindley Green to handle belting manufacture, leaving Rochdale to focus solely on asbestos products.

By the 1950s, the Rochdale site was a community in its own right. The workforce swelled to 3,000, and employees enjoyed their own social club, societies, and football teams. New factories were built across the globe as the firm's seemingly unstoppable progress continued into the 1960s, its products used in everything from protective clothing to hovercrafts.

By 1970, the company was worth £65 million, producing more than two million yards of asbestos cloth and five million miles of asbestos yarn annually. Even as the number of asbestos-related deaths began to rise noticeably through the 1970s, orders from around the world continued to pour in.


The Inevitable Fall

After decades of success, the empire began to crumble. From 1980 onwards, the asbestos market declined dramatically as public awareness of its dangers grew. Simultaneously, claims for compensation from victims of asbestos-related diseases began to mount. Under this immense pressure, Turner's began to suffer. Parts of the massive Spotland site were shut down, and jobs were lost.

In 1998, a long chapter of Rochdale's industrial history closed when the American firm Federal Mogul bought the group. But the toxic legacy could not be outrun. Drowning in compensation claims, Federal Mogul itself entered administration in 2001.

Demolition of the once-proud complex began. The weaving and asbestos-producing areas were razed in 2001, followed by the office block in 2004.


A Lingering Contamination

The site's controversy did not end with its closure. In 2004, plans to build 600 homes on the land sparked a furious campaign from local protesters, who feared widespread contamination. The plans were eventually scrapped, and a fire ravaged a section of the remaining buildings in 2014, leaving the site to decay further.

Now, after years of silence, there are signs of movement. In recent weeks, contractors have been seen on the site, brought in by current owners Spodden Park Ltd to deal with, "invasive plant species". This activity has sparked renewed concern among nearby residents, who fear that disturbing the land could pose a risk to health and safety.

In a move to engage with the community, the new owners have launched a website, promising to keep residents informed about future plans. It is the first meaningful step towards redevelopment since previous owners took control in 2021 with a promise to decontaminate the land, only to go into liquidation last year.

For Rochdale, the future of the Turner Brothers site remains a source of deep anxiety. The jewel in its crown has long since lost its lustre, leaving behind a scarred landscape and a painful, lingering legacy that the town is still learning to live with.