Wolf Safety Lamps

The factory has been on Saxon Road since 1934.

This place always sticks out to me as I walk the cycle path behind Chesterfield Rd and then along Saxon Road. The 'River Sheaf walk' also runs along this section of my route to work. At one of the junctions of the walk I noticed a plaque which mentioned Wolf Safety Lamps (see thumbnail) and so had a little dig about them.

The Wolf website outlines their existence on the Saxon Road site.

The Wolf Safety Lamp Company was established in Leeds in the 1880's as a distributor for a German mining lamp manufacturer. In 1913 the Leeds company was bought and moved to South Yorkshire where it began to develop safety lamps more suited to British methods and regulations of mining and quarrying.

The company was incorporated in 1916 and in 1934 moved to the larger Saxon Road Works, where it is still sited today. Throughout the following decade many new developments were carried out in order to meet new safety regulations and demands for better lighting, the most significant was the development and the introduction of compressed air operated lamps. These are still manufactured today, though much improved due to modern light source and control technology.

The factory is normally closed when I walk past (morning and evening) and so I've never seen any goings on, although this morning I did catch a glimpse inside and it seems massive, a real 'tardis'.