Portland Basin Museum displays many objects from Tameside’s industrial heritage. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Like most museums, we’re only able to display a small fraction of the collection.

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Consequently, we’re always looking for ways to bring objects out of storage and put them on display for the first time. When we research the history of these objects we often find out they have interesting and unusual stories to tell.
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A few years ago as part of the planning for a textile exhibition ‘Unravelled’ we unboxed some unusual print blocks in the museum stores. These are ‘lightning’ and ‘leaf’ designs from the textile company ABC Wax that used to be based in Hyde. They were donated to the museum along with a range of textile samples and other items after the site closed in 2009.

ABC specialised in wax printing on textiles and produced designs that were popular in the West African market during the twentieth century. Lightning was one of their most successful designs and they produced miles upon miles of it.
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ABC was founded in 1812 and originally called FW Ashton. Benjamin and Joseph Ashton built the huge Newton Bank works in Hyde to manufacture printed fabrics. A century later the wax printing technique was developed that made the company so successful. The firm was at the centre of the new printed textile market and formed part of the Calico Printers Association, a society of 46 textile printing companies.
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By the mid-1960s ABC Wax was exporting 20 million yards of fabric to West Africa every year. But by the late-20th century UK production became less viable. Production of printed fabrics stopped in 2007 and machinery was shipped to Africa and China.
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Colourful wax printed fabrics are part of the national culture of many West African countries. The patterns are worn by men and women as part of traditional costume as well as modern outfits.

In recent years there has been increasing awareness of the European origins of the patterns that many people assumed were African. Some see them as the uncomfortable legacy of colonialism, when European manufacturers exploited foreign markets for their own benefit. But there is now a movement in which Africans are reclaiming the designs and looking at ways to manufacture them themselves.
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So these print blocks salvaged from an old printworks in Hyde tell a fascinating story of fashion, culture, trade and empire. As well as spanning centuries, Tameside’s industrial heritage often spans continents.