This house which stands on Mason Avenue, has associations with two men who in widely different eras and in widely different ways had a significant impact on the economy of the town.

​

John Broom, whose name can also be found elsewhere among this collection of historic plaques, is credited with having brought Brussels or Wilton carpet weaving techniques to Kidderminster in the mid eighteen century and helped establish the reputation of the town as a place where carpets of the finest quality were produced. The carpets he made differed from the flat Kidderminster carpets already in production in that they were manufactured with a pile which was greatly appreciated by customers.

​

Brussels carpets have a looped pile – the yarn is woven in such a way as to produce a loop raising the yarn above the base of the carpet; Wilton carpets have a cut pile which was even more highly coveted.

​

John Broom lived here for many years. (Later generations of the family added an ‘e’ to their surname.

​

(The Broom family involvement with carpet manufacture did not end with this John Broom. The next two generations (John Broom II and John Broom III also succeeded in the industry though the third John Broom – celebrated for his wealth and his extravagant use of it - ended as a bankrupt in 1831)

​

Clement Dalley was a corn and seed merchant and as such had an intimate knowledge of soil conditions in the locality. From the later years of the nineteenth century there was a general concern in the town about its great dependence in the carpet industry particularly as carpets are a product where sales are particularly vulnerable to the ups and downs of the wider economy.

​

Dalley was convinced that the generally sandy soil in the area would support sugar beet growth and campaigned for this which he hoped would provide a very different sort of employment in the district. In the years immediately after the First World War there was a desire to reduce Britain’s dependence on imported sugar to slake the national sweet tooth and Dalley’s long proclaimed arguments were finally accepted. A sugar processing plant opened in 1925 and continued in operation until the end of the century. The extensive site it sat on has since been redeveloped for a range of uses and one of its street is named after Clement Dalley.

​

For information of some of the towns most celebrated people see Notable Local People