Volcrepe Ltd was a large former rubber producing factory in Glossop, Derbyshire. Formed in 1931 and based in the 200-years old Woods Mill, it began manufacturing rubber soles for footwear. Later on, it began producing specialist equipment to the Ministry of Defence including gas masks for horses and the Home Guard as well as radio equipment as part of the war effort between 1939-1945. In the 1950s the company was still producing footwear soling, but with the market becoming more and more competitive it started concentrating its efforts into cellular rubbers which it had earlier pioneered. It went on to produce produced rubbers for the aviation industry, oil, automobile, domestic and communications industries. Woods Mill was at the eastern end of what was originally the larger Howard town Mill complex built by John Wood in the 19th Century. In its day it was one of the largest integrated cotton mills in England. Volcrepe was split over in two sections with the aptly named Milltown road dividing it. The only connecting point was a small walkway over Mill Street emblazoned with the company’s logo. To the east of Milltown were the extensive single storey drying shed. The factory closed down in 2002 when Volcrepe merged with another company, St Albans Rubber and has been empty. In October 2015 High Peak Borough Council were split in a decision of five votes to five as to whether the site should be demolished and redeveloped. However, the councillor with the deciding vote decreed the mill should in fact be demolished. Now all of the site to the west of Milltown has gone leaving a smaller three-storey mill to east of Milltown and some of the perimeter buildings, including former weaving sheds and administrative buildings, around the former drying sheds still standing.
