Neave states that Flaxdressers were brought from Belfast and other centres of the flax industry and It flourished until in 1856 a serious fire destroyed the flax stacks which stood between the station and the cemetery:

Neave quotes an un-referenced newspaper source:

"The fire commenced about midnight on Wednesday the 5th February 1856 and raged fearfully until about 12 o'clock noon the following day, but was not extinguished until the Friday following. The number of stacks consumed being ten and a half and their measurement being 12 yards long 6 wide and 12 high and containing from 70 to 80 tons each stack, and each stack valued at £800 and the whole insured for £8,000. The fire engines were in attendance from York, but only £40 worth of flax wax saved by the exertions of those who witnessed the fire. Reports slated that the fire was seen at York, Normanton, Doncaster and Sheffield and anyone could see the time by their watches a distance of seven or eight miles away."

Neave goes on to relate that there was apparently some mismanagement in the affairs of the flax factory, the fire only adding to its troubles and though the mill was still in existence in 1859 it was closed soon afterwards. The site was sold to Thomas Grant and the great factory chimney was pulled down.

The culprits John Spencer and Mary Ann Davison were found and prosecuted and transported to Australia for the crime. It seems it was started by a drunk Mary Ann Davison who had sat down by the stacks to smoke her pipe and had accidently set them on fire.

From the Leeds Mercury, December 13, 1856