Aerial view of the Ferodo factory at Chapel-en-le-Frith

Ferodo was founded in 1897, when Herbert Frood began his experiments into braking materials in a hut in the garden of his house in Coombs near Chapel-en-le-Frith. His patent for the improvement of brake blocks was filed in October 1900 and production began at Green Street, Gorton the following year. An increase in trade, largely resulting from a change in sales tactics - approaching the consumer rather than the manufacturer - led to Frood renting Sovereign and Howden Mills in Chapel-en-le-Frith in 1902.

Ferodo was the first company to use asbestos for brake linings. Experiments in the use of asbestos began in the first decade of the twentieth century and by the outbreak of war in 1914 production of clutch linings and stair treads had started. The use of asbestos in Ferodo Ltd (as the Herbert Frood Company became in 1920) friction products led to the company joining the Turner and Newall Organisation in 1926.