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Loom with a view: Lancashire’s old cotton mills – in pictures

Posted bywamdiness

  • Weaving shed, Queen Street Mill, Harle Syke, Burnley, January 1976

    Between 1975 and 1980, Daniel Meadows documented cotton mills in north-east Lancashire before they closed down. Lancashire looms were arranged in alleys, each weaver minding 10 looms. It was piecework. When a thread in the warp broke, which happened frequently, the loom stopped for the weaver to ‘take up an end’. To earn their money weavers needed to keep their looms running. The touring exhibition Shuttles, Steam and Soot is at FourCorners, London, until 29 March 2025

    Weaving shed, Queen Street Mill, Harle Syke, Burnley, January 1976 Lancashire looms were arranged in alleys, each weaver minding ten looms. It was piecework. When a thread in the warp broke, which happened frequently, the loom stopped for the weaver to ‘take up an end’. To earn their money weavers needed to keep their looms running.

  • Weaver, Queen Street Mill, Harle Syke, Burnley, Lancashire, January 1976

    To contend with the appalling noise or ‘clatter’, weavers communicated using lip-reading and gesture known as ‘mee-mawing’

    Weaver ‘mee-mawing’, Queen Street Mill, Harle Syke, Burnley, Lancashire, January 1976 To contend with the appalling noise (‘clatter’) weavers communcated using lip-reading and gesture (‘mee-mawing’).

  • James Nutter & Sons, Bancroft Shed, Barnoldswick, Lancashire, April 1976

    Loom-state (grey) cloth awaiting collection in the warehouse

    Loom-state (“grey”) cloth awaiting collection in the warehouse. April 1976

  • Melfar Manufacturing Company, Colne, October 1976

    Textile workers on a break. Note the changing fashions in footwear. Clogs under the bench, slippers on the feet

    Melfar Manufacturing Company, Colne. October 1975 extile workers on a break. Note the changing fashions in footwear. Clogs under the bench, slippers on the feet.

  • Shuttles in a vat of linseed oil, Halstead’s, Barrowford, February 1976

    To reduce the number of yarn breakages, weaving sheds were kept damp. In this atmosphere (and because of the habit of ‘shuttle kissing’, in which weft was threaded by sucking it through a tiny hole) disease, particularly tuberculosis, could spread quickly. Shuttle kissing wasn’t outlawed until the 1940s when shuttles were modified with a small slit cut in the casing so that weft could be threaded by hand

    Shuttles in a vat of linseed oil.,Halstead’s, Barrowford, February 1976 To reduce the number of yarn breakages, weaving sheds were kept damp. In this atmosphere and because of the habit of ‘shuttle kissing’ — weft was threaded by sucking it through a tiny hole — disease, particularly tuberculosis, could spread quickly. Shuttle kissing wasn’t outlawed until the 1940s when shuttles were modified with a small slit cut in the casing so that weft could be threaded by hand.

  • Jim Pollard’s drawing hook, James Nutter & Sons, Barnoldswick. April 1976

    A drawing hook belonging to ‘reacher-in’ Jim Pollard, the weaving manager. This hook was used to prepare a loom’s pattern-making equipment

    Jim Pollard’s drawing hook, James Nutter & Sons, Barnoldswick. April 1976 . April 1976 Drawing hook belonging to ‘reacher-in’ Jim Pollard, the weaving manager. This hook, used to prepare a loom’s pattern-making equipment, was older than his marriage.

  • Wakes holiday, Barnoldswick, Lancashire, July 1976

    The boiler house in preparation for maintenance. The engineer Stanley Graham is ‘blowing off’ and ‘blowing down’ the Lancashire boiler ready for fluing

    Barnoldswick, Lancashire. Wakes holiday, July 1976Boiler house in preparation for maintenance.Stanley Graham, engineer, ‘blowing off’ and ‘blowing down’ the Lancashire boiler (emptying it) ready for fluing.

  • Stanley Graham, mill engineer, in the engine house, January 1976

    This double acting cross compound condensing engine, installed in 1919, was made by William Roberts & Sons of Nelson

    Stanley Graham, mill engineer, in the engine house, January 1976Double acting cross compound condensing engine, made by William Roberts & Sons of Nelson, commissioned 1919. Photographed 1976 James Nutter & Sons, Bancroft Shed, Barnoldswick. January 1976 Stanley Graham, mill engineer, in the engine house. The double acting cross compound condensing engine, installed in 1919, was made by William Roberts & Sons of Nelson.

  • Stanley Graham, mill engineer, at the stop valve, April 1976

    This image was taken inside the engine house

    Stanley Graham, mill engineer, at the stop valve, April 1976The engine house with mill engineer

  • Boiler maintenance, Wakes holiday, July 1976

    Only Graham’s feet can be seen as he works on the fire bars in the Barnoldswick Lancashire boiler

    Boiler maintenance, Wakes holiday, July 1976Only the feet of engineer Stanley Graham can be seen as he works on the fire bars in the Lancashire boiler. Barnoldswick, Lancashire.

  • Charlie Sutton, boss of the Weldone fluing gang from Brierfield, taking a break, Wakes holiday, July 1976

    Three times a year Charlie and his ‘inside man’ Jack (right) would crawl into the cramped and awkwardly shaped passages around, beneath and behind the boiler to clean out flue dust. Also once a year, during the July holiday (‘wakes’), they entered the vessel itself to chip limescale from rivet heads

    SOOTCharlie Sutton, boss of the Weldone fluing gang from Brierfield taking a break, Wakes holiday, July 1976Three times a year Charlie and his ‘inside man’ Jack (right) would crawl into the cramped and awkwardly shaped passages around, beneath and behind the boiler to clean out fluedust. Also, once a year during the July holiday (‘wakes’), they entered the vessel itself to chip limescale from rivet heads.

  • Charlie Sutton of the Weldone gang from Brierfield, Easter holiday, April 1976

    Pictured here in the furnace tube, shovelling flue dust into the ash pit

    Charlie Sutton in the furnace tube, shovelling flue-dust into the ash-pit. Easter holiday, April 1976Charlie Sutton, of the Weldone gang from Brierfield,

  • Member of the Weldone gang from Brierfield taking off his rags, Barnoldswick, Lancashire. Easter holiday, April 1976

    This fluer is removing his wrapping of waste cloth (known as ‘fent’) at the end of his day’s work. Note the clogs on his feet: wooden soles didn’t melt like rubber ones

    Member of the Weldone gang from Brierfield taking off his rags (‘fent’). Barnoldswick, Lancashire. Easter holiday, April 1976 Fluer removing his wrapping of waste cloth (‘fent’) at the end of his day’s work. Note the clogs on his feet: wooden soles didn’t melt like rubber ones.

  • Members of the Weldone gang from Brierfield working in the sole flue beneath the Lancashire boiler, Easter holiday, April 1976

    Two men rake, shovel and brush to fill buckets with flue dust. Here the scene is lit to enable photography, but usually the men worked in just the faint beam of their head torches. They would keep up a constant banter to make sure the other hadn’t passed out. If conversation flagged, they would sing: ‘Isn’t it grand, boys ? To be bloody well dead / Let’s not have a sniffle / Let’s have a bloody good cry / And always remember: the longer you live / The sooner you bloody well die’

    Members of the Weldone gang from Brierfield working in the sole flue beneath the Lancashire boiler, raking fluedust, Easter holiday, April 1976 Under the belly of the boiler in fierce heat, the two ‘inside men’ rake, shovel and brush to fill buckets with flue dust. Here the scene is lit to enable photography. Normally the men worked in just the faint beam of their head torches. They would keep up a constant banter, each making certain the other hadn’t passed out. If conversation flagged, they would sing: “Isn’t it grand, boys To be bloody well dead. Let’s not have a sniffle, Let’s have a bloody good cry And always remember the longer you live The sooner you bloody well die.”

    • Source: www.theguardian.com