Industry

WATER POWER IN LUDDENDEN DEAN

INTRODUCTION REQUIRED HERE

Corn Mills

The first recorded use of a water wheel in Luddenden Dean was in 1274 in the Wakefield Manorial Rolls for the Warley Soke Cornmill.
The site of the Cornmill moved upstream sometime before 1599, The Saxton Map shows the position of the original mill (on the river and roughly level with Lane House) and also the new Queens Mill which is was still producing flour and oatmeal until the 1890's. You can find more information on The Cornmill here

Fulling Mills

The other early use for waterpower in the valley would have been for fulling and the first record for a fulling mill in the valley is for Dean Mill in 1440. This later converted to a paper mill.

Fulling is a process used to remove oil and impurities from a newly woven fabric. It also shrank the fabric and helps the fibres to felt together to make a tighter, warmer and more water-resistant cloth. The fulling process was originally done by placing the cloth is a tub of water and for people to ‘walk’ on it (not an unsimilar technique to pressing grapes). Urine was often used to aid the fulling process, later Fuller’s Earth (Aluminium Silicate) was used to absorb the oils in the woollen cloth. In Scotland the process was known as ‘Waukin’, sometimes the process was done on a wetted board or table top with a group of women sat around the table. They would arrange the length of cloth around the table and would each use their hands to ’wauk’ the cloth, twisting and turning it as they sang a ‘waukin’ song to keep their actions in unison. In a fulling mills, the power of the water wheel was used to lift and drop large wooden mallets into wooden vat containing the cloth. Both the mallets and the vats had rounded edges so as not to damage the cloth.

Paper Mills

Paper mills use similar hammers to a fulling mill to pulp cotton rags which, once dispersed in water, would be used to make sheets of paper on a wire screen.

Cotton makes a much better, longer lasting paper than wood pulp paper (which was developed in the 1840's). Wood pulp paper tends to deteriorate and yellow on ageing. For this reason legal documents and other documents that need a long life are still printed on Cotton based paper.

As some of the early mills in the valley originally made cotton cloth, it was an obvious place to also site a paper mill as there was a local source of cotton scraps.

Textile Mills

Textile mills gradually migrated into the valley from the East of the county because of the abundance of water to power the millwheels. The Lords of the Manor of Wakefield levied a relatively small tax on the mills compared to the mills in the areas where the wool was being produced (The Vale of York for example), so low taxes and plenty of water made this area the hub for the textile industry. However the wool farmed in the area was too course, so all the wool was 'imported' mainly from Lincolnshire and Leicestershire.

Later, some of the new textile mills in the valley wove cotton but these ended up converting to Wool. Lancashire becoming the dominant producer of Cotton mainly because of it's closeness to the ports of Liverpool and Manchester.

Go here for an an overview of mills as a source of power.

THE TEXTILE MILLS

WATER POWERED MILLS

In order, starting at the highest.
Most were later converted to Steam.

Peel House Mill

STEAM POWERED MILLS

Oats Royd Mill

Established in 1847 by John Murgatroyd

The mill was closed in 1982

THE PAPER MILL

DEAN MILL Booth, demolished in 1921?

THE CORN MILLS

Here is a link to The Cornmill

FACTORIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Lindley's

Lindley's was based in the village from 1899 when they occupied Upper Mill, formerly a Corn Mill. They renamed these buildings The Beauvoir Works. The buildings were demolished in 1975 Lindley's expanded and took over Lower Mill and the land next to it now occupied by Blue Bell Walk. They continued manufacturing nuts and bolts and Industrial Fastenings in the village until the mid-1970's.

Lindley's Nut and Bolt works