It was a good day for a visit to the East Lancashire Railway and as the Helmshore Mills Textile Museum is only about a mile off the route a visit was made on the way home.
For info the route is to leave the M65 at Junction 5 and take the Grane Road over the hills, it’s nice ride although has average speed cameras. If you’re going to Helmshore Mill it’s just south of Grane Road along Holcombe Road in Helmshore. I’ve never heard of it either.
Helmshore Mill is part of Lancashire County Council Museums. It’s quite a large place and has a decent car park and a cafe.
There are working machines taking you right through the process from cotton balls to carding, spinning, fabric. There is also a history of the process and development of machines. Also on the social changes from the forced trade and shipment of people for the growth and harvesting of cotton to the movement of people from agriculture to industry and growth of mill towns.
The date is the 13th April 2024
The machines have a lot of strange names. Amazing to think these machines were all made in Lancashire for hundreds of mills and exported, along with the fabrics. Areas such as Oldham, not too far from here, had newer much bigger mills. This mill is quite early and was a woollen mill, built between 1789 and 1820.
Below is the spinning exhibition in a separate building to the mill.
Below is Arkwright’s Water Frame for spinning. There must be 60 spools on each frame. That’s productivity. Arkwright was born in Preston but driven out after he invented this machine. There’s more about that in our website, Link here
Below is the disused rail link bridge. Not sure what those small bridgelike structures are, they might be supports for the wall.
