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Title: Jack Bridge Mill, in the Colden Valley - ALC00787
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Title
Jack Bridge Mill, in the Colden Valley - ALC00787
Description
Jean Forrest Recalls
Jack Bridge Mill was built in 1861 as a steam powered spinning mill with twin Lancashire boilers and a beam engine, all buildings being on one level. In 1862 a large weaving shed was added, at that time the largest in the valley with perhaps 120 small Lancashire looms.
On the 14th June 1884 at about 6.30am a fire started in the fourth room, caused by friction on one of the mule spinning frames, and by 11am it was burned to the floor. There were hundreds of spectators. The spinning section burned down in 1895 and was rebuilt a few years later. At some stage all spinning finished and weaving replaced it and a new shed was built at a higher level. This and the old spinning shed housed larger looms in sets of four instead of six, as in the old shed.
At around 1920 a Co-operative was formed to keep the mill running and to keep local families in work. A Mr Jackson was manager and Mr William Greenwood from Slack Bottom was under manager. He was nicknamed Black Billy because he had black hair. He was a local preacher and his church was High Gate Methodist Church. Rumour has it that children’s’ money boxes were emptied to buy shares in the mill to keep it going. Mr James Stansfield was a director. He was nicknamed Jim-o-Bobs. He lived in Blackshaw Head, then later in Jack Bridge. Mr Jackson lived in the mill house. There were 240 looms in 1932.
By around 1948 the company was in decline and it was bought out by a Mr Kippax (thought to be from Burnley). He introduced Bastard weaving, a process by which thread was removed from parts of the cloth where it was unlikely to be tested, thus making it cheaper to produce. By keeping prices the same he was able to increase profits.
All the cloth woven at the mill was grey cloth, which needed dying, bleaching or printing. When Mr Kippax took over a lot of the looms were empty.
The mill was lit by gas, each light being lit by the tackler in charge of that set of looms. At that time there were two tacklers with full sets of looms and a shed manager, Mr Hargreaves, with a small set. Each night the shed manager came to the door of the shed to collect the waste weft and each weaver brought their weft to him. Woe betide you if you had wasted a lot of weft. There were loom sweepers at this time, but on Saturday morning before you went home you had to clean out your shuttle boxes. When they were cleaned you stopped your looms and stood by them until the buzzer went for home time. I thought this a waste off good time so I went out and left them, only to be met in the mill yard by Mr Kippax who informed me the buzzer hadn’t gone, and it was not home time!
Mr Kippax sold out to Mr Moss in around 1948, just after the war when cloth was in short supply. Mr Moss introduced rayon, weaving artificial silks for dresses and curtains, etc, which were then printed or dyed, sometimes both. He introduced second hand, wider looms in the big shed, winding frames and a canteen with a cook and assistant. The cloth was finished in Manchester at another works belonging to Mr Moss.
The mill was brought back to full production, with displaced people from the continent helping to staff the shed. Even part of the office, the old manager’s house, was made into accommodation for them. The company was instrumental in getting the local council to build a small housing estate at Colden for people coming out of Lancashire to work in the mill.
Weaving finished in 1955 when trade was not so good. A few workers were transferred to Workington, where they had a small factory. The rest were made redundant. A small engineering firm took over, and then Moderna used it for storage. Shortly afterwards there was a fire.
Jack Bridge Mill was built in 1861 as a steam powered spinning mill with twin Lancashire boilers and a beam engine, all buildings being on one level. In 1862 a large weaving shed was added, at that time the largest in the valley with perhaps 120 small Lancashire looms.
On the 14th June 1884 at about 6.30am a fire started in the fourth room, caused by friction on one of the mule spinning frames, and by 11am it was burned to the floor. There were hundreds of spectators. The spinning section burned down in 1895 and was rebuilt a few years later. At some stage all spinning finished and weaving replaced it and a new shed was built at a higher level. This and the old spinning shed housed larger looms in sets of four instead of six, as in the old shed.
At around 1920 a Co-operative was formed to keep the mill running and to keep local families in work. A Mr Jackson was manager and Mr William Greenwood from Slack Bottom was under manager. He was nicknamed Black Billy because he had black hair. He was a local preacher and his church was High Gate Methodist Church. Rumour has it that children’s’ money boxes were emptied to buy shares in the mill to keep it going. Mr James Stansfield was a director. He was nicknamed Jim-o-Bobs. He lived in Blackshaw Head, then later in Jack Bridge. Mr Jackson lived in the mill house. There were 240 looms in 1932.
By around 1948 the company was in decline and it was bought out by a Mr Kippax (thought to be from Burnley). He introduced Bastard weaving, a process by which thread was removed from parts of the cloth where it was unlikely to be tested, thus making it cheaper to produce. By keeping prices the same he was able to increase profits.
All the cloth woven at the mill was grey cloth, which needed dying, bleaching or printing. When Mr Kippax took over a lot of the looms were empty.
The mill was lit by gas, each light being lit by the tackler in charge of that set of looms. At that time there were two tacklers with full sets of looms and a shed manager, Mr Hargreaves, with a small set. Each night the shed manager came to the door of the shed to collect the waste weft and each weaver brought their weft to him. Woe betide you if you had wasted a lot of weft. There were loom sweepers at this time, but on Saturday morning before you went home you had to clean out your shuttle boxes. When they were cleaned you stopped your looms and stood by them until the buzzer went for home time. I thought this a waste off good time so I went out and left them, only to be met in the mill yard by Mr Kippax who informed me the buzzer hadn’t gone, and it was not home time!
Mr Kippax sold out to Mr Moss in around 1948, just after the war when cloth was in short supply. Mr Moss introduced rayon, weaving artificial silks for dresses and curtains, etc, which were then printed or dyed, sometimes both. He introduced second hand, wider looms in the big shed, winding frames and a canteen with a cook and assistant. The cloth was finished in Manchester at another works belonging to Mr Moss.
The mill was brought back to full production, with displaced people from the continent helping to staff the shed. Even part of the office, the old manager’s house, was made into accommodation for them. The company was instrumental in getting the local council to build a small housing estate at Colden for people coming out of Lancashire to work in the mill.
Weaving finished in 1955 when trade was not so good. A few workers were transferred to Workington, where they had a small factory. The rest were made redundant. A small engineering firm took over, and then Moderna used it for storage. Shortly afterwards there was a fire.
Source
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Date
1940s
Rights
PHDA - Alice Longstaff Collection
Relation
Pennine Horizons Digital Archive
Identifier
ALC00787.tif
Collection
Citation
“Jack Bridge Mill, in the Colden Valley - ALC00787,” Pennine Horizons Digital Archive, accessed April 16, 2024, https://penninehorizons.org/items/show/13497.
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