Report - Leri Woollen Mills (Talybont, Wales, Nov, 2019)

[urbanchemist]

After checking out some corn mills near Dolgellau I headed down to Talybont for the afternoon to have a look at the famous woollen mills - you know, Leri and Ceulan.

Now every travelling photomuppet and his sheep has been round ‘Leri’ as the one with the colourful bobbins is usually called.

What I hadn’t realised, because I hadn’t done any research, was that there are several derelict mills in this region of the Leri river.

So I had a look round all of them, and sorted out what I had actually seen later. Here’s a 1965 map:

Building A is what features in most of the 18 reports on here, but the other upstream buildings B - E have appeared, however briefly, in the reports listed below.

Yorrick’s and Mr Beady’s efforts are particularly interesting since they feature some old photos provided by the owner.

There were also two more more textile mills on the Leri, downstream and upstream of this lot, now converted to housing.

A and B, albino-jay https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/leri-celuen-tweed-mill-tal-y-bont-feb17.107821/
C, D and E, moose https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/leri-mill.99176/
C and E, Yorrick https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/leri-top-mill-tal-y-bont-january-2014.87148/
A and E, JST https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/leri-lerry-tweed-mills-tal-y-bont-wales-december-2013.86321/
A and C, Mr Beady https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/leri-mill-cwm-mill-wales-august-2013.84271/

History. All the buildings are listed, so see the links below if you’re interested in the details.

Essentially, although some of the buildings have earlier origins, they were C19 flannel mills converted to wool processing.

Some of them have been other things (museum, craft shop, cider production) but have been unused since the early 1980s. All are now pretty derelict.

A https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/300018896-cwm-factory-leri-mills-ceulanamaesmawr#.XdBhXjL7TnQ
B https://britishlistedbuildings.co.u...ctory-leri-mills-ceulanamaesmawr#.XdBlnDL7TnQ
C https://britishlistedbuildings.co.u...ctory-leri-mills-ceulanamaesmawr#.XdBkYjL7TnQ
D https://britishlistedbuildings.co.u...ctory-leri-mills-ceulanamaesmawr#.XdBk_DL7TnQ
E. https://britishlistedbuildings.co.u...ctory-leri-mills-ceulanamaesmawr#.XdBiszL7TnQ

Pictures are a mixture of camera and phone for close up.
I don’t really do loving background-out-of-focus closeups of tat - see other people’s reports for that sort of thing.


A. (Cwm factory) A tree has fallen on one end of this within the last couple of years, but it’s otherwise mostly unchanged from previous reports.

Undershot wheel with the small gear connected to a wheel on the the inside (right)…

…which had a belt up to the lineshaft at the back of this picture.

Speed was controlled by the lever on the left adjusting the sluice (wooden thing) in front of the wheel.

At some stage water-power was replaced by diesel (a Petter).

General view down the shed showing looms and a warp winder - the curved moveable wooden frame in the foreground which contained spools feeding thread to the large cylindrical wooden thing about half way down.

Two views of the powerloom on the right.

Bradford and Bingley.

Burnley and bobbins.

Two hand-powered looms at the far end.

B. This was fairly obviously the dyeing shed with cauldrons….

…and a spin dryer, called a ‘wuzzer’ or a ‘hydro-extractor’.

With a bit of imagination you can just about decipher the makers plate as

MANLOVE ALLIOT
ENGINEERS
NOTTINGHAM

Ovens for boiling up stuff - many dyes involved a heating stage.

C. This one has openings at ground level suggesting it may have been water-powered at one stage.

Indeed there’s an axle sticking through the wall to the left of the nearest opening attached to a drum just about visible through a hole in the floor (sorry about poor quality phone pics).

Inside it’s a bit of a mess - the sign suggests this building may have been the museum. Half of the first floor has collapsed…

…leaving some bits of machinery and lineshafting upstairs.

More of the ground floor, which has the remains of a loom at the far end.

 

[urbanchemist]

continued.

View down between C (left) and D (right) with E at the far end.

There’s an overgrown channel, not obvious from the photo, which runs between the buildings - this serves as a drain for the dyeing shed to the south and a leat for E.

D. Downstairs it’s just someone’s shed/workshop, previously used to repair miner’s lamps, with a few bits of mill lying around. I didn’t look upstairs as the entrance is in front of some housing.

E. This has an undershot wheel with the leat coming from the east, having previously made a sharp right turn after tunnelling under the building from the far (north) side.

Approaching down the leat from the north…

…some of the water was diverted to the right to a water turbine, powering some sort of fridge/heat exchanger sitting on top of it, with coils in the water.

Sluice controlling water flow to the turbine, and outlet to the river.

Inside, the wheel turned the large cog in the basement…

…powering two carding machines on the ground floor.

Again the first floor, which used to have more weaving equipment, has partially fallen in.

I wasn’t really intending to spend so long on the Leri and ran out of time to look at the one on the Ceulan.

But given that these old mills are all listed, there’s plenty of time - the buildings will probably sit there until they eventually collapse completely.

 

[Shaun]

Nice stuff, did you see the cottage just off factory Road, Its right next to Mill D

 

[mookster]

Wonderful photos, these are places I still haven't managed to get to and I can't for the life of me think why.

 

[Exploring with Andy]

What a lovely selection. Good to see these all together

 

[dweeb]

Probably the best report I've seen from here, very comprehensive and beautifully shot.

I really enjoyed the place, there are not many examples of the old world way of textile manufacture like we see here. In a few years when the roofs finally give way completely it will be much more difficult to see what was going on. I love the fact the coal scuttles and hand tools are still dotted about, gives a real human feel to the place.

 

[HughieD]

Wow. Even by your high standards of report writing this is a bit of a special one. Love this sort of stuff. You've really done a proper job on it.

 

[Speed]

Yeh I was surprised when we went here and it was 4 times the size of the little bit the tour bus stops at. I'd say its really the same mill tho. Just different departments spread out along the river.

 

[Lavino]

Great shots there pal

 

[Dmc68]

Brilliant

 

[Calamity Jane]

Cracking report, from write up, references, maps, and of course shots. Lots of effort and its paid off, great report :

 

[myke]

Outstanding report kept me interested all the way through

 

[MotionlessMike]

Quality mate

 

[tigger]

Great collection of photographs with interesting commentary.
Sad to see how much the buildings have deteriorated since the rooves started to collapse.

Some of the equipment above can be seen in this video from 1973:

Watch Lerry Tweed Mills - BFI Player

The Leri river fuels the Lerry Tweed mills’ machinery and provides excellent water for the making of tweed, woven by hand at these mills in Tal-y-bont, Ceredigion.

player.bfi.org.uk

The mill shop and 'museum' closed to the public around 1980 and then completly a couple of years later (John was always happy to show people around and talk about their history). I was lucky enough to live in the area and see them running just before John retired.

 

[urbanchemist]

Some of the equipment above can be seen in this video from 1973:

Watch Lerry Tweed Mills - BFI Player

The Leri river fuels the Lerry Tweed mills’ machinery and provides excellent water for the making of tweed, woven by hand at these mills in Tal-y-bont, Ceredigion.

player.bfi.org.uk

Well worth a look this short film - fascinating to see some of the machines working.