1. The History
The four-storey mill sits (or rather sat) at the heart of Newsome, both from geographically and historically perspective. The village grew up around the mill and was the main local employer for many years and a number of families living in Newsome have a direct relationship with the mill.
In terms of time lines, the first woollen mill at Newsome was founded by John Taylor back in 1827.The building burnt-down in 1872 (a trend will emerge here!) and in 1873 Ephraim Beaumont Taylor and Joshua Littlewood went into partnership (as Taylor & Littlewood) and operated a worsted mill (a high-quality type of wool yarn). The current mill buildings were constructed around the mid-1870s and by 1893 occupied the whole block and included an integrated mill, weaving sheds, clock tower along with ancillary and administrative buildings. All cloth manufacturing processes were carried out on the site, starting with raw wool and ending with the production of fine worsteds. There were 200 looms and 600 employees making trousers, coats and woollen goods.
Two archive pictures of the mill in its full glory:
Newsome Mill Aerial by HughieDW, on Flickr
Newsome Mills Composite by HughieDW, on Flickr
Such were the mills architectural merits that it was Grade II in September 1978, with the tower and archway being singled out to be of particular architectural interest. The main mill building itself was triple-spanned with 16 windows long and 3 bays wide. The four original wooden floors were held-up by a double row of cast iron columns supporting steel frames and floors.
The mill celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1977 making the oldest privately-owned fine worsted manufacturing company in Huddersfield. Its order books were still full. However, the ensuing five years saw the mill’s fortune take a turn for the worse and it closed in 1983 after 156 years of near continuous operation. Most of the buildings were subsequently let-out as business units until the site was sold in 2006. The boiler house and chimney failed to survive, along with the weaving sheds and some of the ancillary buildings and were demolished to make way for new housing.
The mill more recently in 2009:
Recent bw pic by HughieDW, on Flickr
Ten year’s later, things took a turn for the worse. The mill was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Thursday 17th November 2016, with the entire mill interior collapsing earlier the following morning. The structure was declared dangerous later that day and demolition began immediately in the darkness that same evening. Fortunately, not everything was lost in the fire that November evening. The iconic clock-tower still stands and can still be seen clearly from Huddersfield town centre on a clear day, along with the weaving sheds, administrative buildings, ancillary structures, dwellings and mill ponds.
The mill after the 2016 fire:
Newsome Fire by HughieDW, on Flickr
2. The Explore
A regular explore in urbex circles before the fire, this place understandable has fallen a bit off the radar. With a number of sites to hit up on a day’s explore of greater Huddersfield, we though we’d pay this place a speculative visit. As it happened, this paid off. Despite the ravages of the fire, there is still enough of interest to take up an hour or so of your time and to get up the clock tower was a bit of a bonus. Bottled the spiral stair(less) case to get up to the clock faces (which I now regret) but the views from the floor below made this a worthwhile mooch.
3. The Pictures
Hi-Tec signage:
img0335 by HughieDW, on Flickr
That’s what we’re after!
img0334 by HughieDW, on Flickr
First up, remains of the single-story part of the factory the fire didn’t destroy:
Newsome 08 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0326 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0322 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0331bw by HughieDW, on Flickr
Two-story building behind the tower:
Newsome 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Yup. That’s the roof at ground level:
Newsome 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0297 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Trashed;
img0293 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0294bw by HughieDW, on Flickr
Nice arch:
img0337 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On to the tower:
img0324 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Clock face:
img0339 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Up the tower we go:
Newsome 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0317 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0319 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Are we not men? No, we are Devo!
img0312 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0318 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Looking down over the two-storey building behind the tower:
Newsome 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Bit of peeling paint porn:
Newsome 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0315 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Mmmm. Maybe not (at my age).
img0309 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Lift sir?
img0306 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0304 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img0300 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The four-storey mill sits (or rather sat) at the heart of Newsome, both from geographically and historically perspective. The village grew up around the mill and was the main local employer for many years and a number of families living in Newsome have a direct relationship with the mill.
In terms of time lines, the first woollen mill at Newsome was founded by John Taylor back in 1827.The building burnt-down in 1872 (a trend will emerge here!) and in 1873 Ephraim Beaumont Taylor and Joshua Littlewood went into partnership (as Taylor & Littlewood) and operated a worsted mill (a high-quality type of wool yarn). The current mill buildings were constructed around the mid-1870s and by 1893 occupied the whole block and included an integrated mill, weaving sheds, clock tower along with ancillary and administrative buildings. All cloth manufacturing processes were carried out on the site, starting with raw wool and ending with the production of fine worsteds. There were 200 looms and 600 employees making trousers, coats and woollen goods.
Two archive pictures of the mill in its full glory:
Such were the mills architectural merits that it was Grade II in September 1978, with the tower and archway being singled out to be of particular architectural interest. The main mill building itself was triple-spanned with 16 windows long and 3 bays wide. The four original wooden floors were held-up by a double row of cast iron columns supporting steel frames and floors.
The mill celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1977 making the oldest privately-owned fine worsted manufacturing company in Huddersfield. Its order books were still full. However, the ensuing five years saw the mill’s fortune take a turn for the worse and it closed in 1983 after 156 years of near continuous operation. Most of the buildings were subsequently let-out as business units until the site was sold in 2006. The boiler house and chimney failed to survive, along with the weaving sheds and some of the ancillary buildings and were demolished to make way for new housing.
The mill more recently in 2009:
Ten year’s later, things took a turn for the worse. The mill was destroyed by fire in the early hours of Thursday 17th November 2016, with the entire mill interior collapsing earlier the following morning. The structure was declared dangerous later that day and demolition began immediately in the darkness that same evening. Fortunately, not everything was lost in the fire that November evening. The iconic clock-tower still stands and can still be seen clearly from Huddersfield town centre on a clear day, along with the weaving sheds, administrative buildings, ancillary structures, dwellings and mill ponds.
The mill after the 2016 fire:
2. The Explore
A regular explore in urbex circles before the fire, this place understandable has fallen a bit off the radar. With a number of sites to hit up on a day’s explore of greater Huddersfield, we though we’d pay this place a speculative visit. As it happened, this paid off. Despite the ravages of the fire, there is still enough of interest to take up an hour or so of your time and to get up the clock tower was a bit of a bonus. Bottled the spiral stair(less) case to get up to the clock faces (which I now regret) but the views from the floor below made this a worthwhile mooch.
3. The Pictures
Hi-Tec signage:
That’s what we’re after!
First up, remains of the single-story part of the factory the fire didn’t destroy:
Two-story building behind the tower:
Yup. That’s the roof at ground level:
Trashed;
Nice arch:
On to the tower:
Clock face:
Up the tower we go:
Are we not men? No, we are Devo!
Looking down over the two-storey building behind the tower:
Bit of peeling paint porn:
Mmmm. Maybe not (at my age).
Lift sir?
