Wood Bottom Mill, Huddersfield - May 2021
Visited solo
Simple one really. Went for a beer, brewhouse was closed, so walked around the nearest mills down the canal to the next beer shop, but in a decidedly nosey fashion. This one just looked a little bit like it was being converted; loads of windows out on one side, forklifts and diggers in the yards, that sort of thing... so I scrambled down a steep bank for a closer look. I heard voices in the yard very soon after getting in the building, and then not longer after, found some chickens in a coup on the top floor... typical Colne Valley not so derelict mill vibes, then. I took some photos for the records and then left. Not a lot else to say, really.
History
A really, really old mill this one! I think probably the oldest surviving mill in the Colne Valley. That accolade has often been attributed to Low Westwood (Upper) Mill in Linthwaite, but upon reading this one dates back to at least 1794, with one reference after a fire in 1862 stating the mill was 'over a century old'. John Plowes of Leeds acquired the mill by marriage in 1794 and it was let as a fulling, scribbling, carding, dyehouse, and dyewood chipping and rasping mill in 1796. By 1802, John Haigh was in occupation of the premises. In 1812, at the time of the Luddite uprisings, the mill was allegedly fortified against Luddite attacks according to 'A Glimpse of the Old Mills of Marsden' (Colne Valley Guardian, 1917). A succession of firms (Jos Armitage & Sons, John Hirst, Eli Wilkinson, Hartley & Co) all held the mill through to its purchase by Crowther Bruce & Co in 1895, until the company were sued for owing to a machine auctioneer soon after. I hadn't realised before, that this mill too, was once a Crowther Empire mill! After this period, old maps continually show the mill to be disused, and for my living memory it has always been occupied but never in use as a textile mill.
The mill sits right beside the A62, but down an immediate sheer bank, so all that the most casual drivers along the road will see is a glimpse of the very top of the mill chimney.
Another one down, I suppose!
tweek
Visited solo
Simple one really. Went for a beer, brewhouse was closed, so walked around the nearest mills down the canal to the next beer shop, but in a decidedly nosey fashion. This one just looked a little bit like it was being converted; loads of windows out on one side, forklifts and diggers in the yards, that sort of thing... so I scrambled down a steep bank for a closer look. I heard voices in the yard very soon after getting in the building, and then not longer after, found some chickens in a coup on the top floor... typical Colne Valley not so derelict mill vibes, then. I took some photos for the records and then left. Not a lot else to say, really.
History
A really, really old mill this one! I think probably the oldest surviving mill in the Colne Valley. That accolade has often been attributed to Low Westwood (Upper) Mill in Linthwaite, but upon reading this one dates back to at least 1794, with one reference after a fire in 1862 stating the mill was 'over a century old'. John Plowes of Leeds acquired the mill by marriage in 1794 and it was let as a fulling, scribbling, carding, dyehouse, and dyewood chipping and rasping mill in 1796. By 1802, John Haigh was in occupation of the premises. In 1812, at the time of the Luddite uprisings, the mill was allegedly fortified against Luddite attacks according to 'A Glimpse of the Old Mills of Marsden' (Colne Valley Guardian, 1917). A succession of firms (Jos Armitage & Sons, John Hirst, Eli Wilkinson, Hartley & Co) all held the mill through to its purchase by Crowther Bruce & Co in 1895, until the company were sued for owing to a machine auctioneer soon after. I hadn't realised before, that this mill too, was once a Crowther Empire mill! After this period, old maps continually show the mill to be disused, and for my living memory it has always been occupied but never in use as a textile mill.
The mill sits right beside the A62, but down an immediate sheer bank, so all that the most casual drivers along the road will see is a glimpse of the very top of the mill chimney.
Another one down, I suppose!
tweek
