Hard Times In The Mill

We visited Queen Street Mill Textile Museum in Burnley today, with the Bank Pensioners Club. It is the only surviving steam powered mill in the world, and after it closed in 1982 it ended up in the ownership of Lancashire County Council and is now run as a museum and visitor centre, staffed by volunteers.
A most interesting tour and it made you realise just how hard life was for mill workers in the early 20th century. This particular mill only ever made one type of calico cloth in its day, but they have acquired various other looms and artefacts from other mills which have closed down and been demolished.
The photo is of just a few of the 300 looms they have on the site, and this is only a third of what there would have been in its heyday! Each worker was responsible for four looms, standing in the “alley” between the back to back machines and trying to keep them all going for their 12 hour shift, with only an hour break at lunchtime.
Unfortunately, the steam engine was not in use today (the boilers were being cleaned) but they do have an electric motor as well, so we were able to see a demonstration of a couple of the 130 year old looms in action.
My God it was noisy! And that was just two of them. When all 900 looms were running it must have sounded horrendous. No wonder the only way the women (and they were pretty well all women doing the weaving) could communicate was by lip reading.
A fascinating glimpse into our industrial past, and I’d like to go back at some point for a more leisurely look round, as being in a group meant time looking at each area was limited. Ideally we’d go back on one of the days that they were firing up the steam engine as I’d love to see that in action.