Holme Spring Mill - What Did We Find Inside? Episode 1

Holme Spring Mill was started as a weaving shed in about 1856-57 by Henry Walton, although his father-in-law, Lawrence Whitaker, took over soon after and ran the shed with Holden and Waterfoot Mills. Extensions were made in the 1860s, when waste spinning was introduced. A new W & J Yates single McNaught beam engine, 20" x 2' 6" and 23" x 5' stroke was installed in 1873. By the 1880s the machinery comprised 4492 condenser mule spindles, 188 sheeting and calico looms and preparation. In 1880 Richard Hardman became manager, and in 1886 he purchased the mill and registered the business as L Whitaker and Sons Ltd. Hardman died in 1902, and the company passed to his sons Albert Edward and George Walter. In 1895 major rebuilding of the beam engine by S S Stott took place, and there were further improvements in 1901-02 and 1928-29. In its final form the circa 250 ihp engine had cylinders of 20" and 24" x 5' stroke, with a 15' diameter, rim gear fly-wheel. A tandem compound by Stott, 14" + 24" x 2'6" stroke with 12' diameter fly-wheel grooved for seven ropes, was added in 1907. In 1912 the looms increased in number to over 300 and the mill produced waste plains, twills, dusters, glass cloth and sheeting. There were further additions in the 1930s and after World War Two, and Lancashire looms were gradually phased out. There was a slow decline through the 1970s and the mill finally closed in 1983. It was then sold to J H Birtwistle and Company who had an open ended spinning plant there until 1995. The buildings are now used by Birtwistles for yarn preparation, storage and as offices. The oldest portion of the site is in the north-west area, and dates to the 1850s. A two storeyed warehouse with a hipped roof faces the mill yard. There is a single storey projection at the corner, which probably was the original office or watch tower. At the east end of the warehouse, the boiler and engine houses are attached. The former has firing doors to the yard. The entablature of the beam engine survives within the engine house. The tandem engine was immediately to the west, near the square chimney base. A twentieth-century brick addition is set at an angle to the 1850s block. Devilling and scutching rooms were in the L-shaped blocks at the north-east corner of the original mill. A narrow weaving shed with a northern light roof is behind the boiler and engine houses. Its cast iron columns have bolting faces for cross shafting. The southern end was extended in 1891. To the west is a second weaving shed, which was part of the original structure. It now has an additional floor, constructed after World War Two. A three storey building at the rear dates from the 1930s. Further additions including a single storey drawing in room and a two bay warehouse, stone clad, with a hipped slate roof, can be seen at the far end of the mill. Swinnel Brook was culverted during the mid-twentieth century and large extensions were erected along the eastern perimeter of the older mill. The major building is a steel framed weaving shed with a ten bay, northern light roof. A beam store ran along the western side, roughly over the course of the stream. Single storey sheds at the northern end comprise loading bays, warehousing and a three bay shed,
formerly a card room.

This is episode 1: For Episode 2:    • What Did We Find Inside This Abandoned Fac...  

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