Shaw Lodge Mill Former Combing Shed

Details

HALIFAX

679/0/10320 BOYS LANE 03-APR-07 (North side) Shaw Lodge Mill Former Combing Shed

GV II* Warehouse and shed, former combing shed, 1876, in coursed dressed gritstone, shed with sheet metal roof, warehouse at the front with slate roof.

Plan: the widest part on a sloping and narrowing site is the warehouse to the south, behind which is the shed. Warehouse section has 2 storeys with 3rd (lower) storey at south end, shed is lower and single storey. The warehouse has 15 2-over-4 wood-framed windows to the south front, with a vehicular entrance at ground level, and is 2 windows deep. The shed has vehicle entrance at north end of west side, and series of windows on east side. Interior has a vaulted fireproof ceiling to ground floor warehouse; shed open to roof structure.

HISTORY The firm of John Holdsworth & Company was founded in 1822 by John Holdsworth, whose family were already woollen textile manufacturers and merchants in Shibden then in Halifax. They specialised in worsted cloth, produced by hand loom weavers, but developments in mechanised spinning led in 1822 to John Holdsworth establishing his first spinning mill to join a growing number of worsted spinning mills in Halifax. The location of this is uncertain, but by 1825 he was purchasing land at Shaw Lodge and his first mill on the site is dated to 1830. This the extant 'No 1 Mill' on the present site.

Further developments in the industry led to the gradual mechanisation of the weaving part of the process, and the first power loom weaving shed was begun at Shaw Lodge in 1844. This was accompanied at around the same time by further spinning mills and, in 1852, by an extension to the weaving shed. The No 2 Mill, dated to between 1831 and 1839, was to the south of the extant buildings, and at right angles to them leading eastwards to the Hebble Brook. It is unclear whether what is named as No 3 Mill and dated 1850 in a plan of 1925 was built as such, as earlier plans call it a warehouse, though it was certainly in existence by 1855, standing to the north of and adjoining No 1 Mill.

The mills appear to have been steam powered by 1839, with separate engines for each of the two mills. By 1855 a separate engine house, boiler house and chimney were built on the eastern side of the site, with underground power connections to the mills. By this time, the firm had invested in Jacquard looms and in 1851 won a medal at the Great Exhibition for their worsted cloths. Branches in Bradford and London were run by members of the family, and John Holdsworth had a house, Shaw Lodge, close by the western side of the site, now demolished.

Continuing prosperity led to the construction of the 7-storey warehouse to the north of No 3 Mill in 1862, and the separate office block with adjoining stable in 1865. A workshop and shed at the north end of the site, and a tower and timekeepers office at the northern end of the weaving sheds were added in 1876. Since then, alterations to the buildings have included the loss of the No 2 Mill and the southern end of No 1 Mill, the reconstruction of the stables, extensions to the engine house and boiler house, and the reroofing of most of the weaving sheds and mills. The firm continues to operate up to 2006, having survived the demise of most woollen manufacturing in the country, specializing in the production of moquette for the bus and coach trade. The site is due to be redeveloped.

SOURCES www.holdsworth.co.uk "over 200 years in the textile industry" R.C.H.M. Yorkshire Textile Mills 1770-1930, 1992 Wrathmell, S. Unpub. notes

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE The former combing shed at Shaw Lodge Mill is part of a very important and complete complex of worsted mill buildings. The importance of the Yorkshire textile industry is widely acknowledged, and Shaw Lodge was identified by the 1992 thematic survey of West Yorkshire textile mills, carried out by English Heritage, as meriting a II* grade by virtue of its high quality and intactness.

The national criteria for designation of industrial buildings include factors of architectural interest, planning, evidence of process and function, intactness and contextual value. The overall completeness of the site and its significance in showing the regional specialism of worsted production make it of more than special interest.

As an integral and essential part of the mill complex, showing the degree of specialisation and evidence of planning within the context of the site, the former combing shed is of high significance in the history of this nationally important industry.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

496259

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Giles, C, Goodall, I, Yorkshire Textile Mills The Buildings of the Yorkshire Textile Industry 1770-1930, (1992)

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