NEWSLETTER NO. 71 AUTUMN 2007

EDITORIAL

Welcome to the Autumn Newsletter. I hope that you all survived the very wet weather and flooding that we had in June and July. My area of South was particularly badly affected. Wortley Top Forge which is situated literally at the bottom of my road was flooded by the River Don and part of the miniature railway that runs round the site was washed away. When we arrived back from our holiday in Devon at the end of June we found a message on our answerphone from a neighbour who had spotted some of the carriages down stream caught on the bank. Fortunately they had been rescued by the time we got back from Devon (to a rather damp house). Thanks to hard work from the volunteers, the railway was back in operation two weeks later. Also badly flooded was Kelham Island Museum - again situated near the River Don. Photos of the flooding can be found at www.simt.co.uk. Unfortunately the museum is likely to be closed for some time while repairs are carried out and the popular annual ‘Down by the Riverside’ event celebrating the use of the waterways in Sheffield originally planned for 22 September has had to be cancelled.

I attended part of the annual AIA conference which this year was held at Preston in mid August and focused on the IA of Lancashire. A full report will be included in the next Newsletter but David George, who was one of the organising committee, has sent in a report of the pre-conference seminar on Urban Regeneration and the adaptive use of industrial buildings. It was good to see the Industrial History Section was well represented. The 2008 conference will be based near Chippenham in Wiltshire; details of the programme will be available early next year.

As usual enclosed with the Autumn Newsletter are the minutes of the Section AGM held on 21 April. The main points were reported on in the last Newsletter and if any member wishes to propose an amendment to the minutes please let me know. Also enclosed are details of the 2007/8 Lecture Programme which starts on 6 October. Many thanks to Jane Ellis for arranging what promises to be a very interesting programme. Unfortunately the Section will have to accept my apologies for the first meeting as it clashes with my niece’s wedding in London and I didn’t want to miss out on a family get together. Having done the job myself I know that arranging the programme is not always that easy – what helps enormously is to have ideas and better still suggestions for speakers, so if members know of speakers either from experience or reputation, please let Jane know – her details are at the end of the Newsletter. One speaker that Jane has already booked for the 2008/9 Programme is section member Professor David Perrett. Congratulations are due to David who had been elected as President of the Newcomen Society from October 2007. His term of office runs for two years and he has agreed to speak to the Section in October 2008.

I have included a new section in the Newsletter giving information about members’ interests. If you are carrying out research or have recently published something and would like to publicise this via the Newsletter let me know. We have a number of member institutions such as local libraries, the AIA and English Heritage so your information has the potential to reach a wider audience than just individual members.

I also welcome short items describing visits or recommendations to places of industrial interest; David George is a regular contributor and has contributed again to this Newsletter.

New members who have joined since the last Newsletter are Mr T Duffield, Mr S Leonard and Mr C Lloyd – welcome to you all and I hope that you will be able to join us over the coming months at Claremont. The deadline for the next Newsletter will be early January, so let me have any items of news, research interests or any other information early in the New Year and I look forward to a successful Lecture season.

Margaret Tylee

NEWS FROM CLAREMONT

It was disappointing to learn that yet again the AGM of the main Society due to have been held at the end of June was postponed – I understand due to difficulties in finalising the accounts. The new date was set for 1 September and main Society members will have received their invitation to attend along with the Report and Accounts for 2006. Due to a prior engagement, I was unable to attend so can’t provide a report of the proceedings. I can provide an update on the Section’s financial position from the information contained in the Annual Report and Accounts which shows that as of 31 December 2006, the Section had a balance of £4,183, a surplus of £32 over the 1 January 2006 position. The 2008 AGM is due to be held on 21 June and nominations for the Management Board and Council should be submitted no later than 31 March 2008. Nominees must be members of the main Society.

News comes from David George who reports that he has deposited all the Textile Mills Regeneration Conference papers from 1992 to present at Claremont for use in the Library. This year’s conference was due to be held in Birmingham but was cancelled due to lack of support. A useful point to note is that if you have a collection of papers that may be of wider interest, rather than have them occupying space in your house, contact the Librarian to enquire whether there would be space at Claremont and therefore become available to all Library users. The same applies to any unwanted books, particularly those with a Yorkshire theme. If the books are already held in the Library they could be made available in the regular book sales held at Claremont, go to good homes and raise funds for book repairs.

Main Society members have been reminded that it is important that they bring their membership card when visiting Claremont – it needs to be produced when you sign in and if you want to take advantage of membership benefits. Section only members should also bring their section only cards with them.

The YAHS Management Committee have agreed that the Society’s website needs expanding and updating and as one way of publicising the Section more widely and encouraging new members, we have added details of our lectures to the website (www.yas.org.uk). So, if you lose the lecture details sheet you will know where to look. Later, we hope to provide a link to the membership leaflet so that it can be downloaded and completed. Other ideas for publicity are always welcome, just let me know.

The Book Repair group which meets regularly at Claremont on Thursdays is looking for additional help. Previous experience is not necessary but it is essential that you can work neatly and with care. If you are interested contact the Librarian.

MEMBERS INTERESTS

Section members Alan and Janet Tomlinson have sent me an article they have written on the Ferrybridge Pottery site (The Development of the Ferrybridge Pottery Site 1793- 2004. Northern Ceramic Society Journal, Vol 23 2006-2007, pp17-58). The article is a well researched and illustrated study of the site situated on the south bank of the River Aire between Ferrybridge and Knottingley. They were wondering if there were other Section members who were actively interested in potteries and suggested that it would be useful if there was a Members Interests section in the Newsletter. I am always happy to hear about members’ industrial history interests and to share these via the Newsletter, so if you do have an interest in potteries contact me and I’ll put you in touch with Alan & Janet.

If members have a special interest and would like to include this in the Newsletter, please let me know and I can add this to future issues.

NEWS ITEMS

Work has started to develop the historic Kirkstall Forge site in Leeds. This was the home of ’s oldest ironworks with over 750 years of operations. It was run for generations by the Butler family and at its height employed nearly 2,000 workers. Ironworking ceased in the 1920s and the Forge moved over to the production of axles and heavy steel drop forging. The project is estimated to cost £240m, will provide 1,400 new homes, shops, offices, leisure facilities and green spaces and will take 10 years to complete.

English Heritage has published the 2007 Buildings at Risk Register. The Register lists 1,235 entries of grade I and II* listed buildings and scheduled ancient monuments that are deemed to be “at risk”. The list is gradually decreasing with 88 entries removed and 52 added this year. The full list together with details of the present condition can be found on the English Heritage’s website (www.english-heritage.org.uk).Looking through the list there are several industrial buildings including as follows: North Yorkshire • Lead cupola, flue and Chimney, Grassington • Dale End Mills, Lothersdale • Providence Smelt Mill, Bewerley, near Harrogate South Yorkshire • Low Forge, Wortley • Bower Spring Cementation Furnace, Sheffield • Wicker Arch and adjoining viaduct, Sheffield • Lumb Mill, Wainstalls • Waterloo Mill, Silsden • Manningham Mill, Bradford • Hunslet Mill, Leeds • Temple Works Gate Lodge, Holbeck, Leeds

The new engine house at the Middleton Railway is now open. Built with the aid of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the hard work from volunteers it houses the railway’s collection of Leeds built locomotives together with a café area and shop. There is a lecture room on the first floor which is available for hire. Section Vice-Chair Sheila Bye is an active member of the Middleton Railway and members may recall that she contributed an article about the restoration work for the last Newsletter and suggested that the section might like to visit. Something to be followed up.

The Don Cutlery Works, Doncaster Street, Sheffield has been recently listed grade II. It is a purpose built cutlery works dating from the mid 19th century built for Southern & Richardson manufacturers of table and other types of cutlery.

The South Yorkshire Archaeology Service has been recording the Don Street site in Rotherham of Guest & Chrimes prior to its demolition for redevelopment. In the 1850s Guest & Chrimes invented the screw down tap at their previous premises. They needed larger premises as the company expanded and moved to the Don Street site in 1868. During the recording the remains of a chimney base and a filled in canal basin were found.

Forum, the annual Newsletter of CBA Yorkshire contains some interesting reports from local archaeology groups and archaeological survey companies. The majority of the sites examined were of the more traditional archaeological sites – prehistoric, Roman and medieval etc but the following surveys carried out by Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd are examples of the few industrial sites reported on.

Archaeological survey of Seavy Quarry stone mines, Burtersett, North Yorkshire carried out for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. Quarrying had taken place since the mid 10th century and ceased in the 1930s. The survey revealed buildings, tramway beds, crane positions, watercourses, dams and trackways.

Also carried out on behalf of the Yorkshire Dales National Park was a survey of Stone House Marble Works in Dentdale. The marble was a form of limestone which was polished for use in buildings particularly monuments. The works comprised of two waterpowered mills, one for sawing the stone and one for polishing, the works closed in 1907. One mill was partly demolished in the 1920s and the other demolished in 1928 and used to repair the road following a flood. Evidence was found of the waterwheel position in both mills and of the water supply system. Interviews were held with local people who remembered the mills and one still had a catalogue of the works’ products.

FUTURE EVENTS

22 Sept Skirlaugh to Hull Paragon Station. Railway Ramblers walk 8 miles linear led by Douglas Robinson with pub lunch. Meet at Hull station at 9.31 to walk to the bus station to catch 9.55 to Skirlaugh station. Contact Douglas before walk day to confirm times (office hours 0113 2059335 or mobile 07939064416)

29 Sept West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service Annual Day School. Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds. Fee £12 (lunch not included). The morning will cover recent archaeological excavations and building surveys; research carried out by local societies. The afternoon will be devoted to the 17th Century Civil War in West Yorkshire, including the arms and armour of the period and a demonstration of the type of pottery in use at the time. May not be much industry covered, but if members require further details please contact Helen Andrews ([email protected]) or you can enrol by writing to West Yorkshire Joint Services, PO Box 5, Nepshaw Lane South, Morley, Leeds, LS27 0QP enclosing cheque made payable to Wakefield MDC.

6 Oct Child Labour in the Upper Calder Valley – Ian Bailey. Industrial History Section Lecture. 11am Claremont.

7 Oct Steam & Water. Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet Family Sunday. Steam traction engines will be present on the last day of summer opening. Abbeydale Road South, Sheffield, S7 2QW. 11am – 4.45pm. Admission £3 Adults, £2 concessions, accompanied children free. For more information 0114 236 7731 website www.simt.co.uk

13 Oct Industrial Archaeology Symposium hosted by Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Society, Wharf Theatre, Devizes. Information and booking form send SAE to Doug Roseaman c/o WANHS, 41 Long Street, Devizes, SN10 1NS

13 Oct EMIAC 74 Foxton Heritage Day, 74th East Midlands IA Conference hosted by the Leicestershire Industrial History Society at Foxton. Market Harborough, Leicestershire. Speakers on the history of the canal, locks and inclined plane and the restoration and management of the historic environment at Foxton. Details and booking form send SAE to Alan Brittan, 18 Westbourne Road, Underwood, Notts, NG16 5EG

13 Oct Small Towns in North Yorkshire A day school held by CBA Yorkshire in association with Northallerton & District Local History Society and the YAHS Medieval Section. Held at Hambleton Forum, Bullamooor Road, Northallerton. Cost £12.50 (includes refreshments but not lunch). Cheques made payable to CBA Yorkshire and sent to Mike Edwards, Secretary CBA Yorkshire, 12 Smithwell Lane, Heptonstall, West Yorks HX7 7NX. Further information from Stephen Moorhouse 01924 475618.

14 Oct Yorkshire Dales Running Day. Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the end of Ledgard’s bus service. Organised by the Aire Valley Transport Group and the Samuel Ledgard Society. Heritage bus and coaches recreate a bygone transport scene from Bolton Abbey Railway station, Ilkley, Otley & Skipton bus stations. Vehicle display and transport stalls at Bolton Abbey. Details available from AVTG, 47 Halifax Road, Littleborough, Lancashire OL15 0HL

14 Oct In and Around Workington. Cumbria Industrial History Society Autumn Conference. Helena Thompson Museum, Workington. Details and booking from Dan Elsworth, 7A Town Street, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 7EY. ? 01229 587588 or email [email protected].

20 Oct Craftsmen & Vernacular Buildings. Day School organised by the Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group. Kilnsey Village Hall. £15. Details from David Cant, 3 Middle Hathershelf, , Halifax HX2 6JQ

29 Oct East Leeds Past & Present. – Jacki & Bob Lawrence. East Leeds Historical & Archaeological Society lecture. 8pm Methodist Church Hall, Austhorpe Road, Crossgates, Leeds.

3 Nov South Yorkshire Archaeology Day. Showroom Cinema, Paternoster Row, Sheffield 10 - 4.30. Cost £10. Details not yet available but will be announced on the South Yorkshire Archaeology Service’s website (www.sheffield.gov.uk/syas) nearer the time.

10 Nov Early Georgian Furniture-Making Trade – Adam Bowett. York Georgian Society lecture. 2.30pm. Tempest Anderson Hall, Yorkshire Museum. £5 per non member.

19 Nov Rockley Furnace – David Crossley. South Yorkshire Industrial History Society lecture. 7.30pm. Kelham Island Museum (note the Lecture Room is open but the car park is closed due to flood damage)

24 Nov Church Fenton to Harrogate Branch (1847-1966) – Frank Dean. Industrial History Section Lecture. 11am Claremont

26 Nov Progress at Gayle Mill – Michael Thompson. Upper Wharfedale Field Society lecture. 7.30pm. Town Hall, Grassington. £2 for non members.

4 Dec The Transformation of Headingley’s Road Network in the late 18th century –John Cruikshank. Thoresby Society lecture. 7.15pm. Friends Meeting House, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds.

8 Dec The Leeds Locomotive Industry – Don Townsley. Industrial History Section Lecture. 11am Claremont

REPORTS OF EVENTS & VISITS

The Upper Luddenden Valley Study Weekend 24/25 March 2007

This was the first of a series of three YAHS events with an industrial theme organised by YAHS Assistant Librarian Janet Senior. The weekend was held in conjunction with the Bradford and Halifax Antiquarian Societies and consisted of a day of lectures at Claremont on Saturday followed by a field trip to sites in the Upper Luddenden Valley on Sunday. I attended the Saturday lectures which were well attended with nearly 40 in the audience but couldn’t make the Sunday visit, which I understand was attended by about 30.

David Cant, member and past Chairman of the Industrial History Section, gave the first lecture introducing us to the area of study around Wainstalls in the Upper Luddenden Valley. The area had many mills and farms and there were early ironworking sites. Dene Mill was an 18th century paper mill and there were several examples of the duel economy of farming and textile working. David showed slides of several of the buildings that can be found in the area including the remains of Castle Carr built with the profits of the textile trade and the subject of one of the Section’s previous lectures and field visit. The 100ft fountain still works and the house had its own gasworks built in 1870 to supply gas to the house. At one time Wainstalls had several mills, six were owned by the Calvert family and David recommended a book held in the YAHS Library on the history of the Calvert Company for those who wish to find out more (Wainstall Mills: the history of I & I Calvert Ltd 1821-1951 by W.Onslow Garnett published in 1951). The mills were powered by water from dams higher up the valley and were mainly cotton mills. Lumb Mill built in 1803 is still in use, not as a mill but as a gear box repair business for 4x4s however it still has its 37 ft waterwheel.

There was a complex arrangement of dams and watercourses to power the mills and in the mid 19th Halifax Corporation built a series of reservoirs to improve the water supply for Halifax. Quarrying was the other major industry with several examples of sandstone quarries in the area. Moving the stone by carts to the Rochdale Canal was not easy but plans for a railway up the valley came to nothing.

Kim Wynn spoke next on the subject of the Wainstalls Waifs. These were girls from Liverpool who came to work as cheap labour in the mills between 1876 and 1904. A gravestone in Luddenden Dene Chapel records the death of 7 girls between 12 -17 years. Kim had researched their history and found that they came from the Brownlow Hill Workhouse in Liverpool; it was thought that the link between Liverpool and the Wainstalls Mills was the cotton trade. A school was opened in Wainstalls in 1877, 19 girls were listed in 1877 and 16 in 1878; orphanages were also established and the occupants could be identified using the 1881 census. The mill registers also provided information, 84 girls were identified in 1885. Kim had tracked the names using census returns and by 1907 there were only 3 remaining. She explained that the girls had to be medically examined and to meet certain educational standards before they were taken on and all were required to attend chapel. Many married local men and stayed on in the area, overall, Kim had traced around 200 girls who had come from Liverpool to work in the Upper Luddenden Valley. A fascinating insight into the social history of working in the mills and one that was certainly unknown to me.

After an excellent buffet lunch, the lectures resumed with Clive Lloyd talking about Farming in the Luddenden Valley. There was a common pattern of buildings in the valley – the first was a detached farmhouse with a barn for storing cattle, feed and implements. The second was the house and barn in one building; both types were illustrated with examples from the Valley. The farms were small and generally could not survive in their own right with a strong link between the textile trade and farming, initially with domestic textile production and later with members of the household working in the mills. The auction catalogues produced when Castle Carr was sold gave a good description of the farms and their use. They mostly reared cattle and the average size was 15 acres. The livestock were delivered by railway and then walked to the farm. Clive had studied the history of Midgley Farm and interviewed local farmers for his research. Gradually there was a change to sheep farming due to pressures to avoid TB in cattle. A more modern development has seen some of the old mills being bought and used for agricultural businesses, examples being poultry farming and mushroom production. A book by W. B Crump gave a good description of the farming way of life. (The Little Hill Farm: Calder Valley by WB Crump, published Scrivener 1951).

The final talk was by Heather Ibbotson on Iron Smelting in West Yorkshire with particular reference to the Luddenden Valley. Heather firstly gave a general outline of the early iron smelting process –this required good supply of charcoal, access to iron ore, access to limestone to act as a flux, water to power the bellows to get the furnace to a high temperature and good transport links to take away the finished product. She then turned to apply the general principles to sites in the Luddenden Valley. Wade Wood and Booth Wood have charcoal burning sites dating from the 1400s and there was evidence of iron working from the 1600s. Several sites had been identified using geophysics and one site had been excavated. The research had been carried as part of Heather’s PhD which was due to be completed in September 2007. The presentation raised a number of questions and doubts about the authenticity of some sites. A general discussion followed about the findings from the day which underlined how the Upper Luddenden Valley was once a much more industrious place than we saw today.

Sunday saw the field visit to some of the sites that had been described in the lectures; these included the ironworking sites and the mills and dams around Wainstalls.

Margaret Tylee

Leeds Waterfront Walk 21 April 2007

It was suggested that it would be a good idea for the Section to hold a local walk after the AGM, partly to encourage more members to attend the meeting, but also to give an opportunity to remind ourselves that Leeds has a lot to offer in the way of industrial history. Robert Vickers kindly volunteered to research and lead the walk around the Leeds waterfront. The walk followed closely the routes covered by the Transport & Industry chapter in the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Leeds edited by Susan Wrathmell published 2005. 10 section members gathered in City Square near the Black Prince statue, we noted the impressive Queen’s Hotel built in 1937 for the London Midland & Scottish railway before walking down Bishopgate and Neville Street created in 1829 as a route to the river underneath the railway viaduct. We passed the entrance to the ‘Dark Arches’ which were explored later in the walk and reached Victoria Bridge built in 1837-9 by George Leather. Turning left we walked along the north bank of the Aire to Leeds Bridge built in 1870-3 replacing a medieval bridge widened in the 18th century to take “double carriages”. From here we headed away from the river along Swinegate passing the Golden Lion Hotel built in 1879 by Thomas Ambler for the clothing manufacturer John Barron, we also noted the Malmaison Hotel previously the headquarters building for Leeds City Tramways. The walk then took us along the Calls, now very much smartened up with most of the 19th century warehouses lining the river now converted into modern offices, apartments and a hotel. Crossing the Aire on the 1992-3 Centenary footbridge gave good views up and down the river which clearly showed how the Leeds waterfront had changed during the last 20 or so years with more apartments and restaurants taking advantage of the waterside setting. The next stop was Navigation Walk and the Victoria Quays housing development built on the site of the former Aire & Calder Navigation Warehouses and Terminus. In the centre is the narrow preserved dock basin dating from 1818, originally mush larger and deeper. The Flyboat Warehouse of c1825 still has its arched opening over the water and two of the original roof trusses from the timber shed which originally spanned the western end of the basin have been preserved as a footbridge across the basin.

Moving out into Dock Street we noted the three-storey mid 18th century merchant houses and warehouses and on the corner the Adelphi pub with its ornate exterior. Opposite were the Aire & Calder Navigation offices dating from 1906 and across the busy traffic intersection, the distinctive Bridge House built on 1875 with its five story flat iron shape. Walking past the Red Lion pub with its lion statue over the entrance we reached the river again and proceeded westwards past the ASDA buildings noting the view across the river to Victoria Mills dating from 1836 and restored in 1992. Crossing Neville Street we walked along Water Lane alongside the culvert which carries the Hol Beck to the Round Foundry Media Centre a conversion of late 18th and mid 19th century domestic and industrial buildings associated with Matthew Murray’s Round Foundry, a bronze plaque commemorating his achievements dates from 1929. Unfortunately there was not time to walk further to Marshall Street to view Marshall’s remarkable Temple Mill – possibly to be included in a future walk in the Holbeck area. Opposite was the site of the T.R. Harding’s Tower Works on Globe Road, built for the manufacture of steel pins for carding and combing machines, it is famous for its distinctive towers. The larger one built in 1899 is based on Giotto’s campanile for the Duomo in Florence and was used as an extraction system for steel dust, the smaller built in 1864 replicates a 12th century Lamberti bell tower in Verona. The third plainer chimney dates from the 1920s and is built in the manner of the towers at San Gimignano. The towers are virtually all that is left of the site which is in the process of redevelopment. I wondered what had happened to the porcupine made of steel pins which used to be found above one of the entrances to the works, but which we could not find.

Nearing the end of the walk we explored the Leeds & Liverpool Canal basin starting with the Canal Offices dating from 1846 next to Office Lock. Due to extensive redevelopment it was not possible to cross the bridge to Granary Wharf and the Dark Arches so we walked on the south side of the basin passed the 1776 transhipment warehouse and River Lock turning left into Neville Street and then into the Dark Arches. This is the local name for the vaults and tunnels under the railway viaduct and City station and although I have walked through them many times, I still find it an incredible experience walking across the cast iron footbridge which takes you over the river looking upstream to where the medieval High Dam is situated. Brian Godward’s booklet Leeds Waterfront West published by Leeds Civic Trust in 1994 describes the Dark Arches as one of the most dramatic and bizarre places in the city comparable with settings from the Lord of the Rings. A suitable place, perhaps, to end our walk.

Many thanks to Robert for the walk and I’d be interested to hear from members if they would be interested in further local walks.

REPORTS OF VISITS, LECTURES AND SHORT ARTICLES

In the Footsteps of Marie Hartley Field Trip 14 April 2007

The second of the excursions with an industrial theme organised by Janet Senior for the main Society was a field trip by coach to Wensleydale led by Erik Matthews. Due to circumstances beyond her control, the programme had to be changed from the original flyer so we did not get to visit the Hawes cheese factory or Gayle Mill but the alternatives certainly made the trip enjoyable and we had excellent weather. There was a good attendance of 29 and we arrived at the Hawes Museum for 11am where we had a wine reception (at 11am!) and listened to Gordon Forster YAHS Vice President give a short talk on the life and work of Marie Hartley as an introduction to the day. Marie Hartley was born in Morley to a family of wool merchants and studied art at the Slade. He described how she had worked first with Ella Pontefract and then Joan Ingilby in producing her many books recording life in the Yorkshire Dales which drew on her expertise as a photographer and journalist. Probably the best known is “Life & Traditions in the Yorkshire Dales”. She was given the Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society’s Gold Medal and died aged 100 in May 2006. We then drank a toast to her memory before exploring the delights of the Museum. The Dales Countryside Museum (to give its proper name) contains many artefacts rescued and collected by Marie Hartley and is situated in what was the Hawes station yard. There are several good displays showing the industries of the dales and the Museum is well worth a visit.

After a good lunch at the White Hart Inn, including some excellent examples of local Wensleydale cheese, we rejoined the coach to take us to Askrigg, where Marie Hartley lived. The first stop was to view the exterior of West End Mill, built in 1784 as a water-powered cotton mill. The mill was not a success and was offered for sale in 1789, it continued as a cotton spinning mill until 1814 when again it was up for sale described as a three storey high, 56 ft by 30ft mill. By 1820 it was spinning flax but by the mid 19th century it had been converted into a house. Walking up the valley of Mill Gill we examined the exterior of a joinery workshop which previously had been a corn mill and still had an internal waterwheel which could be viewed through a window. Although it was not possible to get inside the building we were able to examine the well preserved remains of the leat which led into the building – as shown by this photograph.

Walking further up the valley we could see across the river the remains of a small hydroelectric power station dating from the 1940s which was a source of electricity for the village.

Returning to Askrigg, Erik led the party on a short walking tour of the village pointing out various examples of interesting vernacular architecture. As well as being Marie Hartley’s home village, Askrigg had a tradition of clock making and hand knitting, an impressive 13th century church and latterly it was one of the locations for the TV series ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. All too soon we had to board the coach to return to Leeds.

Margaret Tylee

The Port & Town of Goole Field Trip 20th May 2007

This was the third of the 2007 excursions organised by Janet Senior for the main Society. The day was led by Neil Davies and Stefan Green and 20 Society members met at the Yorkshire Waterways Museum for a tour to look at some of the remaining features of the original canal port and canal town.

The day started with an explanation of why Goole came to be – the least worst site for a canal port for the Aire and Calder Navigation – and a look at some of the Museum’s holdings. These included plans illustrating the intended layout of the original company town with housing around three sides of the docks (but of which only one side was actually built); the development of dock system of the present Port of Goole and videos showing how trains of ‘Tom Puddings’ were used to bring coal down the Aire and Calder to be loaded into colliers and the workings of a boat hoist used in emptying the ‘Tom Pudding’. Outside, the group were told about the works of Vermuyden in draining the area of Goole Marsh and Chase and Hatfield Chase and his diverting the River Don to form the, one time, navigable ‘Dutch River’; the ceremonial opening of the waterway (complete with the Aire and Calder’s gun boat –for protection in the event of a French invasion!) through to Goole (but how the lack of water meant that the canal was not actually navigable until it filled up several months later) and shown No. 5 Compartment Boat Hoist (being conserved through the efforts of The South Dock Compartment Boat Hoist Co. Ltd) before embarking on two boats for a tour of the docks – that one of the boats was a seventy foot narrow boat made the commentary a mite difficult.

After a buffet lunch at the Museum the group reconvened outside the, sadly, boarded up Lowther Hotel. There was however some good news ‘hot off the press’ about the redevelopment of the Lowther – its proposed conversion into eight apartments. The Developer, at a meeting with the museum curator and an East Riding councillor, had agreed to the hotel’s dining room (the site of the ‘historic’ mural showing the port in early Victorian times) would be set aside for ‘community use’. Hopefully this will protect the mural’s future and access to it for interested parties such as us. Moving off, the group looked at some of the remaining features of the early town – the rounded corners of the original housing – facilitating movement of carts around the streets; the Assembly Rooms (and one time theatre whose life had been curtailed in World War One by a mis-placed bomb during a Zeppelin raid); the site of the town’s first railway station which had co-existed for over twenty years with the town’s later station built on the line to Hull; the ‘mariner’s’ church of St. John the Divine; the ‘Salt and Pepper’ pots – hydraulic storage and water towers; the sites of the old and new markets and some of the later phases of housing (currently under threat of ‘redevelopment’ by the local Council).

One of the participants on the walk was the town’s local history librarian and, following on from the walk, the leaders are in the process of revising the library’s own local history walk. Neil Davies

Urban Regeneration and the Adaptive Re-use of Industrial Buildings AIA Pre-Conference Seminar held 10 August 2007 University of Central Lancashire, Preston

The seminar consisted of a number of short half hour presentations considering how industrial buildings and sites could be effectively re-used. Roy Murphy began the seminar by illustrating some large mill sites in Bolton such as Eagley and Egerton Mills which had recently been converted to apartments after some demolition of associated buildings. Sir John Holden’s Mill (1920s) had been given up by the large mail order firm which had occupied it and would also be converted. Engineering buildings had largely been demolished to create new supermarket sites. Caron Newman, a consultant, illustrated how the climate had changed in East Lancashire from wholesale demolition of weaving mills and terraced housing to adaptation for retail and selective refurbishment for example in Nelson and Burnley. Sylvia Wilson re-inforced this message with a case study of the Whitfield area of Nelson where the Pendle Heritage Trust is assisting local people to renovate local houses, shops and a church.

After lunch, Richard Newman, the County Archaeologist for Cumbria looked at the struggle for survival of port towns such as Lancaster, Maryport and Harrington. The adaptive re-use of merchant’s houses and warehouses have had some success but the harbour facilities were largely redundant and have had to find new uses beyond marinas, aquaria etc. Norman Redhead from the Greater Manchester Archaeology Service gave an update on the recording and excavation of Greater Manchester’s textile mills including the conversion of McConnel and Kennedy’s mills in Ancoats and the important study of Murray’s mills in their context. Alan Johnson from English Heritage spoke on the regeneration of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich and finally Tony Crosby described the role of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the regeneration of industrial heritage.

David George August 2007

Editor’s note: For a detailed examination of many of the mills described in the seminar, it is worth reading Cotton Mills in Greater Manchester by Mike Williams with D. A. Farnie, produced by the Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit in association with the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England and published by Carnegie Publishing Ltd 1992.

The Yorkshire Car Collection, Batley

Many years ago, the Industrial History Section visited this motor museum when it was housed at Keighley, then more recently after its move to one of the Skopos Weaving Mills in Batley. Compared with Coventry’s Road Transport Museum it is not a vast collection and it changes over time as vehicles are restored to running order, rallied or parked by their owners. Today there are rather more modern (1950s-60s) Bentleys, Aston Martins, Jaguars etc than veterans or vintage vehicles. There is also a good range of bicycles of all periods and Yorkshire built motorcycles – Scotts, Brough Superiors and Panthers (Phelan and Moore). Since my last visit the following notable exhibits have been acquired: • An early Lagonda Saloon WA 5786 • TVR (of Blackpool) No 2 (1950) FFV 62 • Bramham (Leeds) 10hp v-twin (1922) NW 2010 • Jowett 7/17 fabric covered saloon 7hp • Bentley 4.5 litres (1930) GH 2830 • Ford Model A (c 1933) RF 6489 Admission is free with normal opening times.

David George

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY SECTION OFFICERS 2007-2008 Chairman Vice- Lecture Membership Secretary Chairmen Secretary & Newsletter Editor

Margaret Tylee Sheila Bye Jane Ellis Margaret Tylee Bill Slatcher