17 September - At Mill

I discovered on Ancestry.com that most of my ancestors emigrated from Lancashire, England. The geographic origins on both sides of the family covers a pretty small area: Preston, Oldham, Chorley, Aston-under-Lyne, Blackburn, Clitheroe. When you figure the entire county of Lancashire is only slightly over 3,000 square kilometers, we aren't talking a lot of geography. I learned that my paternal grandfather worked at mill, as they say here. He emigrated from Preston to New Bedford, MA, because there were textiles mills there too, and he wanted a better, fairer life. Seeing the mill towns here and learning about the conditions of workers, historically speaking, gave me a new appreciation for my grandfather and those that came before him. I was lucky enough to find a cousin still living in Lancashire through Ancestry DNA. We met last year and she and her husband were kind enough to take me to Queen Street Mill, one of the mills-turned-museums in Burnley. I’m now kind of obsessed with mills and decided that I wanted to see another mill in the Manchester area, Helmshore Mills. This was going to prove to be harder than I thought. We’re dependent upon public transportation and walking, with the occasional Uber, but I was determined to make the 1.5 hour trip to Helmshore Mills Textile Museum.

Figuring out how to get there was a bit of a challenge. Google maps in the UK is pretty worthless, but I worked it out and set out for the bus station, about a 15 minute walk. Caught the X41 bus and made the 55 minute trip to Helmshore. The driver directed me which way to walk. Well, 30 minutes of steep downhill then steep uphill walking, then down a long road, I made it at last. Helmshore Mill was at various times a cotton mill and a wool mill. William Turner, the owner was a crafty fellow who found many ways to increase his fortunes. When it was decided that a railway had to pass by the mill and some of the mill had to be demolished, he was paid 5,000 pounds compensation, a huge amount in 1849. Of course, he was on the board of directors who decided where the railroad would go, so kind of sneaky. He also benefitted by being able to ship his products very easily with the railroad at his back door.

The history of the textile industry in England could fill up several blog posts but suffice it to say, much of the wealth of the UK came from wool. The properties of the fleece varies with the breed. Some fleece makes lovely fine wool while others are coarse and used for things like army blankets or industrial products. Weaving was originally done on small looms in a weaver's home. The children would take the shorn fleece and card it. That's where the fleece is combed between two wire brushes, to straighten the fiber and remove any knots or burrs. Then the older women of the family would spin the wool into thread. That thread would be used as the warp and weft of the fabric. If a man wasn't married and had no sisters or cousins to work with him, he could buy thread from widows or unmarried women in town, known as spinsters, since that's what they did all day, Eventually machinery was invented that allowed all the processes to be industrialized. Giant mills sprang up and mill owners built very basic housing which the workers could rent. They didn't do it to help the workers, but to make sure that they were close to the mill and could work longer hours, as well as to police their behavior.

Anyway, In the process of finishing the wool, it would be soaked in urine. It was someone's unenviable job to go to all the houses of the workers and collect their urine. most people were paid 1 pence for their bucket, redheads and and pregnant women made 1.5 pence and widows made 2 pence. (This is the origin of the phrase "piss poor".) The urine was aged till it turned into ammonia (ick!), then would be used to strip the wool of its oils (lanolin) and would also form a soapy mixture that lubricated the fibers during the matting process. Once the woolen matting was formed it was placed on tenterhooks (origin of yet another phrase) to be scraped down with teasels (heads of a thistle-like plant). This loosened the fibers and the excess fiber was cut off. If you did a very good job of cutting the fibers, you were "a cut above." Who knew?

The cotton side of the mill also featured amazing stories and machinery.

It wasn't just adults who worked at the mills.

Young children worked machinery that could be operated by "unskilled labor." They had to keep their hair tied in tight buns so that it wouldn't get caught in the machinery. At the end of the week when they had their day off, they would "let their hair down." Women made up a large percentage of the work force. Look how young some of those workers are.

The mills would switch between cotton and wool when necessary. During the civil war, when cotton wasn't available, the mill switched back to wool.

For me, the best part of the tour was when the long row of spinning machines were turned on to demonstrate how the cotton was spun. According to a census record and an immigration form I found on Ancestry, my grandfather worked as a carder when he was young and as a spinner supervisor when he was older.

I wandered around the mill a bit more then walked to catch my bus. Happily the woman at the till told me I had come the very long way and directed me via a quicker route. I had just missed the bus, of course, so had to wait 50 minutes with no place around to kill time or have a bite. The bus came and I was told this wasn't the bus I wanted. It was the one that stops over there. Great. That bus would arrive in 50 minutes. I was about ready to cry. Then I remembered Uber, but thought, "Yikes, this is going to cost a fortune", since the bus ride took 50 minutes. Well hurrah, hurrah, it would only be 20 pounds and take 35 minutes. My Uber driver apparently has delusions of being a pilot, so we made it in about 20 minutes.

Home again, made a simple dinner at home after a nice G&T.