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Ickornshaw Mill
Craven Herald & Pioneer - 3rd December 1937.
Dear Sir,
It was with a feeling of regret (that I
read last week in the columns of your
paper that the old water-wheel at Ickornshaw
Mill was dismantled.
As my forefathers and myself had an-exceedingly
long and interesting connection
with Ickornshaw Mill, I thought it
might be of interest, especially to Cowling
people, to give more of the history and
the people and purposes that the old
wheel has served since 1791. For it was
in that year the mill was built, and the
wheel installed for the manufacture of
candle wicks.
The owners at that time were of the
name of Binns, and one of this family,
Abraham Binns, was the founder of
Ickornshaw Sunday School, entirely at
his own expense. There is a tablet in the School inscribed to
that effect.
The wheel 'itself wan erected under the
supervision of my great-grandfather,
at the age of 18 who then resided
at Bashal Hall, Clitheroe, and
whose father and brothers carried
on an engineering business there, erecting water-wheels in
various parts of the country. As the
people in Cowling at that time were
not seen on taking in lodgers, ho
had to stay at a public-house in
Ickornshaw, and ho fell in love
with, and married, the barmaid. For this breach of family discipline, ho
was disinherited and never returned to
Clitheroe. When the erection of the
wheel was complete, he stayed in the
village and acted as "tenter" of the wheel, blacksmith and
general mill-mechanic, and remained there
for the rest of his
long life.
In 1811, the mill was taken over by
Peter and William Watson for spinning
and weaving purposes. (At that time,
they also owned a spinning mill at Scar
Top, which received its' motive power
from a water-wheel similar to the one at
Ickornshaw). With the advent of the
power-loom, a steam engine and boiler
wore installed, and the boiler was one of
those which were "let off" by bands of hand loom weavers from Lancashire,
who visited Cowling and Lothersdale for the
purpose of arresting the growth of the,
power-loom'. The agitation against this
now textile mechanism which, it was
feared, would deprive them of their
livelihood, was then widespread,
and these visits from over the
county border were
at that time frequent.
Fell Into Wheel.
In later years, the mill was divided and
used solely for weaving, the firms then
being Messrs. Wm. Watson & Sons Ltd.
and, Messrs. John & David Pickles, the
latter eventually removing to Keighley.
It was during this period that the only
accident of any consequence which
happened in connection with the
water-wheel occurred The victim was
Mr. James Watson a member of the firm
of Wm. Watson & Sons Ltd., and this
is the account that has been passed on to me.
He was sitting with others on the
top of what proved to be a very insecure
covering of the water-wheel in the second
storey of the old building and, when he
was rising from his seat, the covering
boards gave way and he fell through
right on top of the wheel, which had just
been started after the dinner hour.
However, he was seen by my grandfather,
who promptly shut off the water and
brought the wheel to a standstill. If he
had fallen a second or two later, my grand-father
would have been out of sight, and
would not have seen the accident. Mr.
Watson was found jammed between
two doors which, at that time, opened from the mill yard into the
wheelhouse,
and he was released with much difficulty.
During his release, he asked for his pipe.
How he escaped death, is difficult for
anyone knowing the position in which
ho was found, to imagine. At the time,
his injuries appeared to be nothing more
than a fractured leg and severe shock,
but I think it is true to say that he never
fully recovered. In
1880, part of the mill was totally
destroyed by fire but the weaving shed
was untouched, and an old lady was
heard to remark when she saw the huge
volume of water being poured on the lire
by the Keighley Fire Brigade, "the poor
horses might well sweat, trailing all that
watter fra Keighley." The old wheel,
although it was in the same building, by
some
miracle emerged from this disastrous fire undamaged, despite the fact that
it
was completely covered by broken,
machinery.
After this fire, the mill was re-built, but
with only two storeys, as at present,
instead of the previous four
storeys, and weaving was carried on
solely by Messrs. Wm. Watson &
Co. Ltd. and later still by Watson's Ltd., who went out of business
in 1902. At that time, I myself was in
charge of the engine and water-wheel.
The mill then stood idle for two years,
when Joseph Shuttleworth, who 20 years
before had loft there as a loom overlooker
and gone to "tackle" looms in Colne,
returned and bought it. My father
resumed his old duties there for four or
five years, when he finally
retired. Up to the time of his
death, Mr. Shuttleworth
ran this mill quite successfully.
Three Generations.
From 1791 to 1906, with a
only five years, the family of were
"engine tenters" at Ickornshaw
Mill which; I think, must be a record.
The years that my father, grandfather and
great-grandfather put into this work
totalled 110, ray father's contribution
being over 40 years. My grandfather
when in charge of the old wheel, engine.
and boiler, used to act as wheel tenter,
gas maker, blacksmith and general mill
mechanic, for which his remuneration
was 15s. per week. However, he augmented
this income by clock dressing,
soldering kettles and pans, glazing, and
the curing of birds and animals. He also
found time, for & period to play the
harmonium on Sundays at the old chapel at Ickornshaw.
One amusing incident which happened
over 50 years ago is, I think, worthy of
mention. At that time, the mill whistle
had to be blown ah 5-30 each morning,
and my father, probably thinking that
this was an unearthly hour to get up and
perform the duty, invented a contraption.
from old clocks, picking bands, a
weaver's beam, pieces of wire and a few
loom weights, which, in his opinion, would
perform the duty for him whilst he slumbered
a little longer. He tried this out on several
occasions (always, of course, being
on the spot in case it failed) and at last. decided
that it was useless to have this
invention and also be there himself. So
the following morning he thought he
would walk quietly to the mill and listen
to his invention operating on its own it
started off all right at the correct time
(how pleased he felt about it), but this
pleasure did not last very long, for he soon realised that it was not
going to stop. His leisurely step
was turned into a run in order
that he might stop the whistle as
quickly as possible It is
recorded, however, that the incident did
bring the hands to work earlier that
morning, as they were anxious to
know what all the noise was about.
But it is only fair to say that
the contraption worked quite well
long after this, and was only
terminated when Messrs. John Binns
& Son took over the responsibility
of rousing the neighbourhood with their
own whistle, which made a much
louder
sound.
Could Run
180 Looms
And now to revert to the old wheel.
I should like to say here that it was
capable, when water was plentiful, of
developing 50/60, h.p. equivalent to the
running of 150 to 180 looms. I
have
witnessed this performance on many
occasions for hours at a time with the
engine completely stopped. It may be
added that no repairs whatever were done
to the wheel, except by those who were in
charge, until Mr. Shuttleworth had it
overhauled in the year 1910, which
testifies to the material and workman-ship
which had been put into it 119
years before.
With the engine and boiler having long
since gone, and now the old wheel the
connection which I and my forefathers
had with Ickornshaw Mill for so many
years is now at an end.
Yours faithfully,
JAS.
W. DAWS0N
Brunswick Road
Morecambe.
30/11/37.
(Mr.
Dawson is a director of the Creban
Manufacturing Company, Ltd. West
Gate Mills, Morecambe.)
Credits -
David Hoyle for providing this news cutting
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