Description
A late eighteenth or early nineteenth century cotton mill, disused c.1900. It then had a second career as a fun- palace, both before and after the First World War.
The property is the subject of the Region's Centenary project. In connection with this the internal floors have been recorded for traces of the weaving machinery, due to be lost when the flags are lifted and replaced. Similarly the engine house, to the NE of the complex has been emptied by archaeological means, and recorded.
From NT VBS
"Early cotton spinning mill, forming centre of mill complex. Constructed of well dressed gritstone with gritstone dressings. A main portion of 6 window bays and an extra portion of two bays. Main portion has flagstone ground floor showing positions of machinery. Other floor of timber with wooden beams, painted for fireproofing. The windows have internal sloping sills to settle the cotton dust. Chimney at west for fireplaces to heat mill. large chimney at east for later steam engine. Originally powered by water wheel. Wheel pit and culvert remain. Ground floor metal columns for MC19 looms? or other machinery remain. Evidence for drive shaft mechanisms remain in east gable. Flagstone roof carried on five trusses. Below the chimney stack are the original privies of the mill, now blocked. East extension served as a warehouse, and later used as a kitchen. ON the second floor there is a EC20 range"
From NT VBS (1992)
"Gibson Mill is an isolated and now abandoned cotton mill complex in the wooded valley of Hebden Dale. The first generation mill and ancillary buildings present an impressive relic of the West Ridings Industrial heritage. Due to the physical constraints of the site, the early buildings are relatively unencumbered by later developments. However, the internal machinery has been removed. An important part of the site's character is the balance between the industrial realities of the mill complex and the ideas of the "sublime" in nature displayed by the woodland.
History.
Ray Barker has collected a large archive concerning the history of Gibson Mill. The majority of the material concerns the post- industrial use of the buildings. An outline of the earlier history is given in a local tourist guide (P.Thomas, 1973)
The Gibson Mill complex dates from c.1800. This places it at a pivotal point in the history of the textile industry. During the MC18 and LC18 innovations in the cotton and woollen industries led to the rapid development of the factory system of production towards the end of the C18.
The true first generation factories were the silk mills of the EC18. However, due to political and economic circumstances, the cotton industry of Lancashire and the North-West became the leader in industrial expansion. Cotton has physical properties more suited to the mechanisation of production than wool. Lancashire was the ideal centre for the cotton industry at the time. This was for four reasons. First, raw cotton was imported through Liverpool. Second, the water required for power and washing was plentiful in the valleys of the western Pennines. Third, the damp climate facilitated the handling of the cotton thread. Fourth, Lancashire was not a traditional textile area and was not affected by the restrictive practices of the Yorkshire woollen trade (Cossons, N., 1987)
Gibson Mill may be viewed as being located on the eastern fringe of the Lancashire cotton region. However, it is located in the old parish of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. This was an area with a long established woollen industry. Thus, the mill complex is an early example of how the factory system developed from the earlier domestic system of clothiers.
In the C18 most of the woollen industry was controlled by clothiers. Work as "put out" to spinners and weavers in the villages. In the Halifax area independent clothiers were very common. Buying wool and producing cloth which they then sold to merchants in the Piece Hall. Initially, the cotton industry developed along similar lines. Independent clothiers buying raw cotton, processing it and taking the finished cloth to market for sale. Daniel Defoe gives a useful description of the domestic system in the parish of Halifax in the EC18 (Defoe, D., 1724).
Gibson Mill was built in c.1800 by Abraham Gibson, clothier of Greenwood Lee (SD969269). During the LC18 Greenwood Lee was used for cotton spinning. The Gibsons increased production by moving the spinning operations to the new mill constructed in the valley by the river. T.Jeffrey's map of 1775 shows the house at Greenwood Lee on the road on the hillside to the west of Hebden Valley. Originally the mill was known as Lord Holme Mill (P.Thomas, 1973). However, as early as 1834 the complex was referred to as Gibson Mills. Both names were used in the EC20.
Although on the east bank of Hebden Water, the mill is in Heptonstall township. It is on the boundary with Wadsworth township. This was the boundary of the Gibson's lands and Lord Saville's estate.
In order to attract the required workforce, cottages were provided on the site. The design of these allows processes such as weaving to the carried out on a domestic basis. A useful supplementary income when not working in the mill [doesn't make sense in original text]. Such cottages are a characteristic feature of early mill complexes (Caffyn, L.1986)
The mill was controlled by the Gibson family until the early 1830s. During the 1820s the Gibsons were listed as cotton spinners of Heptonstall in the directories. Between the early 1830s and 1861 the control of the mill had passed to the Gaukroger family. This family also ran the New Bridge Mill; another early mill in the valley near the entrance to the present woods.
The 1833 plan of the Township of Heptonstall and its valuation shows that Lord Holme Mill, plot 441, was owned by Grace and Nancy Gibson. It was rented to Titus Gaukroger. Four cottages area also recorded on plot 441; one being tenanted by Titus Gaukroger. Also, a row of three cottages in Greenwood Lee wood (SD973295) are shown as plot 440. These were owned by Abraham Gibson, and presumably tenanted by mill workers. All that remains of these are three low revetment walls adjacent to the track. They are shown as buildings on 1968 OS map.
The report of the Factories Inquiries Commission (1833) records that the Gaukrogers were producing cotton throstle twist in a water powered mill. There were 21 paid workers and 1 piece worker. A study of the 1851 census shows a significant concentration of cotton based factory occupations close to the mill. In a possible labour catchment area for Gibson Mill, 45 people were listed as having cotton factory based occupations in silk, cotton or wool (Greenwood, A., 1988). It has been suggested that conditions at the mill, although poor, were probably better than in the main urban areas of the Lancashire cotton industry. However, extremely bad living conditions and virulent disease were recorded in the locality. A study of living conditions and typhus outbreaks in the nearby village of Heptonstall Slack (SD980286) was published in 1844 (Brears, P., 1987)
In 1840 the Gaukrogers took out a further 21 year lease on the mill and cottages (Sutcliffe estate papers, item 105: in Thomas, P., 1973). At the end of this time a directory lists the Gibsons as cotton and worsted manufacturers of Lord Holme Mill. After 1865 the Gibsons had also taken over the operations at New Bridge Mill. Numerous other leases and suites for bankruptcy under the title of Lord Holme Mill are kept in the Calderdale Archives Office, Halifax (Abstracts and notes in the R.Barker Archives, Beningbrough).
The directory evidence indicates the decline of the Gibson Mill complex as a factory during the 1890s. It appears that the mill was no longer used for spinning, although weaving continued. Kelly's Directory of the West Riding for 1893 and 1897 lists "Abraham Gibson, weaver, Gibson Wood and New Bridge Mills". The 1894 OS map names the wood on the west side of the valley as "Gibson Wood or Greenwood Lee Wood".
P.Thomas dates the closure of the mill between the last directory reference in 1897 and 1901. This is as accurate as is possible on the present evidence.
In its post-industrial phase the mill complex was converted to an amusement centre and catering establishment. The buildings served as a restaurant, dance hall and roller skating rink. Most of these activities had ceased by the 1950s, although the cottages were used after this date as a cafe (Taylor, D. 1986). In 1902 the Hebden Times and Gazette reported that the mill was to open as a leisure centre. A mortgage to pay for this development was released in 1918. It refers to
"All that mill or factory heretofore Cotton factory called Lord Holme Mill or Gibson Mill with the Weaving shed, warehouse, cottages, engine house and other buildings and premises thereto adjoining or belonging but which mill.... has been for a long time disused and used only as Refreshment rooms in the summer season"
The refreshment rooms were rented by Wm. Shackleton.
The "sublime" character of Hardcastle Crags made them a popular place for the tourist trade. The first recorded purpose built refreshment chalet was built in 1887 (Horsfall, F., and Wyke, T., 1986). One such LC19/EC20 chalet, upstream of Gibson Mill, is shown on the undated sketch map of "Gibson Wood and Land".
Phasing.
The various phases of the mill are of uncertain dates. P.Thomas has suggested various functions and dates for the parts of the mill. It appears from an inspection of the buildings that the construction of the mill was followed by a period of development in the EC19. Weaving was introduced in the MC19. Steam power led to the re-ordering of the interior of the mill. There appears to have been further developments to the steam power in the 1860s or later. All the existing buildings had been built by the 1890s.
The main construction of the mill is in two phases. The larger portion, to the west of the straight joint in the south flank, was built in c.1800. Initially it was water powered by an internal water wheel. The water was held in the small pond against the north flank of the mill. At the north-east corner there was a small projection to the plan. This housed a privy for each floor of the mill. Numbers 4 and 5 in the row of worker's cottages are contemporary with the first phase of the mill. The single cottage number 6 and the bridge also date from this first phase.
By 1834 cottage numbers 2 and 3 had been added to the existing pair. Three further cottages in Greenwood Lee Wood had been built by this date. These are now ruinous.
The dating of the other portions of the complex is less clear. The east extension of the mill is stylistically very similar to the rest of the mill. However, it is not shown on the 1834 map. Nor does it appear on the first edition OS map of 1851. Although this appears to be very late in relation to the rest of the mill, it presumably dates from the 1850s. In plan and form it resembles a warehouse.
The weaving shed is an early design. It is unclear whether the building shown at the west of the mill on the 1st edition OS map is the weaving shed. However, the shed dates from either the 1840s or 1850s. P.Thomas suggests a date in then 1860s. Such a late date does not seem plausible.
It is possible to say that steam power was introduced to the mill in the Mc19. This led to a re-ordering of the kill in its internal organisation. The first steam engine may have been housed in the east extension to the mill. The iron columns one the ground floor main room date from this period, as do the various blocked openings in the east gable of the main mill.
The Engine House is of LC19 date. It is shown on the 1894 OS map. It is no earlier than the 1860s. The construction of the engine house corresponds to the use of a steam engine that employed ropes as the means of transmission of power to the machinery inside the mill (Cossons, N., 1987). A second mill pond was built between 1851 and 1894.
The stable is contemporary with the engine house. Cottage number 6 was altered in the Lc19. Originally a pair, the south cottage was demolished and replaced by a range of lean-to store rooms. Cottage number 1, at the north end of the row of cottages is also of LC19 date. It post-dates the use of the east extension of the mill as a warehouse. This is evidenced as it blocks the cart entrance in the south side of the mill.
By 1894 the full compliment of buildings at the complex, including the now demolished ancillary buildings to the bridge and the privy, had been built. The subsequent post-industrial uses and stages of abandonment have led to a steady decline in the buildings.
Architectural description
Constructed of well coursed hammer dressed gritstone, three- storied. The main, west, portion has six window bays. The windows have plain gritstone surrounds with projecting sills; small paned fixed frames. There are two projecting string courses, one at each upper floor level. The window interiors have sloping sills; this was to reduce the amount of cotton dust in the atmosphere. At the north east corner there was a privy on all three floors. These have now been blocked. A window is visible on the east side and blocked doors may be seen on the interior gable. At the west gable there is a small gritstone chimney. This served a flue for a fireplace on each floor to heat the mill. These are now blocked and leave no trace. On the south flank wall a straight joint is clearly visible. To the east of this is the warehouse extension. The two window bays are very similar to those in the main portion of the mill. A cart entrance with a segmental arch of gritstone allowed access from the mill yard. This has been partitioned by a brick wall to form an entrance to the extension and a porch for the east door into the main mill. The east gable of the extension is constructed at a pronounced angle to the main mill body. It has three bays of windows to the first floor. The second and third floors have central pitching eyes for warehouse operations. At the north east corner is a tall cambered chimney, rising from a string course with a projecting string course near the top. This once presumably served the steam and also serves the range on the second floor.
The main entrance to the ground floor is through the weaving shed. The door is panelled and carried on strap hinges. Inside all the machinery is missing. The ground floor is of flagstones; the sockets for the looms are still visible. Also the iron columns for the line shafts remain. These are of MC19 date. They relate to a phase when the power source was in the east extension of the mill. In the east gable, between the main body of the mill and the extension, there is a projection and an alcove (in the east extension, first floor). These appear to be all that remains of the drive mechanism of the MC19.
At the west of the ground floor is the original wheel pit. This would have housed the original water wheel. In the north flank wall the relieving arch to the sluice from the mill pond remains. Although this is an original feature, its construction is awkward. The arch fills the space of two window bays. It appears that when built the frames were left "unfinished"; this has led to slumping in the lower courses of the mill. Blocked openings in the west gable allowed the wheel to drive machinery in the yard, later weaving shed, to the west of the mill. A trap door allows access to a large stone lined culvert below the wheel pit. Aligned approximately N/S, this allows water to flow under the mill. The exit to the culvert into Hebden Water is still open, downstream of the mill. Here it consists of a segmental arch of gritstone.
The wheel pit now houses the Gilkes turbine. This was used in the C20 to provide electricity in the mill. When it was installed in c.1900 it was already and outdated model, presumably having been moved from elsewhere.
The ceiling to all three floors are carried by large cross beams. These have been painted. It was common practice to use paint as a fire precaution in early mills before the introduction of iron constructions (Cossons,N., 1987). Whether this was the case at Gibson Mill or if the paint dates from a later phase remain unclear. The two upper floors are of wood, as is the roof space floor. The ceilings are of lath plaster. The wooden staircase with its boarded sides was inserted at a late stage, probably in the post-industrial phase. However, some of the steps are of stone. Thus the original stairs would have been against this wall.
The flagstone roof is carried on two sets of pine purlins and five trusses. The timber has been repaired and replaced at various times. Mainly through purlins; some replaced with back purlins, supported by cleats on the principal rafters. The trusses are of a C19 collar and tiebeam construction. They have a pair of queen struts, a pair of rafter struts, two pairs to raking struts and a king block carrying the ridge plate. Metal tie bar brackets attach the principal rafters and queen struts to the tie beam. The tie beam also serves as the ceiling beam for the second floor.
The roof to the east extension is carried on purlins. The east extension is built in the angle between the chimney stack and the main mill. The gable wall is angled away from the main mill to create a large area. Like the rest of the mill, it is of three stories. The upper floors are carried on beams aligned in an east-west axis between the gable walls. Trap doors connect all the floors together. This is evidence that this section of the mill did indeed serve as a warehouse. In the ground floor there is a blocked door into the main mill. In the north wall there is an iron pipe from the mill pond. This may relate to the use of the room to house a steam engine. In the west gable there is a blocking and also a partial straight joint. The phasing is very uncertain; however, it appears that the gable wall may incorporate an earlier boundary wall. The doors are of plank and battened carried straight on late strap hinges. There is a further wooden structure of C20 date acting as a store.
On the first floor, in the gable of the main mill is a recess. This has a massive gritstone lintel and jambs with pommel dressing. Inside is a worn sandstone platform. This presumably housed the mechanism to drive the line shaft for the machinery inside the mill. On the north wall a straight joint is visible towards the east, where the return wall joins the privy of the mill. The second floor contains a large Edwardian range, dating from the period that Gibson Mill served as a refreshment hall. The lifting shaft connecting all the floors also appears to be of EC20 date."