Not in a mill, but an old foundry in Mabgate, a group of members and friends found their way to a transformed meeting space. The staff gave us a quick introduction to MAP Charity – The Hope Foundry Project and told us about the work they do to support young people at risk from being excluded from mainstream education. They’ve also now constructed units in this huge building to rent out to creatives as well as this Refectory meeting space, which support the charity through additional income.
Neil Horsley, the photographer and researcher, was here to tell us about his book ‘Mills Transformed’. We learned that he’d been a Town and Country Planner and was self-employed when Covid hit. Having time on his hands, he decided to join Bingley Camera Club and filled his days drawn to many of the old and decaying mills in the north, which are of course most picturesque and a perfect subject for photography. As well as what appeared to be hopelessly derelict sites, he found many that offered a very positive story.
In his presentation, we enjoyed Neil’s fabulous photography, as an outcome of his newfound pastime, and heard the anecdotes from when he met those owners and entrepreneurs who have bought mills back to life; inspiring people who had plenty of human interest stories, including living through the winter in the semi derelict mills with no heating whilst regenerating the building.
Some mills are quite remote, where just about everyone in the area was once employed in the mill and lost their job when the mill closed. These mills have been most successfully transformed into tranquil domestic accommodation, making a delightful small community in the exceptionally beautiful countryside, like Oats Royd in Luddenden Foot, others are now spaces of hustle and bustle once again, but as a visitor destinations, such as Sunnybank Mills in Farsley and Salts Mill in Saltaire (a UNESCO World Heritage site), both encouraging entrepreneurship and creativity whilst boosting the value of properties adjacent to their location and offering us plenty to spend our money on.
Neil suggested that due to the size and centrality of many mills within a community, they are beacons and landmarks for the area and should be considered as important as Cathedrals and Churches. He specifically mentioned the part they played in the Industrial Revolution when mills produced the wealth of this country for decades. It is interesting that it was mostly women and children who did the most dangerous work in mills to make the owners and the country rich.
Some mill owners built model villages for their workers, thus making way for Town Planning. Salts Mill was believed to be the biggest building in the world where whole families were employed. Their housing, education, health and wellbeing was also taken care of, just a short walk away; perhaps a forerunner to the idea of a 15-minute city!
But it wasn’t all about nurture. There were endless battles fought in mills regarding Employment Rights; children under 14 would be working 62 hours a week, some having to crawl under weaving looms, with their hair getting caught in the machinery… things had to change. Strikes at Manningham Mills were significant in the rise of the Labour movement to bring about better working conditions.
Many civic buildings such as town halls were founded and funded by mill owners. Just as these historic mill owners were often significant industrialists and risk takers, so too are those who take on these vast mill buildings today, with a vision to transform them into a business. The architecture of these spaces lends itself to new life. The mills were solidly built and, provided arsonists don’t get there first, should stand for many more decades if only developers with the right understanding of conservation, preservation and determination are prepared to take that risk.
The book covers thirty or so projects, many of which are now family-run businesses, with one family referring to their mill as a ‘family heirloom’ (pun intended, no doubt). Neil told us of many risk takers he met whilst working on his book were passionate and eccentric people. The story I liked the most, was of Charles Moran, who left school at 15. He eventually came to own the fourth largest demolition company in the world. When he sold his company, he stopped knocking things down and started investing in building back up, as illustrated here, Mills Transformed – Woodhouse Mill.
It takes all sorts to keep our heritage buildings as beacons of the community and to find new purposes for them in the 21st century and beyond. We are ever hopeful that more people will come forward to do just that.
Our thanks to Neil for illuminating us and to John Hudson Publishing whose focus is on the history of Place. Together they have produced a most fascinating and encouraging book.
