Ron Freethy's England: Oswaldtwistle Mills

IN recent columns I have mentioned James Hargreaves and his invention of the Spinning Jenny.

Recently I visited the museum at Halifax and saw an exhibition of machines including a Jenny.

After that I had an interesting letter from Peter Hargreaves, who is the managing director of Oswaldtwistle Mills.

He pointed out that he is an ancestor of James Hargreaves and also told me that the Jenny at Halifax is a Mark Two.

A Mark One model is on display at Oswaldtwistle.

I set off there to see their Time Tunnel Exhibition and saw the Mark One Jenny, which is much more simple and also smaller than the Mark Two.

This really could be operated in a house and did not need the factory conditions which soon developed after its invention.

The Time Tunnel, which opened recently and is now going from strength to strength, tells of the 300-year history of the cotton industry. The Oswaldtwistle (or Moscow) Mill has kept up with modern developments and a few days ago installed a new high-speed loom.

This is a real cause for optimum because it proves that the Lancashire cotton Industry isn't quite dead.

Apart from the Jenny and the new high-speed loom, this is the place to see what a weaver's cottage looked like in the 1750s.

Peter Hargreaves and his team have produced a perfect combination of a working mill, a museum and a mill shop which sells not only textiles but all sorts of arts and crafts.

There is also a "working" shop where traditional sweets can be eaten at the same time as finding out how they were made in Victorian times.

If you fancy having a gander at the biggest pear drop in the world, then "Ossie Mill" is the place for you.

Talking about ganders, the mill lodge has been converted into a wildfowl refuge, another of Peter Hargreaves' ideas to keep Lancashire cotton on the map.

James the Jenny Man would have been proud of his ancestor.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.