Collection: Coldharbour Mill

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Science and Industry Collection

  The main collection of the museum comprises the land, buildings and contents of the worsted spinning mill which was acquired from Fox Brothers Ltd when the factory was closed in 1981. The working mill consists of: the main factory on five levels; the grist mill on four levels; the engine house; the boiler house; the economiser house; the factory chimney and associated flues; the carpenters shop; the dye and weavers cottage and storeroom; the gas retort house; the animal house; and various workshops. The main factory has on five levels: the combing shed with a complete set of preparer machines dating from c.1890-1920; the worsted spinning shed houses the machines for the now obsolete Bradford Open Drawing Process for spinning worsted yarn, the frames date from 1898-1959; and in the woollen and weaving display there is a scribbler and carding set and a woollen mule and a Hattersley Standard loom dated 1955, a warp winding machine and ancillary winding machines. The engine house has a 1910 300 horsepower Pollit and Wigzell horizontal cross-compound drop valve steam engine that powered the mill up to its closure. The boiler house contains two boilers of 1889 and 1910 and ancillary equipment. The weaver’s cottage is furnished as a cottage industry display with various appropriate artefacts There is a small collection of other obsolete objects still in everyday use, including oil cans; worker’s notices; and old machine tools. A beam engine, scrapped during the life of the mill has been rescued and added to the collection.

  Subjects

  Science and Industry

  Social History Collection

  There is material relating to the Fox family, the owners of the mill.

  Subjects

  Social History; Costume and Textile; Oral History; Photography

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC