TOWARDS the close of the 18th and early years of the 19th century many small speculative textile mills were built along the watercourses of the upper Worth Valley.
All of them were water powered and many were no bigger than a couple of large cottages.
Fishers Lodge Mill is a rare survivor of one of these early mills and although the fenestration has been altered over the years the structure remains largely the same.
It stands on the bank of Moorhouse Beck in what was historically known as Nar, or Near Oxenhope.
Mill band on a worsted spinning frame. Picture: Bradford Industrial Museum
It was built in 1795 by William Rushworth of Mouldgreave, a yeoman’s house just a short distance away from the mill.
A year later it was tenanted by John Hartley and set up for spinning worsted yarn.
The wheel that provided the power was inside the mill, against the east gable, and was fed from two mill ponds.
Water was drawn from a weir across Moorhouse Beck and then fed along a goit into the first pond.
A 19th century plan showing Fishers Lodge Mill, Oxenhope. Picture: Steven Wood Collection
The first pond then fed into the second one and that was immediately above the mill.
A trough, the width of the wheel, dropped the water directly onto it from this pond.
The mill is unlikely to have accommodated more than four spinning frames that were located on the top floor, with the preparing machinery on the floor below.
Next to the mill Rushworth built two cottages. These dwellings would have occupied the ground and first floor whilst the second, the top floor, would have housed handlooms where the yarn was woven into cloth.
Additional yarn would also have been put out to other local handloom weavers.
Hartley would then have sold the finished cloth to merchants, probably at the Piece Hall in Halifax.
John Hartley was still running the mill in 1834 but by 1837 it was occupied by William Thomas, who continued spinning worsted yarn.
However, the days of the small, worsted spinning mill were coming to an end.
They were unable to compete with the larger mills, or the introduction of the power loom.
Other uses had now to be found for mill and by 1851 it was occupied by John Mason as an engineering shop where he made spindles and flyers for spinning frames.
It would appear to be an unlikely location for such an enterprise but surprisingly he employed eight men and four boys at the works.
When Mason’s business closed the mill was then taken by James Dewhirst who converted it to make mill band. Mill band was cotton twine, a little thicker than the average pencil.
It was used in spinning frames to spin the waarls, or spindle whorls, that were driven from a single tin drum that ran centrally along the length of the frame.
Mill band was essential to keep a machine running and was required in large quantities.
At the height of production Dewhirst had eleven employees, including women and boys.
The introduction of more mechanised machines made band production less labour intensive and by 1871 he was only employing one man, two women and a boy.
After some 20 years at Fishers Lodge he moved his business to Dunkirk Mill, where he took room and power from the mills steam engine.
Fishers Lodge Mill was then occupied by John Feather and his son Arthur.
They were local men and made brushes. Their hand brushes and sweeping brushes were not only for household use, but were essential for keeping machinery and mill floors clean.
The brush business ran until John Feather retired in the early 20th century.
After the Feathers left the mill, its industrial use ended. It remained disused and is now part of the dwelling at Fishers Lodge.