The Thirteenth Mill

I recently completed a FutureLearn course. That in itself was a pretty good achievement for me. Years ago, I discovered FutureLearn and signed up enthusiastically for lots of courses to do in my spare time. I think I completed 0.

That, however, was wayyyy before Covid (or BC, if you will). In the full throttle of lockdown, I first managed to complete an excellent course on early film. The inspiration behind this art piece, though, was a course about textile factories and mills. So I’ve actually completed 2 courses. I’m proud.

I was drawn to this because of my not-too-distant heritage. I grew up in a place called Barnoldswick – or ‘Barlick’. Visit Pendle summarises it quite nicely: “The town is tucked away on the border of Lancashire and Yorkshire, and is situated in a beautiful part of the world with lots of great walks and cycle rides”. Wikipedia, on the other hand, comments on its status as one of the longest place names in the UK not to repeat any letters… I’d say ‘Barlick proper’ is probably somewhere in the middle of these descriptions!

The reason my hometown inspired interest in this course is that, back in the day, the town boasted 13 mills. It, like many other towns in the area, was part of the great cotton- and wool- weaving industry in the north of England. Indeed, a few years ago I perused the 1911 census to find some of my ancestors living as cotton weavers just down the road from where I grew up. The youngest member of the family working in the mills was 13.

The thirteenth, and final, mill was Bancroft Mill. It now functions as a museum but, according to its website, it was completed in 1920 and remained in full working order until 1978. At its peak, 200,000 yards of cotton cloth could be produced there every week. Nowadays it’s a surviving artefact of the town’s weaving past and has the last remaining chimney in the town after the Fernbank Mill chimney was demolished in 2011.

Confession time. I grew up in this town for most of my childhood and have always had family connections there (my most recent ancestors on that side of my family really only moved to the next town on and then back again!) but I’ve never been to Bancroft Mill. I suppose that’s often the case. You’re not really interested as a kid in the things on your doorstep! 

Whilst completing the mill course, I decided I wanted to paint something iconic from the town and focused on Bancroft and its iconic chimney. I’d say the watercolours of my final piece depict a more romantic version of the old mill than a realistic representation but I wanted to capture the beauty of the surrounding countryside and the peace that the mill now sits within. A strong contrast, no doubt, to the experiences of the many mill workers of the town – including my great great grandparents and their family.