Welcome to The Briercliffe Society Forum

There were three mills along that stretch of Elm Street, Throstle mill, Daneshouse mill and Old Hall mill. My mother and dad both worked at Daneshouse mill after they left school, that would be in the mid/late 1920s. My grannie worked there, too. My dad said Daneshouse mill had over 1000 looms at that time, and that there were other mills further along Elm Street, all backing on to the canal. He often spoke of the mill as "Thornber's," the reference being to the owner.

Joan

Mill postcards

Mill workers
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LANCS-BURNLEY-ARE ... .m14.l1318

Mill worker
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LANCS-BURNLEY-ARE ... .m14.l1318

Fire at Birley’s mill, Burnley
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LANCS-BURNLEY-FIR ... .m14.l1318

Kris, Birley Mill burnt down in 1905, it was almost entirely gutted, It was brought back into use though in 1945. Apparently it took 2 days for the fire to burn out. It was worked by Haythornthwaite brothers when it reopened.


Stephanie.

Thanks. i have seen other postcards of this fire but I didn’t have any details on it or the mill.

£8 seems a high starting price for a ppc. or is it me in scrooge mode?

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

There is an article titled 'Your Cotton worker families' in the August issue of Family Tree Magazine. It gives a brief description of some of the jobs in the cotton mills.

Beamer - wound the warp from the bobbins of cotton onto the beam of the loom.

Overlooker - a feared person, who checked the quality of the cloth from the looms; rejected cloth meant a loss of wages, persistent sub-standard work led to dismissal.

Doffer - a vital job, this person changed a spools on the mule without stopping the machine.

Warp dresser - a skilled worker specialising in weaving short lengths with exclusive designs that commanded high prices.

Scavenger and piecer - a worker, often a child paid on piece rates to pick up loose cotton from under the machinery and who tied or 'pieced' the broken ends of yarn on a spinning mule. All had to be nimble and quick, many of them worked in bare feet.

Reacher in - an assistant on power looms who literally reached into the machine to correct any minor malfunction.

Tackler - men who repaired looms and ensured they were kept running smoothly.

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Reacher-in

He didn't reach into the loom itself. He was usually a youngster who would 'grow up' to be a twister(-in), and in fact he was an assistant to the twister. The twister's job was to attach, by twisting or knotting, the ends of the new warp threads to the old ends. The reacher-in worked at the other side of the eyes of the healds (heddles).

I think you can see this sort of thing being done at Queen St mill in Harle Syke.

I had four generations of twisters in my ancestry. The last, my grandfather, when retired , would take two threads of cotton in his hand, between thumb and forfinger, rub them together it would seem for a second, and they would then be seamlessly connected together.

Rex

I have received a query by email asking some of the jobs in the mills. In particular, can anyone give more detail on what the following would do please

Beamer, Piecer ,Tackler & Enginetenter.

(Beamer & tackler are mentioned higher up the topic)

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!