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Burnley Express
Saturday 04 May 1901
Local Reminiscences
[By Tattersall Wilkinson]
At the beginning of the last century the principal number of the inhabitants in this district gained a livelihood by hand-loom weaving which consisted chiefly of woollen fabrics. Prior to the introduction of the cotton industry, vast quantities of hand-loom woven goods, the production of cottage industry, were carried by pack horses over Widdop Head and the "Long Causeway," to the "Piece Hall" at Halifax, then the centre of the woollen trade, an interesting reminiscence of which is preserved in the number of old fashioned oaken cased clocks found in the farmhouses and cottages in the outlying moorland districs east of Burnley. The maker's name on the dial is Thomas Lister, Halifax, showing the business connections between the respective districts. A short time ago, on making inquiry at Halifax, I found that the Listers were an old established firm some two centuries old, and located in Lister-lane.
The hand-loom of my youth, of which I had a gruesome practical experience, was a rude and primitive cumbersome wooden machine, the warp was drawn from the beam by a latch and rope, at intervals of three or four inches. The invention of a wheel round the cloth beam with cogs and worked by the tread of the foot, was considered a great invention, and was called the dandy. It was brought into practical use in Burnley by Messrs. Spencer and Moore, cotton manufacturers, at the Dandy Shop, Keighley Green, now occupied by Messrs. J. Taylor's wine merchants, as a warehouse. I have it on good authority from a Burnley gentleman who is an extensive employer of labour, that one of the first spinning mills inaugurated in Burnley was in what is now a small block of cottages at Lane Bridge; they are situated in a hollow a few yards east of the Ship Inn; the motive power was supplied by a small stream of water descending from Healey Heights, occasionally assisted during the dry season by a man turning a handle in connection with the water-wheel. This stream, I believe, still exists, and finds its way into the Calder near the gas works. The development of the cottage bobbin engine with its dozen spindles turned by hand, of which I have a lively recollection, to the magnificent machines which produce clothing for the world, will form a wonderful chapter in the world's history. A grand subject for the future historian.
Reverting back to the days of Charles II., before the advent of the cotton industry, the importation of linen created a deep feeling of jealousy and animosity on the part of the woollen manufacturers, we find that a statute was passed entitled an act for lessening the importation of linen from beyond the sea (probably Ireland) and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufactories of the kingdom, and by it it was provided, under a penalty of £5, half of which was to be distributed to the poor of the parish, that at every interment throughout the country a certificate should be presented to the officiating minister stating that the winding sheet of the deceased person was composed of woollen material and not linen, as hitherto. The certificate had to be attested by two justices of the peace accompanied by an affidavit. Mr. William Stanworth, a worthy descendant of a family of worshippers at Haggate Baptist Chapel, informs me that in the archives at Haggate there is a certificate of the above character in reference to a corpse buried there, brought from COlne wrapped in a sheep skin with the wool inwards enveloping the body.
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Mel
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