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Description: | April 1965. Howley Lower Mill was a water-powered mill later converted to steam, on Howley Beck, the boundary between Batley and Morley which flows through Birkby Brow Wood, Benny Parr Wood and Soothill Wood. It was here that two Batley manufacturers, Benjamin Parr and Benjamin Law, laid the foundations for the local shoddy trade by inventing the machinery for grinding up rags (rag pulling machine) and then tearing the fibres into more manageable material (willeyer) that could eventually be respun after scribbling and carding into reconstituted wool. All this happened about the year 1817 though the processes were kept secret for quite a time. As can be seen from the photograph half of the mill building has been converted into a modern bungalow, but the part on the extreme right is still somewhat dilapidated. Photograph from the David Atkinson Archive. | License: | http://www.leodis.net/article.aspx?id=12 | Rights holder: | Leeds Central Library | Subjects: | Howley Beck Howley Lower Mill | Source: | Leodis - A photographic archive of Leeds | Identifier: | http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?id=20... | Go to resource |
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