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The Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills is a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
of
industrial heritage
Industrial heritage refers to the physical remains of the history of technology and industry, such as manufacturing and mining sites, as well as power and transportation infrastructure. Another definition expands this scope so that the term a ...
located in
Armley
Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which houses now the Leeds Industrial ...
, near
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
,
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
. The museum includes collections of textile machinery, railway equipment and heavy engineering amongst others.
The Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
housing the museum was once the world's largest woollen mill. The current structures were built in 1805 by
Benjamin Gott
Benjamin Gott (24 June 1762 – 14 February 1840) was one of the leading figures in the industrial revolution, in the field of textiles. His factory at Armley Mills, Armley, Leeds, was once the largest factory in the world and is now home to the ...
and closed as a commercial mill in 1969. They were taken over by
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...
and reopened as a museum of industrial heritage in 1982. It is located between the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
and the
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...
and accessed from Canal Road or Milford Place. It is part of
Leeds Museums & Galleries
Leeds Museums and Galleries is a museum service run by the Leeds City Council in West Yorkshire. It manages nine sites and is the largest museum service in England and Wales run by a local authority.
Visitor attractions
* Abbey House Museum
*Ki ...
, which also includes
Leeds Art Gallery
Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance ...
,
Leeds City Museum
Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, reopened in 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Cookridge Street (now Millennium Square). It is one of nine ...
,
Leeds Discovery Centre,
Thwaite Mills,
Lotherton Hall
Lotherton Hall is a country house near Aberford, West Yorkshire, England. It lies a short distance from the A1(M) motorway, equidistant between London and Edinburgh. It is one of nine sites in the Leeds Museums & Galleries group.
There has b ...
,
Temple Newsam
Temple Newsam (historically Temple Newsham), () is a Tudor- Jacobean house in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with grounds landscaped by Capability Brown.
The estate lends its name to the Temple Newsam ward of Leeds City Council, in which i ...
,
Abbey House Museum and
Kirkstall Abbey
Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. It is set in a public park on the north bank of the River Aire. It was founded ''c.'' 1152. It was disestablished during ...
.
Location
Armley Mills lie on the south bank and an island in the
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England, in length. The ''Handbook for Leeds and Airedale'' (1890) notes that the distance from Malham to Howden is direct, but the river's meanderings extend that to . Between Malham Tarn and Ai ...
. The mill is above sea level, at a point where the river is falling. A
weir
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
has been built upstream, and this maintains a good head of water to power
water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...
s. Water from above the weir enters the millpond, it passes under the main mill and over the water wheels falling into the goit On the south bank of the river, on the 150 ft contour, the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...
was cut in 1777. This gave the mill a
wharf
A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
which could be used for incoming raw materials, and outgoing goods and later for coal for the boilers.
Nearby is Botany Bay Yard which was so named because it was the first place in England where wool from
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
in Australia was landed. There was a wharf at this location that served the Benjamin Gott Mill. There still exists the remains of the wharf unloading shed and what appears to be a sunken barge alongside the canal at this location.
History
The earliest record of Armley Mills dates from the middle of the sixteenth century when local clothier Richard Booth leased 'Armley Millnes' from Henry Saville. A document of 1707 describes them as fulling mills. One contained two wheels and four
fulling stocks, while another was used to
grind corn mill and two fulling stocks'. The mills expanded and by 1788 were equipped with five waterwheels driving eighteen fulling stocks. Fulling was a necessary but dirty process where woven wool is felted. The bundles of cloth are hit repeatedly by large hammers, the fulling stocks, while soaked in water,
urine
Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excretion, excreted from the body through the urethra.
Cel ...
and a
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
known as
Fuller's earth
Fuller's earth is any clay material that has the capability to decolorize oil or other liquids without the use of harsh chemical treatment. Fuller's earth typically consists of palygorskite (attapulgite) or bentonite.
Modern uses of fuller's ea ...
. The urine which is a source of
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...
was collected from neighbouring houses, who specially saved it for the purpose.
The mills were sold in 1788, ten years after the
new canal opened. It was bought by Colonel Thomas Lloyd, a Leeds cloth merchant who expanded it to be the world's largest woollen mill, he leased the running of the mills to Israel and John Burrows, They built demi-detached house for themselves on the far bank of the canal.
In 1804/1805 the mills were sold to
Benjamin Gott
Benjamin Gott (24 June 1762 – 14 February 1840) was one of the leading figures in the industrial revolution, in the field of textiles. His factory at Armley Mills, Armley, Leeds, was once the largest factory in the world and is now home to the ...
- but burnt down. The early mills were fire hazards, the fibres in the air igniting and setting fire to the flammable structure. Gott rebuilt the mill using fireproof principles: the mill structure survives and it is this structure that has achieved a grade II* listing. Gott was the owner of several woollen mills. He died in 1840 and was succeeded by his sons John Gott and
William Gott
Lieutenant-General William Henry Ewart Gott, (13 August 1897 – 7 August 1942), nicknamed "Strafer", was a senior British Army officer who fought during both the First and the Second World Wars, reaching the rank of lieutenant-general while ...
. They introduced a steam engine to supplement the water wheels in 1850 but it was in the 1860s that the waterwheels were phased out.
By 1907 part of the mill had been let out to tenants in a
room and power agreement. The woollen clothing manufacturers
Bentley and Tempest
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...
took over the mill. The mill closed in 1971, a victim to the changing technology, loss of market and the prevailing economic conditions. It was sold to
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...
who re-opened it as a museum of industry in 1982.
The museum suffered damage in the
2015 Boxing day flood but has since reopened.
Buildings
The buildings are principally from Benjamin Gott's 1805 construction, with some 19th century infill and a little of the 1795 corn mill that hadn't been destroyed in the fire in 1804. The mill is l-shaped on sloping ground so varies between four storey and two storey. The main range runs north–south over the millrace and is 23 bays wide, built of ashlar stone with a hipped slate roof. It has a six bay easterly projection (downstream), known as the Corn Mill, built into the sloping ground which is thus two storeys high.
The mill was built to a fireproof design, The cast iron columns are circular and support brick floors built as shallow arches. In the earlier work that did survive the fire, wooden joists are isolated with sheet-iron which has been nailed to them. The roof structure in the main range was replaced in 1929 and is no longer to fireproof standards.
The mill race flows under the main range of the mill and at water level are 6 finely detailed arches with wrought iron grills. The 1788 mill was powered by 5 waterwheels. The 1805 mill was powered by two metal wheels, named
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
and
Blucher, heroes in the current fights against
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
. They were
suspension wheels with rim-gearing as pioneered by
Thomas Hewes
Thomas Hewes was a millwright, textile machine manufacturer and civil engineer professionally active in England from 1790 to 1830. He was born in Beckenham Kent in
1768.
Early works
He installed the Boulton and Watt steam engine and associated ...
. These wheels were rated at 70 horse power. A beam engine was introduced to supplement the wheels in 1855, The wheels were replaced and removed in 1885 but photographs do exist of them in situ. A further older wooden wheel that powered the corn mill is extant, but in need of repair.
In 1805 the mill was the world's largest woollen mill containing 18 fulling stocks and 50 looms.
Collections
Leeds was an industrial powerhouse in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The collections at the museum intend to reflect both historic and contemporary industrial heritage in the city.
This includes archives and objects belonging to
John Smeaton
John Smeaton (8 June 1724 – 28 October 1792) was a British civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton was the fir ...
,
Matthew Murray
Matthew Murray (1765 – 20 February 1826) was an English steam engine and machine tool manufacturer, who designed and built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder ''Salamanca'' in 1812. He was an innovative design ...
,
Systime Computers,
Elizabeth Beecroft
Elizabeth "Betty" Beecroft née Skirrow (1748–1812) was a pioneering manager of Kirkstall forge from 1778 to 1785 making and selling iron and ironware.
Early life
Betty was born in 1748 at Clifton, near Otley. Her father, John Skirrow (d. ...
and many others.
Textile gallery
The gallery shows the complete woollen manufacturing process in what was a woollen mill. The final product demonstrated here is a blanket. There is a, as listed below
;Carding machine:
;1904
Platt Brothers & Co,
condensor mule: that is in working order
;Warping machine with creel
;
Hattersley Standard Loom
The Hattersley loom was developed by Geo. Hattersley, George Hattersley and Sons of Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. The company had been started by Richard Hattersley after 1784, with his son, George Hattersley, later entering the business alon ...
;Hollingworth Knowles of Dobcross
Jacquard Loom:this loom was built to the design in the firms 1909 patent. It was in use until 1980 at Kaye and Stewart's in Huddersfield.
;Blanket Loom
;
Fulling stocks
;
Raising gig: the nap on a blanket is raised by scouring it with a fine hooks. This involves a drum containing rows of
teasel
''Dipsacus'' is a genus of flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae. The members of this genus are known as teasel, teazel or teazle. The genus includes about 15 species of tall herbaceous biennial plants (rarely short-lived perennial plants ...
s
;Cropping machine: when the nap is raised it is irregular so it must be sheared to a uniform height
;
Cutting
Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force.
Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...
machine: woollen cloth is heavy and is damaged by rolling, it must be folded. This is done using a cutting machine, made by J H Riley and Co of Bury.
;Pressing machine: there are two varieties, this one is a hydraulic rotary press
Railway collection
The museum has an extensive collection of
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
and
narrow gauge railway
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
rolling stock. The collection was started in 1956 when the Leeds City Museum acquired ''Barber'' from the recently closed
Harrogate Gasworks Railway. A short display line is installed at Armley allowing some of the collection to run.
Locomotives
Models
The museum collection has several models of significance, including the world's oldest model locomotive. The record is held by a model built in
Matthew Murray
Matthew Murray (1765 – 20 February 1826) was an English steam engine and machine tool manufacturer, who designed and built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder ''Salamanca'' in 1812. He was an innovative design ...
in 1811 as a prototype for the locomotive ''
Salamanca
Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...
.''
See also
*
Listed buildings in Leeds (Armley Ward)
*
British narrow gauge railways
There were more than a thousand British narrow-gauge railways ranging from large, historically significant common carriers to small, short-lived industrial railways. Many notable events in British railway history happened on narrow-gauge railways ...
References
;Footnotes
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills official website
{{authority control
Armley
Museums in Leeds
Industry museums in England
Listed buildings in Leeds
Grade II* listed buildings in West Yorkshire
Railway museums in England
Textile museums in the United Kingdom
1982 establishments in England
Industrial archaeological sites in England