Marshall's Mill
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Marshall's Mill is a former flax spinning mill on Marshall Street in Holbeck,
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 popula ...
,
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 ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Marshall's Mill was part of a complex begun in 1791–92 by English industrial pioneer John Marshall. It was originally a four-storey mill, drawing water from the nearby Hol Beck. A Boulton & Watt steam engine was installed to assist water power. Rapid expansion followed with the addition of Mill 'B' ( 1794) adjacent to a warehouse built to service the original mill (all now demolished.) It was to eventually supplant
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
's previous cottage industry of hand driven spindles. As the business continued to expand further mills, warehouses, engine houses, and reservoirs were added on the south side of Hol Beck. The six storey Mill 'C' was added in 1815–16, Mill 'D' followed in 1826–27, and Mill 'E' (which is aligned to the roadside and joined Mill 'C' to Mill 'D') in 1829–31. Temple Mill, in the form of an Egyptian Temple, was built between 1838 and 1841. Later, the complex employed over 2,000 factory workers. When it was completed it was considered to be one of the largest
factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...
in the world, with 7,000 steam-powered spindles. The addition of the Temple Mill completed development of mills by Marshall & Sons on this site. All of the mill buildings added from 1815 still exist. In the early years, child labour was employed. In 1832 Marshall's political opponents alleged that:
'In Mr Marshall's mill, a boy of 9 years of age was stripped to the skin, bound to an iron pillar, and mercilessly beaten with straps, until he fainted.'Thompson, EP: "The Making of the English Working Class", page 906. Penguin, 1991.
But other reports claim that Marshall treated his workers better than most factory owners: overseers were forbidden to use corporal punishment to control the workers, and Marshall installed fans and attempted to regulate the temperature of the mill. In 1844, Marshall and a neighbouring engineering firm,
Taylor, Wordsworth and Co Taylor Wordsworth and Co was one of the leading producers of machinery for the flax, wool and worsted industries in Leeds, Yorkshire during the British Industrial Revolution. It was established in 1812 and survived until it was taken over in the 1 ...
broke new ground by organising an away weekend in Liverpool for their workers, a novelty which caused even the editor of the normally liberal ''Leeds Mercury''''Leeds Mercury'', 31 August 1844 some concern:
'Entirely approving of excursions for the working class, and with the kindest feelings towards the workmen of Messrs Marshall and Messrs Taylor and Wordsworth, we would express our earnest hope that the Sunday spent in Liverpool may not in any respect be spent in a manner unbecoming the day ... There are many excellent men among the above bodies of workmen, and great responsibility will rest upon them for the issue of this new and somewhat doubtful experiment, of a large body of people being away from home on the Sabbath, and on two whole nights.'
Marshall & Sons ceased production in 1886. The site was taken over by other textile producers. Marshall's Mill is now a
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 Ir ...
. The site was comprehensively redeveloped in the late 1990s. It is now used as office space for several companies. There are plans to further redevelop the site as part of
Holbeck Urban Village Holbeck Urban Village is an area of Leeds city centre, close to Leeds railway station that has been undergoing a period of urban renewal. Description The designated area, part of Holbeck, is located amongst ex-locomotive engineering and manufac ...
.


See also

*
Grade II* listed buildings in Leeds There are over 20,000 Grade II* listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the metropolitan borough of Leeds in West Yorkshire. Lists ...
* Listed buildings in Leeds (City and Hunslet Ward - southern area)


References


External links

* * {{coord, 53.7914, N, 1.554, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Textile mills in West Yorkshire Buildings and structures in Leeds Linen industry Former textile mills in the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in West Yorkshire Grade II* listed industrial buildings Listed buildings in Leeds