Tuesday 26 September 2017

Stott Park Bobbin Mill

When we were in the Lake District we visited Stott Park Bobbin Mill, which is a 19th Century Bobbin mill that was bought in working condition in 1974 by a government agency, and is now a museum.

The mill made bobbins - in other word the wooden spools that had cotton would on to them - for the Lancashire cotton mills.  The bobbins were made from local coppice timber, and in its original form the mill relied on a water mill to spin the lathes.  Local timber and abundant water are still present in the Lakes, and its a very nice example on a landscape that many only think of as being very attractive (and they are not wrong) also having an industrial history.

Much of the Lakes has been formed by human activity, rather than just found in this way by recent visitors.




Apart from the addition of modern covers on the belt drives for the lathes, the Mill is in more or less original condition.   As you can see the turning lathes produce a lot of waste material, and when the Mill installed a steam boiler and engine to replace the water wheel, the waste was used as fuel.  So, the use of local produce and waste minimisation are not really modern ideas!

Outside of the buildings there were some cut lengths of Silver Birch timber, which had been set aside to dry.  I rather liked them - and here are two images.



You can find more pictures from around the world here at Our World Tuesday.

15 comments:

  1. Hello, I like the birch trees, the mill is interesting. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

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  2. A new side to the Lakes. I never thought of any industries being present there.

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  3. Very interesting to see the old factory turned into a museum.
    Thanks for your comment on my blog post about identifying a bird. With the help of several bloggers and referencing Google Images, I think the bird is a juvenile Scarlet Tanager. Only the adult males have the scarlet feathers; juveniles and females are yellowish with darker wings.
    Have a wonderful day!
    Lea @ Lea's Menagerie

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  4. I am sure it was an interesting visit.

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  6. Sorry slip of the finger!!! Bet that was an interesting visit. Cheers Diane

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  7. Wow - lots of leftover wood shavings on the floor!

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  8. It looks interesting! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Hari OM
    Ooohh... I bet it smelled good too!!! YAM xx

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  10. Interesting history and to know that good things happened there from industry.... bobbins -- I never knew exactly what those were, though i did know they had something to do with sewing. Very interesting.

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  11. Wow..I love the wood!! I'm sure it smelled good..Wonderful pictures..Love the browns..Looks like an interesting place..

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  12. Looks an interesting place to visit Stewart.

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  13. What an interesting spot to visit! And yep...I'm betting it smelled good in there too!

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  14. Oh, I would LOVE to visit this mill museum! How incredible to get to see it! Such skills are so fascinating!

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  15. Very interesting! I really like visiting historic places like this.
    Thanks Stewart! I enjoyed it.

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