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.