Queen Street Mill, Burnley - the last surviving steam weaving shed
Queen Street Mill, a former weaving mill in Harle Syke near Burnley, is the world's only surviving operational steam-driven weaving shed, with its looms intact. It is a Grade I listed building, and has been maintained as a working textile museum since it closed as a commercial proposition in 1982. After a three-year closure due to spending cuts, the mill reopened in 2019, but has also subsequently been hit by the pandemic restrictions.
Queen Street Mill was built for the Queen Street Manufacturing Company in 1894. The weaving shed was single-storey, and the mill frontage three-storey. All the looms were sourced from Burnley companies, Pemberton & Co. and Harling & Todd Ltd., and have remained ever since. The mill specialised in producing plain calico cloth.
A serious fire occurred in 1918. Although the fire did not affect the mill's boilers or the engine, the front of the building was damaged. It was rebuilt as single-storey. The mill's engine, originally named Prudence, was renamed Peace, to commemorate those who had died in the First World War.
In 1982, the mill was forced to close as financially unviable. It was operating just 440 looms, having originally been equipped with 900. After a period of being mothballed. Burnley Borough Council took ownership of it, and in 1986 it reopened as a working textile museum. It was then passed to Lancashire County Council's Museum service, who carried out extensive refurbishments.
The museum demonstrates both Queen Street Mill's original machines, as well as other textile machines - including ones that produce blue and white shirting, and woollen Jewish prayer shawls. Also, there are machines for making reeds and healds.
Financial problems forced the mill and museum to close in 2016, though it reopened in 2019. However, firing up the steam engine has been restricted by repairs needed to the chimney.
The mill has been the location for a number of period films, including the 2011 production of The King's Speech, when the young King George VI tries to deliver a speech to mill workers. The weaving shed was also used in Mike Leigh's 2018 film about the Peterloo massacre.
Further reading
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