2021.3: Direktoratet for patent - og Varemoerkevoesenet
Direktoratet for patent - og Varemoerkevoesenet
Record of registration of Belwarp name and logo at the international Patents Bureau, Copenhagen in Denmark in 1906 under the name of Sit Titus Salt, Bart, Sons & Company Ltd and records any subsequent updates up to 1926. Document headed : 'Rongeriget Danmark' with 'Belwarp' image pasted onto the page. Reverse side includes typed numbered list including: 1. registree's name and address: 'Sir Titus Salt Baronet, Sons and Company Limited, Fabrikanter, Saltaireved Bradford,England. 2. the overseas registrar's name and address 3. date of original registration in the ledger: 2 January 1906 4. description of the trademark 5. the types of business for which the trademark is registered 6. further remarks The trademark was registered in Lodon on 11 February 1897.The Danish registration was in January 1906 and was renewed in 1912. The company name was changed to Salts (Saltaire) Ltd recorded on 12 January 1926.
Sir Titus Salt Bart. Sons & Co Limited: Front of Silver Jubillee booklet
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Plan of Saltaire
Direktoratet for patent - og Varemoerkevoesenet: Front
Direktoratet for patent - og Varemoerkevoesenet: Rear
B1-187a-c: Large poster for 'Salts Belwarp'
A large poster advertising 'Salts' Belwarp' cloth. Belwarp was a company based in Argentina and became a subsidiary of Salts.
2 copies of Salts Mill 'BELWARP' advertisement
Salts Mill, Saltaire, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Original 'Salts Belwarp' posters. Belwarp was a company based in Argentina and became a subsidiary of Salts. According to an advert for Belwarp fabric in 1919 it was a quality suiting which did not fade.
No known copyright restrictions. Please acknowledge the work's author (if known) and its source
To view the full story please contact the Saltaire Collection
‘The Belwarp’ was the trademark of a company in Argentina and was to become a well known trademark for Sir Titus Salt (Bart) Sons and Company Ltd. The Argentinian company was purchased at some point by a consortium of business men, Isaac Smith, John Rhodes, John Maddocks and James Roberts who became owners of the Salt company in 1893. Maddocks was the sales director who travelled extensively and it is likely that he was involved in its purchase. The Belwarp trademark developed a good reputation, indicating a high-quality cloth, ideal for the manufacture of suits, that was guaranteed not to fade. It is not clear when the originating company in Argentina was founded but the original trademark was registered in 1891.
Salt's Belwarp poster: Image of the poster
2 Copies 'Salts Belwarp' posters. Belwarp was a company based in Argentina and became a subsidiary of Salts. According to an advert in for Belwarp fabric in 1919 it was a quality suiting which did not fade.
C2b-102/6/5: Belwarp trademark in engineers shop
Belwarp trademark in engineers shop. One of a collection of Slides relating to Saltaire compiled by Albert Bowtell.
Content available under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA licence
Book of letters in a red coloured bound ledger, with numbered pages. The letters are mainly typed and are a record of the letters sent by Sir James Roberts while he owned and managed Salts Mill. They cover many business dealings concerning Salts Mill, management of the Mill and Sir James's Milner Field Estate, difficulties in trade during the First World War, the position of his only surviving son in the army during the war. A letter to Mr August Bermann in 1914 dealing with trade in Russia. A letter to Mr Lodge in 1917 discusses the winding up of Belwarp Ltd which was a subsidiary company of Sir Titus Salts Bart., Sons and Co Ltd, based in Argentina. A letter in 1916 to Michael Sadler, Vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds, offers an endowment of £10,000 to establish a chair of Russian.
Roberts' letter book 1914-1917: Letter 254 - Russian chair at the University of Leeds
Poster for: 'Salt's Belwarp Serges and Coatings - shows lion with a bell and picture of a drawing of Salt's Mill with text Belwarp Serges and Suitings
B1-032/3: Commentary by Dave Shaw on the photographs of and brochures about Salts Mill machinery from the Bowtell Collection.
Commentary by Dave Shaw on the photographs of and brochures about Salts Mill machinery from the Bowtell Collection.
Commentary by Dave Shaw on the photographs of and brochures about Salts Mill machinery from the Bowtell Collection. 'Photographs exist of some of the machinery installed in Salts Mill during its days of textile production. Several of the photos were used in two promotional brochures produced by the company, the first (in French) in 1918 (approx) under the name Sir Titus Salt Bart Sons & Co Ltd; the second, in 1924 (approx) under the name Salts (Saltaire) Ltd. (Further commentary on the two brochures can be found overpage). Additionally, there are photos of the Mill departments following removal of machinery, presumably taken in the 1980s. The photographs were held by the late Mr Albert Bowtell, and subsequently (2007) donated by his widow Mrs J Bowtell to the Saltaire Archive. The original photos have been digitally scanned to minimise further handling and many are reproduced here for easy reference. We are anxious to document as much as we can about the type of machinery seen in the photos, its date of use, the mill department in which it was used etc etc. If you can help us to this end, please add your comments (together with your name and contact details) to the sheets accompanying the photos. The Industrial Museum has in its Reference Library a few Salts Mill brochures which are a very good source of information. Two of the brochures date from around the 1920s, one being in French, the other being in English. The French-language brochure was designed and printed by W. N. Sharpe Ltd., of Bradford and London. The Mill's company name in the brochure is 'Sir Titus Salt Bart Sons & Co Ltd'. Its text has mention of a Royal visit in 1918, so it dates from after that event. I currently judge it to be 1920-ish. (Also it is judged to have been produced by letterpress (indicated by the imprint on p15/16). The English language brochure was designed and printed by Percy Lund, Humphries and Company Ltd, The County Press Ltd, Bradford. The Mill's company name in the brochure is 'Salts (Saltaire) Ltd'. The brochure carries a page of photos of the company's board members of 1924, which presumably allows us to date it as being of that year. (This brochure is thought to have been produced by litho-press). Much of the text and the illustrations are common to the two public ations. The French-language text is briefer than the English-language text, and the English-language brochure has more illustrations. Although most of the illustrations are common, many of those of the English-language brochure have been 'improved' — eg blemishes in photos have been removed; indistinct features have been sharpened by hand etc. Even the Belwarp and alpaca trademarks of the two public ations are not quite identical. An illustration of the Mill, viewed from the SW, is common to both brochures but with modifications having been made in the later one — for example, cars have replaced horse-drawn carts seen in the other (earlier) brochure. What is also of interest is that several — perhaps the majority — of the photos are the same as those in Mr Bowtell's collection, including the ones which have been touched up. As we investigate the various photos in more detail, the two brochures will help date the textile machinery that features in the photos in the collection of Mr Bowtell.'
2026.2: A history of the New Mill Estate, Saltaire
A history of the New Mill Estate, Saltaire
A 71 page document with notes, photographs and some excerpts from plans and maps all relating to New Mill. part of the Salts Mill complex. The document covers the history of the site fom the seventeenth century to the early twenty first centiury, including: - Dixon Mill, a corn and fulling mill built in 1635, occupied the site where New Mill was later constructed.? - As part of the building of the original Salts Mill, a gas works on teh same site was proposed in 1852, serving both the mill and the village. - The Mill was expanded in 1868 by builkding New Mill, with a notable campanile chimney. - The estate experienced significant events such as a major fire in 1881 and a breach in the weir in 1884, causing mill shutdowns. - ?By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the estate saw further extensions, infrastructure improvements, and the introduction of electric power. - In the mid-1990s, the estate was repurposed for offices and apartments, with remnants of its industrial past still visible today.
New Mill estate history 1 A HISTORY of the NEW MILL ESTATE, SALTAIRE Compiled and edited by Les Brook with support from the Saltaire History Club with special thanks to Colin Coates for his New Mill timelines; to Alistair Barr for help with ‘reading’ the current built environment; and to David King and Ian Watson for helpful historical contributions. Revised May 2024 Tweaked October 2025 In the mid-1990s, Saltaire’s New Mill estate – the land between the Leeds Liverpool 1 Canal and the Aire - was re-purposed as offices and apartments. It was the latest iteration of property which saw many changes over the ~170 years since Titus Salt started to buy land in Airedale and embarked on the construction of Salts Mill and Saltaire. These notes present the story of this corner of the Salt empire. They conclude with an exploration of how evidence of New Mill estate’s past can be found in the buildings of the present. 2 New Mill estate history 2 DATES and REFERENCES IN THESE NOTES These notes are arranged in date order. Almost all dates in the section headers are in this format 520304, indicating year / month / day, starting in the 19th century. Where dates refer to newspaper reports, the date is the date of publication. Dates in blue (eg 770101) are approximate ‘place dates’, generally because I don’t have a precise date. A place date allows me to lodge information more or less in the correct chronological sequence. 999 Endnotes are in red superscript like this . New Mill estate history 3 1635 onwards: Dixon Mill and its weir occupy the ‘island’ site where New Mill would be built 233 years later Dixon Mill, a corn and fulling mill reliant on waterpower, was built in 1635 and the “damme” (= weir) 3 also dates from then. By the late 1840s, the mill appears to be complex and extensive. Water was taken from the top of the weir and passed through a waterwheel under the mill. It then went into a channel (‘tailrace’), marked 535 on this plan, from which it returned to the river. The Ordnance Survey (OS) map from which this crop (right) was taken was published in 1852 but surveyed 4 in 1847-1848. The mill’s location includes a ford (F d , just legible on the map), stepping stones (Hippins) across the river, and a turn bridge over the canal. Around 1850, Titus Salt became the owner of Dixon Mill when he acquired the land on which Salts Mill would be built. 520304 Saltaire’s architects, Lockwood and Mawson (L&M), seek “drifters and sinkers” for Salts Mill’s groundworks 5 This invitation to tender , the very first we have identified for construction of the mill (indeed, for Saltaire), is relevant here because much of the early work took place between river and canal. Drifters built tunnels. Sinkers were builders of wells. In the mid-C19th, the word ‘well’ could refer to a reservoir, which is the meaning in this case. The work included the construction of two major ‘drifts’ from above the Dixon Mill weir (see the 760101b 6 plan and text below) and under the canal, to and from Salts Mill. It also required the 7 construction of four reservoirs under the mill. These included a massive 500,000 gallon reservoir which held rainwater from the mill’s roofs, together with one or more filled from the river. The reservoirs still exist. New Mill estate history 4 Today, significant remnants of this early construction are to be seen close to New Mill. In the river, only a few metres above the weir and almost obscured by trees, is a small wall with a canopy above. Its position, close to the downstream side of the former bridge as shown in the 760101b plan, indicates it is the start of the supply drift to the main mill. Final proof that this is the entrance to the supply drift was provided when I eventually found a route down the overgrown, short but steep riverbank into the shed. There, in all its glory, is a tell-tale sluice gate. A remarkable remnant of the earliest construction phase of Salts Mill - and therefore of Saltaire. New Mill estate history 5 Moreover, close by is another sluice gate which is bang on the line of the return drift shown on the 1870s plan (760101b but see also 910101). That these two sluices are in their original position is confirmed by the 1893 OS 25inch map. 520920 First news of the proposed gas works for Saltaire 530604 Saltaire’s gas works: tenders invited by L&M The gas works was to be the first Salts Mill building on our ‘island’ site. An eagle-eyed reporter from the Bradford Observer flagged up its planned construction in September 1852: The Gas-works, to be situated between the canal and river, are to be upon White's hydro-carbon system, and are calculated to supply 100,000 feet per day for 5000 8 lights, in mills, sheds, streets, and houses of the work-people. This was around 9 months before L&M invited 9 tenders for the gasworks. Note the ambition. Not only would the works serve the mill. It would also serve the village, offering something to ordinary working people which was still beyond the reach of people who were much better off: “It was not until the 1840s that gas lighting had been adopted in the private homes of the wealthy, although it was often confined to 10 11 certain rooms and not the entire house…”. The excellent, contemporary, local historian William Cudworth, writing in his Round 12 About Bradford, would describe the gas works as “of great magnitude” (see 760101a). As we shall see later, it would serve Saltaire (and Shipley!) for almost 50 years, but initially the gas must have been for lighting the mill and to aid 13 production. New Mill estate history 6 It’s odd that it was 14 years before there was an invitation to tender for the construction of a gas tank (670425)… or perhaps it wasn’t odd. Close inspection of the 570101 image (below) shows a gas tank alongside the retort house itself. So it seems likely that the 1853 construction contract was for a package: a retort house plus gas tank plus chimney (of which more next). 14 570101 Early image of the New Mill estate Many of the early images are drawings or paintings. It’s necessary to read them with a critical eye – not least because they are commonly designed to impress rather than record, and because they are sometimes poor copies. In my opinion, this image is largely accurate. It shows the gas works (~1853/1854) and the dining hall (1854) but not the church (1859). It shows, in their correct location, the very earliest housing and shops (mid 1850s). In light of those dates, it was probably drawn around 1857. One of the reasons for being sceptical about its accuracy is the small chimney next to the gas works. This is the only image we have that shows a chimney in this plot of land, and it is clearly part of the gas works. If there really were a chimney around 1857, why was it demolished? After all, the gas works continued to operate until the early 1900s. Could this be artistic licence? 15 I consulted the UK’s leading expert on historic gas works, Dr Russell Thomas. He told me that “The chimney height governed the draw of air through the furnaces, so they may have changed this… it is very tall for a relatively small gas works…[Maybe] they were burning wood in the furnaces to save on coal/coke and needed the high chimney to get the draught… It could have fallen down later or the gas works expanded and rebuilt with a lower chimney, using coke or coal for the furnaces… maybe Mr Salt wanted to keep the smoke out of the valley as far as possible”. Thomas’s testimony makes plain that it would not be surprising for there to be a chimney as part of the Saltaire gas works. The tall chimney could have been replaced New Mill estate history 7 as the gas works expanded, and it certainly did expand (570601 and 670425), so we have a plausible cause for its disappearance. We also know that, when in Bradford, Salt was committed to limiting smoke from his chimneys. He went on to install the latest anti-smoke tech in Salts Mill. A postscript….It took me some time to realise that the above discussion misses the simplest of explanations for the demise of the chimney. In plain sight, at 650523 below, we learn that “a monster chimney” was built to replace the chimneys for the dye works and the gas works, and to serve the engines in what became known as New Mill. The ‘monster’ was the famous, dominant and glorious New Mill campanile – and it made that early chimney redundant. 570601 Installation of larger gas purification plant “During 1857 the Elland firm of Butterfield Bentley & Dempster installed a larger [gas] purification plant, providing a clue as to when the gas investment was maximised, by 16 supplying gas for domestic lighting”. That makes sense. It confirms what I asserted above, that initially the gas must have been for lighting the mill and to aid production. House building did not start until Salts Mill was complete – and of course it took some time to build the first shops and streets. 1857 sounds right for the roll out of the first domestic supply. 600308 Dye works, store rooms, warp dressing rooms adjoining Dixon Mill L&M invite tenders from several trades for new 17 buildings. The dye works, which occupied a significant portion of the riverside, was a constant from more than 100 years. As we shall see, it was demolished in the 1980s. However, two remnants exist. The current stone wall, downriver from New Mill itself, was part of the dye works’ wall. In addition, part of the works’ 18 office still exists. It was built with its feet almost in the river. New Mill estate history 8 19 631029 Tenders invited for re-building Dixon Mill Ten years after the opening of Salts Mill, Dixon Mill was still standing and remained in Salt’s hands. This advert indicates that Salt decided to make it pay its way and was prepared to invest in its re-building in order to attract a miller. As the next (640922) cutting shows, this project was soon abandoned. 20 640922 Sale of Dixon Mill machinery etc The reasons for this abandonment are not obvious but the decision to build a new spinning mill on the site followed very soon after. Presumably this was a business decision: Dixon Mill stood in the way of progress. 21 650114 L&M seek contractors for construction of “a fire-proof mill” This is the contract for what was soon to be called ‘New Mill’, famous for its campanile chimney. As we shall see, the contract was awarded to Michael Firth and Co of Queensbury. 650523 The foundations of a new mill are being constructed on the site of 22 Dixon Mill The text implies that initially only one engine, serving all three named facilities, was installed. This appears to be correct: the solitary engine was described in a 1900 article (see 000811). If the gas works and dyeworks already had engines (my assumption is that they must have), the implication is that the chimneys would become redundant and would at some point be removed. New Mill estate history 9 650713 Michael Firth and Co are the contractors for the new mill. 60 masons 23 sought. Firth’s readiness to employ “non-society” (ie non-union) labour and to resist union influence is notable in light of the strike that followed. The strike’s purpose was to ensure a union/closed shop: “the men refused to work owing to the contractors having employed two non-union men“ (see 650817 cutting). Was this ad published during the strike? The following cutting tells us that “The contractors… advertised for men at the time of the strike…”. 650727 Masons’ strike at New Mill continues24 There is picketing and it is effective. This is an interesting window on the strength of local unions at a time when “… trade unions were regarded …as quasi- legal organisations, subjected to the restraint of trade doctrine, 25 until the Trade Union Act 1871”. 650817 The strike is specifically against the recruitment of two non-union men This newspaper report confirms that the picketing (by “crows”!) is 26 effective. 27 660323 Wallers and bricklayers being recruited by Firth Is this the first public use of the name “New Mill”? New Mill estate history 10 670425 Building of a gas holder: 28 tenders invited Tenders are invited from ironfounders and builders to build a 61 feet (18.6m) diameter gas holder + pit + a dry well at 29 “the present Gas-house”. Right is the configuration we might expect of a gas house and gas holders 30 during this period - though in the Saltaire case, there were two gas 31 holders following this 1867 new build. The blue area in the diagram is water. 680101 New Mill and the road bridge open New Mill opened in 1868. In October of that year, the Bradford Observer reported 32 that “a new mill has been built between the canal and the river”. That it was a spinning mill is confirmed by 760101a and 840209. In the same year, the original road bridge was taken down and replaced: “In 1868, during the extension of the works on the north side [ie the construction of New Mill], the iron bridge, which was constructed during the early progress of the works, was taken down, and set in a straight line with Victoria Road” (see 760101a below). The old bridge had been constructed at the same time as Salts Mill, only 15 years before. We can therefore assume that it was designed by Fairburn, the pre-eminent engineer of the age and the engineering brains behind Salts Mill. Was the bridge unsatisfactory, or did the decision to develop the Dixon Mill site require that it be re- aligned? The latter appears most likely, not least because, when the site was bought by Salt, there was no plan to build a factory on this land. Moreover, that remained the case until 1863, and maybe a little longer (see 631029 and 640922). New Mill estate history 11 681007 Report on developments including a new mill, a new bridge, and a 33 weir extension This very informative newspaper report includes the following: On the north side of the works, which were erected in 1862-3 [sic: the correct dates are 1851-1853], a new mill has been built between the canal and the river. Close to this mill there have been erected dye works, gas works, and all their belongings… The iron bridge, which formerly spanned the river… with its northern end pointing towards Baildon Green, has been taken down and set in a straight line with Victoria Bridge… Underneath the bridge, the damstone barrier [the 34 weir ] has been extended… The strong cast iron palisades round about the railway station have been lately completed, and strong entrance gates of iron have been fixed on both sides of the 35 tramway. 710101 “About the year 1871 other extensions [were constructed and a] 36 new enginehouse [sic] adjoining the new mill has since been commenced” We’ve established that New Mill was built in 1868. We continue to admire it today, a perfectly proportioned L&M architectural classic with a stand-out chimney, allegedly based on the campanile of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. New Mill estate history 12 But it isn’t difficult to see that the building today consists of two distinct parts: the main body and, to the north, a four storey, riverside extension. It seems very likely that this extension is one of those referred to by Cudworth in the quotation at the head of this section. Indeed, we know this extension’s purpose because the accurate 37 Mawsons’ 1881 plan (810101) labels it “ENGINE HOUSE”. Close inspection reveals that this engine house extension was inelegantly ‘bolted on’ to New Mill. In the images below, look at how this imposing block - situated alongside the river, and closest to the camera in the top right image - abuts and part-obscures the pitched roof of the original building. Then look at New Mill’s eastern frontage (image on the left) to see the clumsy junction between the main building and the extension. New Mill estate history 13 Cudworth dates the “extensions” to “About the year 1871”. Since the engine house adjoins the main block, it seems certain that this was the first extension, in ~1871. And it begs many questions. How was the New Mill powered from 1868 to ~1871? At New Mill’s design stage, how did the architects and engineers manage to design a factory without a dedicated space for the engine? What led them to place such a critical piece of kit in a bolted-on extension? Only four years or so after ~1871, the architects, engineers and builders were making yet more amendments. In 1875, an “extension to the engine-shed” was constructed. It housed three boilers (see 751103 below). So where, precisely, was it? We know from the 1881 Mawsons’ plan above that a second extension was tacked on to the engine house: it can be seen on the riverside. But whilst it may have housed the boilers, yet another plan has boilers in a new structure between New Mill and the dye works (030101). However, this plan is from the start of the C20th and my best guess is that this was not the 1875 extension. New Mill’s second extension is much more likely to be the “extension to the engine- shed” because there is a further factor supporting this conclusion. It was connected by an underground flue to the campanile chimney, ie it was performing an engine house function by despatching smoke to it (see the plan at 760101b). New Mill estate history 14 I shall call this second extension ‘the carbuncle’ because it was seriously unattractive. Not only did it obscure the bottom half of four of the third floor windows, as will be seen in the next image, at some point a large tank with a divider was installed on its roof. I think we can assume that the liquid was water. Its purpose and how it was filled is unclear. Notwithstanding that it was unattractive, the carbuncle had a very long life – so it must have been useful. It’s there in the first image below which is allegedly from 1976, and it’s just about visible in the 1984 demolition photos too (see 840101). Despite being erased, its base, including some excellent stonework, was retained, and the base is easily seen today from the pedestrian bridge into Roberts Park. As the lower image shows, it is now topped by a smart wall (re-)built following the damaging Boxing Day 2015 floods. New Mill estate history 15 38 751103 Extension to New Mill “engine-shed” This report of a serious accident (above) is the reason we know that, in 1875, the engine shed at New Mill was being extended to make way for three new boilers. As we have seen, this extension was almost certainly the carbuncle. A Shipley Times article published in 1900 (and copied in full at 000811) explained the boilers’ purpose: they “are required to supply steam for heating, dyeing and finishing”. This same article gives an authoritative description of an existing expansion engine “supplied nearly thirty years ago”: On the lower side of the canal is what is known as the New Mill, and hence the power 39 is supplied [by an] expansion engine , with the remarkably low stroke of eight feet and working at 80lbs. pressure, which was supplied nearly thirty years ago by Messrs 40 Hicks, Hargreaves, & Co., and which – owing partly, no doubt, to the fact that the steam is super-heated and thus permits of a very early “cut-off,” – is still working most economically as regards steam consumption. This engine, of about 400 horse power, is supplied with one boiler only. Three other boilers in this mill are required to supply steam for heating, dyeing and finishing. It appears that the Hick, Hargreaves engine was the original occupant of New Mill’s engine house. 41 760101a William Cudworth chronicles the construction of New Mill Cudworth writes: On the northern side of the works, between the canal and the river, and occupying the site of the old Dixon Mill, has been erected a detached spinning mill and dyeworks, with a chimney of novel design, and eastward are placed the gas works, which are of great magnitude. Two large gasometers supply the works and the town [Shipley] with gas, for which the inhabitants are charged at the rate of 3s. 6d. per 1000 feet… In 1868, during the extension of the works on the north side, the iron bridge, which was constructed during the early progress of the works, was taken down, and set in a straight line with Victoria Road. This was an extensive undertaking. The massive stone buttresses were replaced by cast-iron cylinders, thus adding greatly to the beauty of the whole structure. The total length of this bridge is now 430 feet, the width being 31 feet. About the year 1871 other extensions [were constructed and a] new enginehouse [sic] adjoining the new mill has since been commenced. New Mill estate history 16 42 760101b Salts Mill L&M plan and New Mill This is a crop from the full plan which is in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES below. Its precise date is not known but it is reputed to be from the 1870s. It has been given a place date of 1876 because it shows a riverside extension (the carbuncle) to the 43 engine shed. This is the extension described in 751103. Two tunnels (‘drifts’) are shown. They are most clearly seen as they travel under the combing shed. They supplied water from the river to the main mill engines and then returned used water to it. We shall return to these tunnels later. On the bridge side of New Mill, an additional ‘leg’ from the supply drift appears to have been added, apparently to supply water to part(s) of the New Mill estate. Or was this leg always there, making use of the existing Dixon Mill goit? The plan also shows flues taking smoke from the engine house and dye works to the campanile chimney. We have noted previously that the flue from New Mill’s engine emerges from the carbuncle. New Mill estate history 17 770101a Another New Mill extension: a curiosity… or portrayal of the truth? ‘Saltaire. From the North Side’ (left, above) appears in the venerable Balgarnie’s 44 Salt. Is this what New Mill looked like between 1868 and ~1871, without the engine 45 house or the carbuncle? Given the conclusion reached above - that the engine house was not built until a few years after the main New Mill block - there is reason to think it is, but with serious reservations about other aspects of this image. Some details of the image are certainly accurate. For example, the windows layout of New Mill’s western façade (seen more easily in the enlarged crop to the right) is spot on: 15 x 4 windows. The bridge is the new (1868) model. But the provenance of the 46 image, from such a famous book, is the strongest argument for its authenticity. If it is authentic, we are right to see New Mill’s extensions as unplanned. But – and this is more difficult to swallow – this image asks us to believe that there was a northern extension of which we have no other record. The larger image above shows that it took the form of a terrace of almshouse-like single storey buildings, three (relatively large) windows deep. The eastern part of the terrace (to the left) could be the dye works but it is nothing like other images of that building, which occupied this location for a very long time. So, if this terrace did exist, part of it would have had to be demolished to make way for what we are certain occupied this space. 770101b “The greater portion of the wier [sic] was constructed about seven years ago” said the Wharfedale & Airedale Observer on 8 February 1884 (840209). This places the construction sometime in 1877. However, the weir was in existence well before that date because it was required to power the waterwheel at the 1635 Dixon Mill. So, for ‘constructed’ read ‘renovated’? New Mill estate history 18 47 810101 The Mawsons’ (formerly L&M) plan of Saltaire This crop from the Mawsons’ plan of 1881 indicates little change from the 760101b plan. There has been some infill in the very centre of the estate but no new names/details of buildings. The carbuncle is shown, and it is the only building that could be called an extension to the engine shed (as reported in 751103). This reinforces the conclusion that the carbuncle was the 1875 extension. New Mill estate history 19 48 840209 Serious fire in building adjacent to the gas works In early February 1881, the Leeds Mercury reported a major fire at “Saltaire mills”, in a building consisting “three rooms about 30 yards long by 8 yards [situated] between the new spinning mill [New Mill]… and the gas works, the Aire running on the north side, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal on the south and separating these premises from the main blocks of these extensive works [ie Salts Mill]”. “The building in which the fire occurred” had three storeys with a basement used as a storehouse for “chemicals [a “heavy stock” including methylated spirits!] and other articles used in the dyeing business, the dyeworks being in the immediate vicinity”. It was not a separate building but part of a larger one which included the gas works. Indeed, the section of building that was destroyed by fire was linked to the gas works only by a fireproof wall. The floor above the basement – “the “Grey- room” - was used to store cotton warps, and the upper floor – “the Low Dressing-room” - for 49 “dressing” , and fitted with machinery etc “for 50 that purpose”. The fire was confined to the section of building in which it started, but the windows of New Mill 51 were “all broken by the heat”. This comprehensive description makes it easy to identify the seat of the fire. It was in the rectangular north to south element of the ‘backwards L’-shaped building which included the gas works. The fire took place close to and parallel with New Mill itself. A later image (at 960101) indicates that the two elements of the ‘backwards L’ were separated at some point. A development precipitated by the fire? New Mill estate history 20 The north to south building continued to be of significance over a lengthy period. It evolved rather than being built at one moment in history. By the 910101 OS map, it appears to have been lengthened towards the river and is linked to the boiler house. (The latter, situated between the carbuncle and the dye works, is not there on the 1881 plan but features, with four boilers, in the 030101 plan). A 1949 photograph (the first image at 490101a) depicts the north>south building as undivided and apparently autonomous, straddling the whole width of the New Mill site. At the river end, it has incorporated the boiler house depicted in 030101 - and, at the canal end, it clearly links to the 5 storey building built in the 1900s. Later we will see that a remnant still exists! 840209 Major breach in weir stops mills 52 This dramatic story is based on three newspaper cuttings which are reproduced below… It is February 1884 and, notwithstanding that “The greater portion of the wier [sic] was constructed about seven years ago” (770101b), flood water has caused a major (60' long by 12’ deep) breach next to New Mill on the south side of the weir. The weir 53 is approximately 150’ long – so 40% of it had failed! The emergency repair was undertaken over at least four days and nights by Fred Ives of Shipley’s Wm Ives and Co. Light was provided by gas jets fixed on the end of the engine house. The repair involved inserting stone, including stone in cages, and bags of river sand. The stone came from quarries near Shipley station. The reports also say that the weir feeds water into 'wells' (= reservoirs, see 520304 above) “situated in the respective engine-houses”. This is a reference to Salts Mill’s ‘supply drift’ (see 520304). New Mill estate history 21 New Mill estate history 22 New Mill estate history 23 910101 OS map This is a crop from the 25” map which was surveyed in 1890-91 and published in 1893. The unenclosed tailrace is clearly shown and to the immediate west of New Mill there are two ‘sluice’ references. These are at the locations we would expect from the earlier plans above, ie the beginning and end of the ‘drifts’ (see 760101b). This map also shows a change to the buildings in the estate’s north-west, adjoining the river. The 810101 Mawsons’ plan showed a continuous gap from canal to river between New Mill and the buildings immediately to its east. Now, new structures near the river block that gap, and we can see this in images that were 54 captured in the late C20th. Also of note in this image is the height of the dye works – this is a large building - topped with an example of the many chimneys which allowed the escape of steam. 55 920216 Breach in underground steam pipes between the old and new mills This story indicates that Salts Mill and New Mill’s power sources were linked. The New Mill steam engine appears to make some contribution to the power used in Salts Mill itself. Interestingly, following the bursting of the main steam pipe, New Mill was able to start up before Salts. 930208 Purchase of Saltaire village and mills It was announced that a syndicate of four persons had acquired the village and its 56 mills from the Salt family. For more on the four, see 000811. New Mill estate history 24 57 931216 Shipley Times editor proposes a hydro-electric plant on the weir The 1894 cutting below suggests that the mill’s new owners considered the proposal seriously… 940223 Salts Mill new owners take hydro 58 proposal seriously …but not seriously enough. There’s no evidence that hydro-electric power was ever employed. However, it was not long before electric power was being used in both Salts Mill and New Mill. New Mill estate history 25 59 950101 and later. Promotional material for Salts Mill by its new owners This remarkably clear image was part of a promotional poster. It shows the Salts Mill complex from the north, thus delivering an excellent view of the New Mill estate. We do not know its date but it post-dates the 1893 takeover of the company by the “small syndicate” of Roberts and others (see 930208 and 000811). We know this because it includes the Belwarp trademark (top right). This was certainly used by 60 syndicate member Maddocks in 1890 when he traded as Maddocks and Co - and it seems very likely that he introduced the Belwarp into the brands used by Salts Mill. We also know that the image pre-dates the ~1900 construction of the four storey warehouse (990101). This warehouse does not appear in the image. I’m therefore place-dating it to 1895. Notwithstanding the clarity of the image and its apparent veracity, it presents at least two problems. Firstly, in 1895 there were two gas holders, not one. Secondly, there appears to be no corroborating evidence for the existence during this period of a small chimney in the New Mill estate – other than the poster to the right which is clearly a sister of the one that housed the image above. New Mill estate history 26 The sister poster features an aerial view (below) of the whole mill complex, this time from the south-west. Though related to the first poster, it was produced later. How do we know? Because, although it is not well-defined, it is possible to make out the ~1899 four storey warehouse on the main mill side of the canal (see 990101). This certainly does not feature on the first poster. Nonetheless, there’s that New Mill estate chimney again! But perhaps this chimney is the same one we saw in a very early image (570101, and copied right). Perhaps it was not demolished after all. The problem with that idea is that the two chimneys are not in the same location. The earliest was close to the gas holders and some distance from the river bridge. The latest is much closer to the bridge and not far from the campanile chimney - which we know took over the role of gas house chimney (650523). In addition, we are about to see a further aerial image (960101), the south-westerly viewpoint of which is more or less identical to the larger image above and, for the same reasons, we can date it around the same time. Yet it does not feature that chimney, and it shows two gas holders. And so I repeat: there appears to be no corroborating evidence for the existence of the ‘Belwarp chimney’. New Mill estate history 27 61 960101 A Salts Mill panorama – with gas holders This drawing of the mill with some of the village appears authoritative and thus requires to be included here. It shows not only the two impressive gas holders but also the gas house and the descendent of its sister building, the one that was gutted in 1881 (810208). It is possible to see the southern façade of the latter. It is no longer joined to the gas house running west to east. We are able to see that because we are being offered an aerial view – and crucially, from the south-west. As I explain below (990101), by the end of the century, the canalside quay would contain a four storey warehouse which, from this angle, would prevent the observer seeing the gas house and nearby 62 buildings. So the image is pre-1900, and since it includes Saltaire’s Exhibition Building, it is post-1887. I have given it a place date of 1896. 63 990101 “a large new warehouse” One of the most significant of James Roberts’ changes to Salts Mill was the construction - on the canal front and over the northern end of the main mill’s combing shed - of a large new warehouse. Today, it can still be seen, sitting between the three storey Salts Mill offices and the five storey building in the distance. Although it is not part of the New Mill estate, I have included it because of its impact on our understanding of the estate. We don’t have the exact date of this warehouse but the “Present Methods” article below indicates that it was built in the syndicate/Robert era (from 1893 onwards) and before the date of the article (1900) – so I have given it a place date of 1899. This helps us date, with a reasonable degree of precision, a small but important number of images which depict the New Mill estate. New Mill estate history 28 64 000811 “Present Methods of Mill Management at Saltaire” What follows is a transcript of an August 1900 Shipley Times article with the above headline. In short, it describes the radical transformation of the mills in Saltaire being effected by James Roberts, and it does so even though it does not list every important development, eg the introduction of electric power to New Mill and the building of a large finishing shed in the New Mill estate. It includes information about the entire mill complex, including the New Mill estate. I have not shortened it because it is so informative, well-researched and apparently accurate. About eight years ago the great undertaking which may be summed up in one word - Saltaire - passed into the hands of a small syndicate of four gentleman, who determined that if money and brains could “pull the things together” they would do it. Of these four gentlemen – Messrs Isaac Smith, John Maddocks, John Rhodes, and James Roberts – the two former are no longer associated with Saltaire, and the practical management and control of this vast establishment now virtually rests in the hands of the youngest member of the original quartet, who, with his son, Mr B F Roberts, who manages the wool department, carries on the business under the style of the old firm, Mr Rhodes, though still a director and an equal partner with Mr Roberts, not taking any active part in the business. No one of the four would claim that, in “taking hold” as they did, they were actuated by purely philanthropic motives; but [it] is none the less true that these gentlemen have really rendered a public service, for it is no little thing that the community of Saltaire should be contented and prosperous, and that the name and fame of its production should be upheld. Although the precise consideration which was paid by those who took over the concern has never been publicly stated, there can be no shadow of doubt that one of the most valuable assets which they acquired was the good name which had been built up by the founder of the firm and his successors – a good name which years of depression and misfortune had failed to tarnish. And it is worth noting that the present control of Saltaire is directed to maintaining and, where possible, enhancing, the reputation of the productions of the Saltaire spindles and looms. The task before the new proprietors was, however, a serious one. To make a non- paying concern into a profitable one – to turn back the stream which had already begun to flow the wrong way – these are no light matters when the scale of operations is so great. The same causes which were operative in the undoing of Saltaire have been the weakness of other old and sometimes prosperous undertakings, and it worth while, therefore, to see in what way the instrument has New Mill estate history 29 once more been brought into tune. One of the first matters which the new firm took in hand was the reform of the power-generating apparatus. In this direction a beginning had already been made by their predecessors, for they had put down, in the boilerhouse alongside the Midland Railway, six new boilers. But these boilers, although built for high pressures, were simply worked as part of a range of fourteen, the other eight of which were only carrying 25lbs pressure. This of course was not an economical arrangement. The two pairs of beam engines, whose noble proportions and beautiful action had been the admiration of all who had seen them, belonged to a past generation, and so they were pulled out at the earliest moment. In their stead Messrs Hicks, Hargreaves & Co., of Bolton, have erected two pairs of compound inverted cylinder engines of the marine type to work at 140lb. steam pressure. These engines drive the East and West spinning mills, which form the imposing façade seen by the passing traveller on the railway. Two other pairs of tandem compound horizontal engines, to work at the same steam pressure, were at the same time installed at the rear of the main building. These engines, which have fulfilled the highest expectations, were built by Messrs Cole, Marchent & Morley, of Bradford. One pair drives the combing shed and the other the weaving shed, which are behind the main building. There is no doubt some loss arising from condensation in thus distributing the steam to four sets of engines instead of two, but this is more than counterbalanced by the convenience and economy of being able to run a part only of the plant – the combing, for instance – without having to drive all the engines and main shafting; and, at the same time, and for the same reason, there is less expense from standing in the case of breakdown or the effect of ordinary repairs. By these changes it became possible to use a high initial steam pressure, and the four set of engines, which are now driving some 20 to 30 per cent more machinery than the most picturesque but expensive which they have replaced, are now entirely supplied with steam by five of the six new boilers already mentioned, one being always kept as a reserve. Two other boilers are used for heating and for the scouring of the raw material and yarns. On the lower side of the canal is what is known as the New Mill [my highlight], and 65 hence the power is supplied [by an] expansion engine , with the remarkably low stroke of eight feet and working at 80lbs. pressure, which was supplied nearly thirty years ago by Messrs Hicks, Hargreaves, & Co., and which – owing partly, no doubt, to the fact that the steam is super-heated and thus permits of a very early “cut-off,” – is still working most economically as regards steam consumption. This engine, of about 400 horse power, is supplied with one boiler only. Three other boilers in this mill are required to supply steam for heating, dyeing and finishing. New Mill estate history 30 All the boilers are fired by mechanical stokers, and, were it possible to rely solely upon mechanical agency, the furnaces would make practically no smoke whatever. By the changes described above the consumption of coal has been reduced to less than one-half of what it used to be, while at the same time the wage bill for firing and coal handling has been materially lowered. In the combing shed very great economies have been effected. Very much of the machinery in this department although in good condition, was out of date, and about one half of it had not been in use for some time before the new proprietors came into possession. On the other hand, room had been found elsewhere for more modern plant, as the changes in the character of the wool to be combed had necessitated, and thus it had come about that eight years ago the combing was carried on in five different parts of the establishment. This, of course, involved great waste in the handling and carriage of the raw material and the combed tops and noils. All the combing, with the necessary preparing and finishing, is now done in the combing shed, which is one of the finest erections of its kind to be found anywhere. This of course, means a good deal of compression, but it has been affected without any loss of efficiency, and with great gain in economy. All the exhaust steam from the engines is condensed in surface-condensers, and the condensed water is used for the wool washing and scouring, producing results which are unattainable with the purest natural water supply. The tops, as they come off the finishing boxes, are dropped down through the floor into small waggons, by which they are conveyed direct to the top warehouse on the same level. In this warehouse they are weighed in and stored in hundreds of top-bins, from which they are weighed out, as required, to the drawing room. In this way, the tops are never sheeted, and have the minimum of handling. The noils from the combs are in like manner automatically conveyed to the noil room for packing and transport. The drawing plant has been reduced in extent, while it has been greatly improved and produces more satisfactory results. In the spinning mill nearly all the old machinery has been thrown out, and the twisting machinery is all absolutely new. In its latest developments as a spinning factory, Saltaire has reverted to its old love; the botany trade has been abandoned; the spinning frames of today are practically all flyers and the material entirely hair and alpacas. Incidentally the new firm has been obliged to make a new departure in driving. The two magnificent top or attic floors of the great East and West mills, which were formerly devoted to miscellaneous purposes, have been filled with spinning frames, and owing to the structure of the building it was found impossible to transmit power to some of the frames through the line shaft. It was determined, therefore, to drive New Mill estate history 31 these frames by small, independent electric motors, and this has been effected with very satisfactory results. As between direct driving – the armature geared to the frames – and driving with a short belt, both of which methods have been tried, the balance of experience seems to favour the latter. Much has been done in other departments to bring the plant up-to-date and to modernise methods. In the weaving shed all the looms are new, the old warp-dyeing and plush-finishing works have been transformed into a piece-dying works, where all the worsted woven in the shed are dyed and finished. This branch of the firm’s trade is largely colonial, and all the cloths are warehoused and despatched direct from Saltaire. It is however that in the important matter of carriage that one of the largest economies has been effected. Although the works at Saltaire are most unique in having a main railway and a trunk canal running through them, and were placed where they are with a view to the utmost economy in carriage, it is a remarkable fact that until quite lately water carriage had been seldom brought into use. Now all raw materials whatever, whether it to be mohair from Turkey or the Cape, alpaca from South America, or silk from China of Japan, whether it be discharged at Southampton, in the Mersey, or in the Thames, it all comes, some two thousand tons a year, from Goole or Liverpool by canal. The canal boat is moored under the crane door, and every bale is lifted from the barge to the top room of the warehouse direct. From thence it passes to the sorting rooms beneath, and so to the washing and combing departments below. The railway sidings are now only used for coal and building materials. To accommodate the new traffic arrangements a large new warehouse has been erected on the canal front, covering what was originally a quay, though never so used. This building [which we’ve highlighted at 990101], which is in character with the rest of the older works, has four floors with a total area of about 5000 square yards, and of course has thrown out of use the single storey wool shed which was built some twenty years ago alongside the railway. The saving in freight charges alone amounts to some six or seven shillings on every ton carried. Many of the changes which the new firm has made involved the displacing of labour, and doubtless some apparent hardships, but somewhere about 3,000 workpeople now find steady employment in the mills, and that is a larger number than were ever on the payroll before. New Mill estate history 32 030101 Plan of New Mill estate This is a crop. The full plan, showing the entire mill complex, can be found in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES below. I’m unsure of the source and date of this plan but the gas holders remained until at least 1906 (see 060101) and (in the full plan) the ~1907-1909 three- and five-storey buildings on the New Mill estate are not shown, so a place date of 1903 seems reasonable. This crop shows that almost the whole of the New Mill estate is covered in buildings, 66 largely because of the addition of a grand finishing shed. The boiler house is clearly identified, having encroached on to the dye works’ space. The image of four boilers is not artistic licence, despite only three having been installed in 1875 (751103): the 67 sprinkler plan of ~1912 (120101) confirms there were four. The implication of “New Mill Electric Drive” is that New Mill is now powered by 68 electricity. The gas works are no longer gas works and the gas holders are now “Settling Tanks”. Were they really re-purposed? And what were they ‘settling’? A local historian and former Salts employee suggests that noxious elements from the grease works and dyeing plant were settled out before the thus-purified water was discharged either into the river as might have originally been the case or into the 69 public sewer in later times. The term “Suds Works” was in the earlier 760101b plan but is not used here. However, the new names (“Soap & Oil Stores” and “Grease Works”) link to it. The same historian believes it was a plant for manufacturing soap and grease from the 70 lanolin extracted from raw wool during scouring (ie wool washing). The “Tentering” facility close to the dyehouse was one in which fabric was stretched on a frame to its finished width and shape, then dried to maintain these dimensions. 71 The New Mill estate is connected to the main mill by two (presumably pedestrian) bridges over the canal. The current (unused) connecting bridge from New Mill itself is not shown. New Mill estate history 33 030324 Shipley Council buys gas 72 rights from Salts Mill The gas works on the New Mill estate “will be demolished in order to make room for an extension of 73 the mill premises”. 74 030604 Breach in canal near New Mill Water breaks through the New Mill side of the canal and goes into the river between “the new engine house” and Saltaire bridge. “the new engine house” is a puzzle. The last engine house development that we know of was 1875. Surely that cannot be a new engine house? If there had been a more recent engine house, perhaps it was to generate the electricity that is now powering New Mill? If that were the case, it might be expected that it would have been reported - or at least foreshadowed - by the comprehensive, authoritative 000811 article … and it wasn’t. 030703 Gas supply to Saltaire will be switched from the Salts Mill gas works to the Shipley works on 1 July 1903 according to a Shipley Times report of a Shipley District Council 75 committee meeting. 031208 Shipley Council buys the Saltaire gas undertaking 1870 The Shipley Gas Act had in mind the acquisition by Shipley Local Board of the Saltaire gas works, and this was again thought of when the Council wished to buy the local Gas Company. Friction soon arose between the Council and Salts. … On 8/12/1903 agreement reached for Shipley to buy the Saltaire gas undertaking, except the gas works buildings and plant at the Mills. £33,831-3-0 including costs. “The price was clearly excessive, and especially so in view of the fact that the right to supply 76 was non-statutory. (Shipley UDC booklet, 1930)”. New Mill estate history 34 040108 Shipley ratepayers unanimously support Shipley Council’s acquisition of Salts Mill gas undertaking 77 according to an article in the Wharfedale and Airedale Observer. 040325 New gas retort house for Shipley - presumably to replace the Salts Mill facility. This is featured in a newspaper report of a meeting of 78 the Shipley District Council. 060101 OS map: crop showing the New Mill estate The OS map published in 1909 was surveyed during 1906. It shows the estate to be very similar to that on the OS map ~20 years before (910101). This map tells us that the gas holders were still intact in 1906. 070101 to 091231 Construction of two large buildings There is no evidence for a precise date but Saltaire historian Dave Shaw believes that 79 “the area east of New Mill was redeveloped between 1907 and 1909”. That is consistent with the map above and the likely dates of the gas holders’/settling tanks’ demolition. The principal features of the re-development were two large, conjoined buildings running alongside the canal and including the gas holders’ site. One was five storeys and the other, three plus a basement. They appear on the sprinkler plan immediately below and they still exist today as the Riverside Court apartments. This major re-development suggests that Roberts’ desire to get rid of gas production was (at least in part) motivated by a desire to make better use of the land. New Mill estate history 35 80 120101 Saltaire Mills’ sprinkler/hydrant plan This plan - a full copy of which can be found in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES below– is probably circa 1912. The focus of these notes is on the New Mill estate of course, so it is the relevant section of the plan which follows. It is not easy to read so I have ‘translated’ the original. To help the reader make sense of the sprinkler/hydrant plan… + The two blocks of text, above and below the plan, mimic the layout of text in the plan itself. To connect the ‘translation’ to the original, follow any item of text down (in the case of the top block) or up (for the lower block) and with a bit of luck you will identify the map text to which it refers. + Text in italics means I cannot be confident of my ‘translation’. A string of xxxx means I have found the map text to be illegible. + Below the plan is a commentary which may also help the reader. It will be useful at this point to give a distinct letter to some of the major New Mill estate buildings that remain and a few that disappeared relatively recently: the five storey building is B, the three storey building C, the one storey building D, and the N>S block, parallel and to the east of New Mill, E. There’s a further significant building to come, another three storey building, to the east of C. That will be X. New Mill estate history 36 Office 29 31 ONE STOREY 28 BOILER Boiler 31A xxxx 30 DYEHOUSE hydrants Fire escape House xxxx FINISHING SHED FIVE STOREYS 36 One storey 27 NEW MILL Goit under Goit under xxxx 36 Tail race 32 34 OIL ONE STOREY and BASEMENT 37 STORE FIVE STOREYS xxxx THREE STOREYS and BASEMENT Fire store xxx and Oil store 33 xxxx xxxx Supply drift Return drift New Mill estate NOTES 37 The sprinkler plan is a rich source of information. The boiler house, dye works and finishing shed appear to be much the same in size, shape and location as they were in the 030101 plan. However, the dye works has gained an office with its feet in the river and there are around three small buildings east of the finishing shed. The major changes since the 030101 plan are those consequent upon the demolition of the gas works and gas holders. Their demise did not happen until 1906 at the earliest: they are still present on the OS map surveyed in 1906 (see 060101). By ~1912, a new ‘three storeys and basement’ building (C) has been erected where the holders were. The change to the west of C is less clear. There is certainly a lengthy ‘five storey’ building (B, 35 on the sprinkler plan) which is fronted by a ‘one storey and basement’ building (D, 34). D does not seem to have existed in the early years of the new century (see 030101). The N>S block (E on the sprinkler plan) is roughly 75% of the length of New Mill. This is where the seat of the fire was in 1881. It’s ironic that E now contains a ‘fire store’. The sprinkler plan shows that, in ~1912, E, sitting at right angles to B, abuts it. Indeed, it might be joined to it. Whilst it is close to D which sits more or less on the site of the former gas works, it is separate from D. D is a ‘one storey and basement’ building. It sits in front of B and presumably is a variant of the ‘grease works’ and related buildings in the ~1903 plan (030101). However, it looks as if B has taken some of the land which the ‘grease works +’ occupied. 130101 OS map extract showing the New Mill estate The OS map published in 1922 was surveyed during 1913. The promised “extension of the mill premises” (030324) has been realised. New Mill estate NOTES 38 The circular gas tanks have disappeared but there are some new tanks. In the light of the knowledge gained from the ~1912 plan, it looks as if the new tanks are within building D. The other tank, by the river, is adjacent to the dye works. It goes without saying that dye works use tanks – but these appear to be outside the building. The purposes of both sets of tanks is not known. 240401 A portrait of Salts (Saltaire) Ltd This is from a booklet produced for the British Empire Exhibition by the Salts Mill 81 company which had recently been re-named Salts (Saltaire) Ltd. It is dated April 1924. There are many factors which require this image’s inclusion. It is very attractive; the ‘front garden’ of New Mill is a front garden; B and C are pictured for the first time; the odd feet-in-the-river extension to the dye works stands out; and the whole appears to be pretty accurate. 280900 New Mill estate from the air This is a crop from one of the earliest aerial photos of 82 Saltaire’s mills. It shows B and C which were built around 20 years earlier. New Mill estate NOTES 39 A very narrow, somewhat triangular building has been built, running alongside the river to the east of the dye works. One curiosity is the apparent balconies or bay windows on the south-facing side of New Mill’s extension. However, they could be just a trick of the light. 83 310101 onwards Salts is busy 340101 OS map crop The 1935 OS map was surveyed in 1934. There appear to be few differences compared to 130101 but maps of this scale reveal very few details. We know that the estate was a complex group of many buildings. Here, it is depicted as a single block. 84 350101 Aerial shot of the New Mill estate Much more helpful than that map! A complex group of numerous buildings is evident. Three canal-crossing bridges can be seen. There is only one today and that is not used. However, evidence of the other two is still visible, as we’ll see later. Though this is better than the OS map for our purposes, the photos two years later are better still. New Mill estate NOTES 40 85 370713 Four aerial shots of the New Mill estate Notable features include: * The dye works additions that almost stand in the river. Not just the office noted earlier. * The multiple, prominent chimneys on the dye works. From other photos, they appear to be emitting steam, not smoke – and indeed they should not be smoking because the campanile chimney was designated as the dye works chimney nearly 70 years earlier. *Steam emerging just a short distance upriver of the dye works, from what we know to be the boiler house. * The low, one storey building D fronting five- storey B. * The tank on the New Mill extension: it holds liquid (we can assume that it is water) and is divided in two. Purpose unknown – but the proximity of both the engine and boiler house could mean that the tanks cool the former or feed the latter. However, 86 according to a late 1920’s map and a blog, the water in the tank originated from a 87 small reservoir at Crag Hebble, and was specifically for use in the dye works. *The significant, relatively tall and long building (E) running parallel to New Mill. It now reaches the river and it definitely adjoins B. New Mill estate NOTES 41 *A building we have not identified previously, squashed between New Mill and E. *The shed housing the start of the supply drift. It is very large and almost touches New Mill. 88 490101a C H Wood’s aerial shots of the New Mill estate These two cropped images show the New Mill estate at its peak. Notable features include: * a new three bay/three storey building (X), right at the top of this photo at the eastern end of the site, and connected to C. X has a very small ‘wrap-around’ by the canal towpath at the south-eastern end of C. X‘s build and demolition dates are not known – but it was certainly not there in 1937 when several fine aerial views of the estate were 89 taken. It figures prominently on these 1949 aerial views and is still there in photos from 1960 and 1966. The last firm evidence of its existence comes from a T&A image dated 1976. It clumsily abuts C’s 90 east-facing façade. It has disappeared by the time of a later 91 1980s aerial image. * The two buildings adjacent to the dye works and standing in the river. That further downstream is the office identified earlier (but it may no longer be used as an office). The function of the other building is not known. * The size and location of E. It abuts B at one end and the river’s edge at the other. * The ‘chimneys’ on B and C. These are not new (they are visible in 1928 on 280900) but are very clear here. New Mill estate NOTES 42 * The multiple windows of the triangular riverside building downstream of the dye works. This facility must have required good light. A burling and mending room perhaps? Remarkably, it is King George V and Queen Mary who supply the answer… They visited Salts Mill in late May 1918 and their photo was taken in the burling and 92 mending room. This image depicts a building with many windows and, most importantly, through them, you can see the local topography. We have an unobstructed view of Baildon Bank with the Knoll to the far right. This places the room right by the riverside in the New Mill estate – and later we will see that a large remnant of this room survives. 93 490101b Inside the dye works This inside view of the venerable dye works dates from sometime in 1949. There’s no missing the fact that the dye works generates steam. New Mill estate NOTES 43 490601 New Mill as a hostel for employees In 1949, eighteen-year-old Theresa Schistal travelled from Austria to England alone. After her initial reception in a European Voluntary Workers hostel in 94 York , she gained employment at Salts Mill and moved into the ‘hostel provision’ – a floor of New Mill – which she shared with other Austrians and some 95 Italian women. Remarkably, we have a glorious photo of Theresa, 96 sitting in the mill at that time. 581001 Illingworth, Morris and Co buy Salts 97 (Saltaire) Ltd Originally registered as Amalgamated Textiles Ltd in 1920, the London-based financier Isidore Ostrer soon changed the name of his business to Illingworth, Morris. This reflected the well-established Yorkshire companies that were part of Ostrer’s group. Illingworth, Morris was a holding company. Ostrer and his two brothers avoided day- to-day management in favour of appointing carefully-selected managers and directors and then keeping a close eye on profitability. Over the following three decades, this worked well for the family and in October 1958 they made a successful bid for Salts (Saltaire) Ltd. At the time, Salts was a profitable company which had itself made a 98 number of acquisitions since the end of the Roberts era and WW1. 750101 onwards The deaths of two of Illingworth, Morris’s principals – and 99 the consequences of those deaths In late 1975 both Isidore and Maurice Ostrer died which meant that the future of their wool textile portfolio became uncertain, not least because Isidore’s executrix, his daughter, Pamela Mason, was someone with limited business experience. After serious disagreements between major shareholder Mason and the company’s board, there was a shareholders’ coup in October 1981. Mason and her son were removed from the board. Soon after, Mason sold her stake to Abele, a company owned by property entrepreneur Alan Lewis. By 1983, Lewis was chair of the 100 Illingworth, Morris board. In a context of significant decline in the textile industry , Lewis sold many company assets and made changes to the uses of several locations. Salts was at the sharp end of this process. In September 1985, Illingworth, Morris 101 announced that Salts Mill would cease production by the end of the year. New Mill estate NOTES 44 840101 Demolition has taken / is taking place on the New Mill estate This image, dated 1984, shows that major demolition was happening around New Mill 102 well before the 1985 announcement. It would be 10 years before New Mill would be renovated and re-purposed as offices; before B and C would be transformed into the Riverside Court apartments; and before the rest of the estate would have roadways, car parks and gardens. Perhaps the idea was in existence well before the funds etc were obtained to make it a reality. Perhaps it was necessary to demolish the buildings to attract a developer. The image shows that the former boiler house, dye works, finishing shed, the multi- windowed burling and mending room, plus X have all been demolished. E is in the process of being demolished as is D, but the latter’s rectangular shape is clearly visible. Part of the outer (carbuncle) extension to New Mill remains. 103 850307 “Date first listed” New Mill and Riverside Court (“SHIPLEY Saltaire VICTORIA ROAD (east side) Saltaire Mills - north block (New Mill) and Chimney”) were first listed by Historic England in March 1985. At this time, the buildings on the New Mill estate were being decommissioned and some had just been demolished. The listing is therefore a description of a set of buildings that are significantly different today. However, we learn that some of the “lower sheds attached to north and east” were still intact when the listing was written. I suspect that was some time before March 1985, but it echoes the message in the photo at 840101, that these “lower sheds”, close to New Mill and Riverside Court B, were amongst the last to be demolished. New Mill estate NOTES 45 860101 Further evidence of demolition 104 In this image , more has been cleared from the site than in the image above. But it also shows a large triangular structure supported by uprights. It is appended to the riverside elevation of B which would become the major block of the Riverside Court apartments. It seems to be a remnant of the large building E. The structure is even clearer in this photo which appears to be from much 105 the same date. It surely is a remnant of E. We shall return to it later. Meanwhile, note in this photo that there was a bridge connecting B to New Mill. There are very few pictures of this – and today, it is very difficult to identify any giveaway marks on the two buildings. New Mill estate NOTES 46 106 870101 Aerial shot of New Mill estate, post-demolition and clear-up Of note in this image: * The two ‘chimneys’ (purpose unknown) on top of B. Mentioned earlier, but here they are more obvious. * The paintwork left on the lower walls of B and C. These were of course the interiors of the finishing shed (left) and of D (right). * All three pedestrian bridges linking the New Mill estate with the main mill remain. * The shed which is the start of the 1852/53 Salts Mill supply drift. New Mill estate NOTES 47 107 870710 Silver buys Salts Mill, but not New Mill At this time, “Saltaire was abandoned and forgotten… we had one derelict mill [New Mill] on one side of the canal and an empty mill, Salts, on the other side”. So said local bookshop owner and historian Clive Woods, a champion of Saltaire’s historic importance. Illingworth Morris owned the mill. Alan Lewis was its chairman and chief executive. Jonathan Silver was the buyer. However, Silver did not buy the New Mill 108 estate. 910816 and 911105 Planning applications for New Mill and related 109 buildings Four separate applications for a change of use of New Mill 110 itself - to a hotel , warehouse, retail and offices - were submitted in August 1991. The applicant for these and the November applications for B and C was The New Mill Development Company Ltd which was created specifically for projects on this site. It was owned by Scarborough developer Kevin McCabe. A substantial amount of public 111 money enabled this private development. The single B and C application was for change of use to residential, the creation of almost 100 apartments. All five applications were approved in January 1992. McCabe secured interest from the NHS for the New Mill office proposal, so conversion for other purposes was not pursued. The change of use of the properties meant significant changes to the surrounding land - the construction of vehicular access, car parks and gardens. Perhaps the most important external amendment to any of the properties was the creation of a pedestrian and vehicle tunnel through New Mill’s basement. New Mill estate NOTES 48 200101 Historic remnants Today’s New Mill estate retains many features of its past. It is now part of the Saltaire World Heritage Site and all the buildings are listed. The campanile chimney remains untouched and the major buildings look much as they would when built – though in the case of B and C, their river-facing facades have been exposed with the demolition of several tens of square metres of adjoining buildings. So they probably look better than before! To substantiate the interpretations that follow, I have made numerous calculations of current distances and those suggested by historic plans. This exercise necessarily delivers only approximate figures, but I have found it helpful. The figures are recorded in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES below. Some remnants have already been mentioned: * The shed which is the start of the 1852/53 Salts Mill supply drift (mentioned in 520304). * Close by that, the excellent stone base of the former outer extension to New Mill (the carbuncle), now topped by a smart wall (760101b). * The dye works wall and office (600308). * The pedestrian bridge linking the main mill to New Mill itself. But several other remnants deserve mention. * The considerable expanse of brick wall (right) to the south-east of C is (part of) the southern wall of the demolished building X. This was an internal wall. The other face of that brick wall can be seen from the canal towpath (left) and, because it was the external wall, it was stone. New Mill estate NOTES 49 * Patches/blemishes/fixings signifying the earlier existence of cross-canal bridges. In this collage, the upper images are on the north side of the canal, and vice versa. The left-hand images show remnants of the middle bridge and the other, the one furthest east. (It is much easier to spot these in reality than in photos). * The (dirty) roofline and ceiling lines of the former ‘one storey and basement’ building (D) that sat against the front of B. The scruffy base of this wall is the interior wall of the basement of that building. It was not designed for show – but now it is on show. * The interior paintwork of the dye works. New Mill estate NOTES 50 * The current riverside wall. This is made up of the lower parts of the dye works’ stone wall (in the paintwork image above, and to the left in this image), plus the brick wall of the triangular burling and mending room. The junction of these two elderly walls can be seen here. The large stone lintels in the brick wall indicate the locations of the former windows of the mending room. Today, there are 18 lintels, and an aerial photo (the second at 490101a) shows 18 or possibly 19. Bingo! * Where B meets C, either side of the large, modern, green doorway and balcony room are elements that look out of place and could well be from D. It’s worth stressing that, at the peak of New Mill estate’s working life, the buildings were crammed in, and sharing walls was commonplace. Indeed, in the early C20th plan (030101 and repeated below), it is possible to identify a corner - marked in red in the next image - which is the same shape, the same size and in the same location as it was at the turn of the C19th and C20th. New Mill estate NOTES 51 In other words, these walls - a product of the C19th - were incorporated into the construction of B and C in the early C20th, and were then knocked through during the late C20th residential conversion. The thin, straight green line in the above image is also interesting. It follows what is now the western boundary of C as well as the eastern boundary of the demolished dye works – and when it reaches the riverside wall, it strikes that stone/brick junction in the wall that we remarked on earlier in this list of remnants! * The interior paintwork of the finishing shed. This can be seen on the north-eastern corner of C. * The curved lines of walls in C‘s basement car park. Looking again at the early C20th plan (030101), we can see that an area south of the finishing shed contained two “settling tanks”, formerly gas holders. And it is now plain that, when the tanks were demolished, C was built on the rectangular footprint surrounding the tanks and the adjacent ‘loading stage’. New Mill estate NOTES 52 The latter is now a separate basement room of this same Riverside Court block C. Most of the rest of the basement is a car park. A cursory inspection of the walls of this space delivers something truly odd: several are curved. Here is one of them. It is on the southern edge of the car park, where the southern edge of a settling tank would have stood. The long-lost tanks have left their mark on C. * Dry well for gas holder in C‘s basement car park. It may be gilding the lily, but this remnant is surely special. On the 1870s plan (760101b), the two gasholders are shown and alongside each is a tiny circle. To the right is a reminder of this image. These tiny circles represent ‘dry wells’, a standard feature of Victorian gas plants, designed for the disposal of waste water (see 670425). In C‘s basement car park, close to the curved wall, there’s a rugged metal object almost lost in an outside wall. It is very close to the location of the upper tiny circle/dry well in the ~1870 plan. Suspecting that it was indeed that same dry well, once again I consulted one of the UK’s leading gas works experts, Dr Russell Thomas, author of The History and 112 Operation of Gas works (Manufactured Gas Plants) in Britain. New Mill estate NOTES 53 Dr Thomas says that “it looks like the structure in the wall would be part of a cast iron tank possibly part of the former gasholder tank (which held water) and seems to have been reused as a settling tank. If it is the small circular feature you mention, that was the dry well”. New Mill estate NOTES 54 200101 The most interesting of the historical remnants? At the New Mill end of B‘s river-facing elevation is a curious ‘two storey plus basement’ addendum. This location has been referenced previously. It makes an appearance in a ~1986 image (860101) and then, in the ~1987 image (870101), there’s a suggestion of a hole in the wall in that same place. This is where building E met building B – as can be seen in the second photo of 490101a. Now take a further look at the photo above. Note that the addendum extends beyond the line of B‘s western wall, to the right, and that on B’s main elevation there’s a pronounced difference in spacing between the group of four addendum windows on the right and the next run of windows to the left. Along the whole of that same elevation, this spacing is unique. New Mill estate NOTES 55 Moreover, the other side of the building shows a similar pattern. After the first group of four windows there is a marked change. This is unique on this elevation. Now back to the river-facing elevation. In the image of this above, note that the addendum’s windows and horizontal stone dividers do not match the levels of the main elevation – and on that elevation, immediately above and behind the addendum’s triangular roof, there is a mighty grey beam signifying a need to strengthen the wall, to hold the floors above. Beams are common in these buildings above loading bays - but there’s no evidence that there was a loading bay here, so this too is unique. What we find inside B explains what is going on. This is the brick-arched ceiling in one of the basement rooms within the addendum. Such features are common in New Mill and in Salts Mill, buildings that are much older than B. And such ceilings do not exist in the lower floors of B other than at this western end. New Mill estate NOTES 56 The best explanation of these many features is that the builders of B incorporated into it a section of an older building. That building was E. But perhaps the most persuasive evidence that this is what happened is in these photos. The first shows the western corner of the addendum. Note how the stone, window cill line from the front of the addendum continues straight along the side of the building. You are looking at a feature of E. In the second image which is river-facing, that same line fails to meet its counterpart in the new build B. When the New Mill Development Company’s builders came to revive and re-purpose B in the 1990s, no doubt they discovered that B incorporated a once quite separate structure. It is plausible to conclude that what we see today was their solution to what presumably was an engineering, but perhaps also an aesthetic, problem. When we look at the addendum now, what we are seeing is for the most part ‘original E‘ (eg the levels of the windows are E not B) but also the work of modern builders (eg the windows themselves). New Mill estate NOTES 57 221001 History never stops In June 2021, planning permission was granted for a glazed two-storey fire escape to be erected in the north-east corner of New Mill.113 The work was completed (subject to some scaffolding being removed) in October 2022. New Mill estate NOTES 58 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Saltaire plan 1870s New Mill estate NOTES 59 New Mill plan from the 1870s with approximate dimensions New Mill estate NOTES 60 MAWSONS’ PLAN from 1881 New Mill estate NOTES 61 Salts Mill plan from the first decade of the C20th New Mill estate NOTES 62 New Mill plan from the first decade of the C20th with approximate dimensions New Mill estate NOTES 63 Saltaire Mills’ sprinkler/hydrant plan c1912 New Mill estate NOTES 64 1926-1930 Mill plan (the yellow plan) New Mill estate NOTES 65 ENDNOTES 1 Planning application 91/06634/FUL | Repairs and alterations to two derelict mills to form 106 residential units complex New Mill Saltaire Shipley | New Mill Saltaire Shipley https://planning.bradford.gov.uk/online-applications/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage 2 Image ©Chris North. pictowall.co.uk 3 William Hampshire The Water Mills of Shipley 2000. “The history of Dixon Mill begins with an Indenture, made on 28th May 1635 between John Drake of Pykedley in Allerton, clothier (1), and William Dixon of Shipley, yeoman (2), ‘WHEREAS William Dixon is to build a water corn milne and a fulling milne in certayne… closes… of the now inheritance of William Dixon called the Eshalleys or Esholtleys… in Shipley… now in the tenure or occupation of the said William Dixon AND WHEREAS John Drake hath one other close called the Ealand in Baildon… opposite… Esholtleys… WITNESSETH that John Drake doth graunt to William Dixon… the close called Ealand… and permission to affixe one damme for a yearly rent of tenne shillings”. The tithe map also comes from this excellent booklet which can be downloaded for free at https://saltairevillage.info/saltaire_history_0009_WaterMills_of_Shipley_Bill_Hampshire.pdf 4 The map therefore shows the location as it was on the survey date, not the publication date. This is important for the historian who is trying to explain the timings of key developments. In the rest of this paper, I’ve tried to reflect this. 5 Bradford Observer 4 January 1852 6 The drift under the canal also carried a gas pipe. See 040325. 7 The uses made of this water may well be numerous but of one thing we are sure. It was used by the condensing steam engines. Cold water assisted the condensing process. “The condenser is supplied with cold water from the river Aire” wrote the mill’s chief engineer and one of Britain’s premier engineers, William Fairbairn, in his Treatise on Mills and Mill Work, 1st Ed 1864. The original beam engines of Salts Mill were located at the south-facing front. “At Saltaire the engines required to drive the machinery consist of two pairs of condensing beam engines, each engine being of 100 nominal horse-power, or collectively 400 nominal horse power. They are placed on either side of the principal entrance to the mills, and are supplied with steam from boilers placed underground, at a short distance in front of the mill.“ 8 Bradford Observer 9 September 1852 9 Leeds Intelligencer Saturday 4 June 1853. Also placed in 9 and 23 June Bradford Observer. 10 The Manufactured Gas Industry: Volume 1 History Prof. Russell Thomas 11 Saltaire historian Roger Clarke has written about the domestic use of gas in Saltaire. WHEN GAS WAS KING was published in the Saltaire Sentinel Number 122 February 2013. It can now be read in full at https://saltairevillage.info/sentinel_2013/0122_SENTINEL_FEBRUARY_13.pdf but here is a pertinent section: … There is anecdotal evidence about what it was like to live with gas in the houses in Saltaire. There was a gas ring in the kitchen connected to the gas point by a flexible rubber hose. The gas ring supplemented cooking on the black leaded fireplace in the living room. Gas mantles hung from the ceiling in both rooms, and Anthony Briggs still has an example of a bracket which could be extended to allow the mantle to be closer to a seated person. It has a water seal to stop the gas escaping as it extends and retracts. Anthony was a plumber in the village and reminds me that gas supply was via a penny meter. There was always a strong smell of gas, grease (and cabbage) in the kitchen. 12 William Cudworth Round About Bradford 1876 https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Round_about_Bradford/WYplB17WoHYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&print sec=frontcover New Mill estate NOTES 66 13 Golisti K O M (Ken) An Anthology of the Yorkshire Gas Adventure 1993 p159 14 Provenance and date not known. 15 Prof Russell is the author of The History and Operation of Gasworks (Manufactured Gas Plants) in Britain (available to download at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268447664_The_History_and_Operation_of_Gasworks_Man ufactured_Gas_Plants_1_Written_by_Dr_Russell_Thomas_1422014) and of a major report for Historic England, The Manufactured Gas Industry, available at https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16708&ru=%2fResults.aspx%3fp%3d1%26n% 3d10%26t%3dgas%26ns%3d1 16 Golisti op cit 17 Bradford Observer - Thursday 08 March. ‘Warp dressing’ appears to refer to the treatment of woollen threads which stick together or are subject to break through lack of dampness. 18 See later (~1912) plan at 120101. It seems very unlikely that the office was not part of the initial build. 19 Bradford Observer - Thursday 29 October 1863 20 Bradford Observer - Thursday 22 September 1864 21 Leeds Mercury - 14 January 1865. An identical advert appeared in the Bradford Observer on 19 January 1865 22 Bradford Observer - Thursday 23 March 1865 23 Bradford Observer - Thursday 13 July 1865 24 Bradford Observer – 27 July 1865 25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_the_United_Kingdom#History 26 Bradford Observer - Thursday 17 August 1865 27 Leeds Mercury - Friday 23 March 1866 28 Bradford Observer - Thursday 25 April 1867 29 A ‘dry well’ is a feature of gas houses at this time. It does not refer to a well as we know it today. It is “An underground structure that disposes of unwanted water, most commonly stormwater runoff, by dissipating it into the ground, where it merges with the local groundwater”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_well 30 National Gas Museum http://www.nationalgasmuseum.org.uk. Worth a look: Gasholders and their Tanks at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268447774_Gasholders_and_their_Tanks 31 See 520920 for information on the first. 32 Bradford Observer - Wednesday 07 October 1868 33 Bradford Observer - Wednesday 07 October 1868 34 ‘Damstones’ seems to have been commonly used to refer to a weir. On 12 June 1880, the Shipley Times reported that “An otter… was seen to ascend the “damstones” at Saltaire Bridge on Tuesday morning”. Note C17th use of “damme” to mean ‘weir’ in Hampshire endnote above. New Mill estate NOTES 67 35 Bradford Observer - Wednesday 07 October 1868 36 Cudworth op cit p312 37 Notwithstanding this title, it seems very likely that the upper floors of the building, which had conventional windows, did not house engines. 38 Leeds Mercury - Wednesday 03 November 1875 39 ??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_steam_engine 40 A very famous firm. So famous that it has its own Wikipedia entry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._Hick_and_Sons The correct name of the firm is Hick, Hargreaves. The first 170 years of the company’s history is told at https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/5936329.firm-is-moving-after-170-years/ 41 Cudworth op cit p312 42 Taken from a plan by Lockwood and Mawson. The full plan is posted above in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES. The precise date is unclear but it is probably from the 1870s. The plan includes the Park and the Institute (Victoria Hall) both completed by 1871 but not the very last, small group of Saltaire houses that were built 1875-76. In their place is information on the population of the village. 43 It is certainly post-1869 as it makes reference (in a corner not included in this crop) to Salt as a baronet. He was ennobled on 30 October 1869. 44 Balgarnie’s Salt, with commentary and additions by Barlo & Shaw (2003), p96. The original (Balgarnie Rev R: Sir Titus Salt, Baronet: His Life and its Lessons (1877)) is available to download free from www.saltairevillage.info. However, the image first appeared in Saltaire and its Founder by George M Towle in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine Vol XLIV December 1871 to May 1872. 45 There is a further, similar image (below) that merits a mention. I do not have a date or provenance for this though it looks like an early draft of the 1877 image. However, it seems to picture Salts Mill very soon after the building of New Mill in 1868. A key omission is Victoria Hall which opened ~1870 - so 1868 is plausible. It is nothing like as accurate as the other image. For example, the church is too far up Victoria Road and New Mill is much smaller than it should be – which is why it probably does not deserve inclusion in the main body of these notes. 46 An aside: a bridge across the canal, connecting Salts and New Mill, is shown. 47 “With the death of Lockwood in 1878 the [Lockwood and Mawson] firm was renamed W & R Mawson with William’s brother, Richard Mawson (1834–1904), becoming the second partner”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mawson. Plan supplied by and from the Saltaire Collection. New Mill estate NOTES 68 48 Shipley Times - Saturday 09 February 1884 Wharfedale & Airedale Observer - Friday 08 February 1884 Leeds Times - Saturday 09 February 1884 49 David King advises that ‘dressing’ here probably refers to the treatment of woollen threads which stick together or are subject to break through lack of dampness. The same process we noted much earlier. 50 On 31 August 1923, the Shipley Times featured a story about Henry Stolworthy who had worked at Salts Mill for 49 years from ~1854. Stolworthy “had charge of the Saltaire Mills Fire Brigade for 28 years” and recalled the serious fire that occurred some years ago behind the “new mill”, in a building used as a warp dressing room at that time”. There is no doubt that he is remembering this February 1884 event. Stolworthy says that the fire was “more than a match” for the Saltaire brigade – the water in the hydrants was frozen! - and the Bradford Brigade had to be called out. 51 … but perhaps only on the side facing the inferno? 52 Shipley Times - Saturday 09 February 1884 Wharfedale & Airedale Observer - Friday 08 February 1884 Leeds Times - Saturday 09 February 1884 53 Calculation by the author. 54 Still from the film This Wonderful Creation https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-this-wonderful- creation-1976-online 55 Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Tuesday 16 February 1892 56 Derby Daily Telegraph – 8 February 1893 found in Colin Coates Timeline for Sir James Roberts 30 September 1848 – 31 December 1935 and His Family April 2016 unpublished 57 Shipley Times and Express - Saturday 16 December 1893 58 Bradford Daily Telegraph - Friday 23 February 1894 59 Provenance and date not known. I believe that this image is on display in Salts Mill’s People and Process exhibition. 60 Advert by John Maddocks and Co in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News 4 October 1890. 61 https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/walking/canal-trails/bingley-to-saltaire/saltaire- world-heritage-site 62 See 000801 63 Shipley Times - 11 August 1900 64 Shipley Times - 11 August 1900 65 ??? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_steam_engine 66 Finishing: “An overall term that usually refers to all processes, with the exception of coloring, to make fabric more acceptable (some experts also include coloring). Much of the look, feel, and behavior of a fabric is determined by the finishing steps taken. Finishing can be mechanical… or chemical, or both. Special treatments are applied to fabrics during finishing to make them perform better, shrink less, resist flames, and repel water”. http://www.fabricdictionary.com/finishing/177/finishing.html 67 Could the four be the three installed in 1875 plus the original boiler, re-located from one of the mill extensions to this boiler house? New Mill estate NOTES 69 68 The full plan shows that there has also been a major move to the use of electric power in the main mill too. 69 David King is that local historian and former Salts employee. 70 David King’s insight again. 71 http://www.fabricdictionary.com/tentering/744/tentering.html 72 Bradford Daily Telegraph - Tuesday 24 March 1903 73 In Roger Clarke’s WHEN GAS WAS KING op cit, he quotes Saltaire historian David King who notes that “when James Roberts [the then owner of Salts Mill] was appointed to Shipley Council in 1897, he set about selling Saltaire supply pipes and the right to supply gas to Saltaire to Shipley Council for £33,500. Presumably the gas works were closed soon afterward. The gas works and gasometers are shown on an OS map for 1893. A 1908 (revised 1906) OS map shows that gasometers are still there, but no longer used in connection with gas production. 74 Bradford Daily Telegraph - Thursday 04 June 1903 75 Shipley Times and Express - Friday 03 July 1903 76 An extract from John Horne's summary of the gas history of Yorkshire provided by Prof Russell Thomas, 26 January 2021. 77 Wharfedale & Airedale Observer - Friday 08 January 1904 78 Shipley Times and Express - Friday 25 March 1904 79 Roger Clarke op cit 80 Provenance and date unknown. 81 The exhibition ran from 23 April 1924 to 31 October 1925. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire_Exhibition 82 https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/search?keywords=EPW024515&country=global&year=all 83 Maggie Smith and Colin Coates Salts Mill The Owners and Managers 1853 to 1986 (2016) 84 The image is a crop of a photograph (Image filename AA74) from the C H Wood collection at Bradford Industrial Museum: https://photos.bradfordmuseums.org/view-item?i=207577 The precise date of this photo is not known but the year is. 85 All images are from https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en 86 This is a reference to the 1926-1930 Mill plan which is in ADDITIONAL RESOURCES above. The plan contains a hand-written note mentioning the Crag Hebble reservoir alongside an image of the pipes bringing water from it to New Mill. 87 That reservoir was only built in 1911 and the earliest image of this tank is from 1924 (240401). The dyeworks water supply is interesting. It seems logical that it should come from the river but in 1911, a small reservoir - Crag Hebble Dam - was created on Loadpit Beck at the bottom of Shipley Glen specifically to supply the dye works. See the crop from a late 1920’s plan below that confirms the feed from “Glen Beck Reservoir” to the dye works, though not the 1911 date which is referenced in Chris Heaton’s blog at https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3770890. The 6” OS map of the area surveyed 1906 and published 1909 does not show the reservoir. The 25” map revised 1913 and published 1922 New Mill estate NOTES 70 does show it. So the 1911 date is plausible. This is yet another of the significant changes to Salts Mill under the leadership of James Roberts. The full 1920’s plan (actually, there’s only half of it and I don’t know the provenance nor am I sure of the date) is included in the ADDITIONAL RESOURCES above. 88 https://photos.bradfordmuseums.org. Images N4604 and F4691. 89 https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/ 90 https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17876993.ten-fantastic-aerial-images-shipley- saltaire/#gallery8 91 https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/insta/17878109.take-look-pictures-saltaire-shipley- 1980s/#gallery4 92 Illustrated London News 8 June 1918 93 https://photos.bradfordmuseums.org. Image T7304 94 https://www.ukrainiansintheuk.info/eng/01/evw-e.htm 95 https://www.saltairecollection.org/world-connections-austria-schistal-part-1/ https://www.saltairecollection.org/world-connections-austria-schistal-part-2/ 96 From the Saltaire Collection, with thanks. 97 Smith and Coates, op cit. The precise date of the takeover is unclear from the book which gives October 1958 as the date of the bid for Salts and then states that the takeover was “late in 1957” pp102-103. 98 Op cit, Chapters 4 and 5. See above endnote for concern over the accuracy of “October 1958”. 99 This section leans heavily on Smith and Coates, op cit. 100 Greenhalf Jim Salt and Silver: A Story of Hope 1998 (2nd Ed) : “In 1970, approximately 1,142,000 people in the UK were employed in textiles and clothing. By 1991 and the second recession in ten years… that figure had shrunk to just 347,000”. 101 Ibid. In fact, it closed in February 1986 (Greenhalf p 66). New Mill estate NOTES 71 102 https://photos.bradfordmuseums.org Image AC24104 103 https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1300710?section=official-list-entry 104 From a (Bradford Council?) document on the re-purposing of the New Mill buildings 105 Image courtesy of Kate Clarke. 106 https://billberrett.info/img/ACA-LDS-29-Salts-Mill-750x547.jpg The image here is a crop. 107 Greenhalf op cit. 108 Ibid p140 109 https://planning.bradford.gov.uk/online-applications/ 110 Hotel! Ironical in light of New Mill’s use in 1949. 111 Author’s personal knowledge 112 Available to download at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268447664_The_History_and_Operation_of_Gasworks_Man ufactured_Gas_Plants_1_Written_by_Dr_Russell_Thomas_1422014 113 https://planning.bradford.gov.uk/online- applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=QQD6O6DHM1K00&activeTab=summary