Bell Busk Mill

An artist's impression of Bell Busk cotton/silk mill (late 19thC).

A couple of houses, an empty mill pond and a long mill race, are all that remains today of the once bustling Bell Busk mill. It is situated just outside the main Bell Busk village, with its rows of back to back mill cottages and old schoolhouse on the road to Coniston Cold. The current village is smaller than when the mill was in use, having lost one row of the original cottages and several dwellings on the road leading up to the old station. Despite the number of cars parked in the village today, it is a much quieter place today than it was in the 19th century.

Built as a cotton mill in 1794, the Bell Busk mill was turned over to spinning silk in the early 1860s when the American civil war caused a cotton famine. This wasn't the only problem to affect the cotton industry, and wasn't the only crisis this mill had faced either, as this advertisement shows the spinning machinery being offered for sale some 20 years earlier, in 1841.

Leeds Mercury 13th March 1841

BELL BUSK, COTTON SPINNING MACHINERY FOR SALE - 1willow, 3 beaters, 30 carding engines – 18” and 8 carding engines 40” wide, 3 doubling machines, 4 drawing frames, 4 slubbing frames. 4 stretchers with 17 pairs of mules of 204 spindles each. 3 winding frames. 3 warping mills. plus a quantity of cans, bobbins, straps, old iron and brass.“The whole of the machinery is now at work, and may be viewed till the day of the sale.” Apply to Mr John Proctor on the premises.

The census of 1851 shows the mill being managed by Thomas Whitehead of Todmorden, but by 1861 the census shows it being run by William Slingsby of Carleton nr Skipton, who would appear to be the leaseholder and employed 59 hands to spin cotton. His business may well have been affected by the cotton famine in the early 1860s, as according to an article in the The Draper's Record (18.9.1898), Mr Charles A Rickards of Armley nr Leeds acquired the mill around 1865 and from then on it was used to spin silk. The main products made there were silk thread for hand and machine sewing; button-hole twists; and knitting, embroidery and weaving silks.

Charles A Rickards

The 1871 census shows Charles Rickards employing a total of 80 workers ( 20 men, 23 women, 14 boys and 23 girls) and living in the "Mill House", and ten years later the 1881 census tells us he was then employing 30 Men 30 Women and 35 Girls. In 1892 he acquired Low Mill in Sackville Street, Skipton, which was built in 1839 by John Benson Sidgwick for weft spinning and weaving, this was also turned over to silk and between the two sites he employed around 300 people.

In 1897 the Bell Busk mill company joined with John Dewhurst & Sons of Skipton and around ten other major firms engaged in the production of sewing cotton, silk and linen threads, to form the English Sewing Cotton Company Limited. This was intended to maintain the mills, products and trade marks of these individual companies but eliminate any destructive competition.

Bell Busk mill closed in 1901 and on February 15th 1901 The Craven Herald included the following short article on its demise:

Bell Busk mill didn't reopen, the machinery was sold and the building was left to decay and over a period of time demolished, leaving the dam, race, Mill House and other remnants seen today.

The location of Bell Busk mill showing the mill pond fed by the race and
the long tail race, rejoining the river further downstream
(Click for larger version showing the village and station)

The following is the entry for Bell Busk mill from the book Yorkshire Cotton by George Ingle:

Peter Garforth Junior and Thomas Hallowell had been using Carleton Old Hall as a spinning shop before they built Bell Busk Mill in 1794. In that year the mill was insured for £1,500 and the mill work for £200. By 1797 machinery and stock to the value of £2,000 and £500 had been added as were a warehouse and joiners shop. The main mill was five storeys high with 1,965 square yards of floor space.

By 1805 Garforth had withdrawn somewhat from the partnership as he had other cotton mills at Sedburgh, Skipton and Bingley. Bell Busk Mill was therefore tenanted by the firm of Thomas Hallowell & Co.

James Braithwaite Garforth took over the running of Bell Busk Mill after his father's death. By 1816 a small steam engine had been added and the insurance cover was as follows:

Mill	£1,000
Mill work	£ 400
Steam engine and pipes	£ 200
Machinery	£3, 200
Stock	£ 200
Total	£5,000

 

 

 

 

By 1833 this mill was being used to spin 40s quality cotton yarn on mules. Power was supplied by a 16 hp water wheel and the small 6 hp steam engine. Altogether one hundred and seven people were employed at the mill which was turned over to silk spinning about 1862.

Click image for more details

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