Heritage Projects
Unveiling of the Low Mill Information Board
On Saturday 20th July about seventy people attended the unveiling of a new information board about the history of Low Mill in Addingham. The board has been created by the Heritage Group of the Addingham Civic Society and was funded by the Parish Council. Located at a prominent location by the weir, the board can now be enjoyed by everybody walking through Low Mill village as well as walkers on the Dales Way.
At the ceremony, Ian Cameron, chair of the Heritage Group described key moments from Low Mill’s history since it was built in 1787. These included being the world’s first mill to successfully spin worsted yarn and so contributing to the story of the Industrial Revolution. There were also darker moments, when 150 rioters attacked the mill in 1826 with aim of destroying the new power looms that threatened the jobs of hand weavers. Much later, the mill contributed to the war effort in the Second World War by building carburettors for engines in Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancaster bombers.
However, Ian Cameron also said: “As you walk through Low Mill up till now, where do you find out about these wonderful stories? By having this new display, we want to share the remarkable history of Low Mill to residents and visitors”.
Gill Battarbee, Chair of Addingham Civic Society said that this initiative was part of the local contribution to Bradford City of Culture 2025 which has as it’s aim to have a network of walks across the district. The unveiling of the board was undertaken by Simon Tennant, chair of Addingham Parish Council who said: “This is another excellent example of close working between the Parish Council and the Civic Society for the good of Addingham”
The D-Day exhibition in the Hub
D-Day was a huge undertaking with so many people, groups and organisations coming together to contribute to its success. Our display reflects that spirit of co-operation.
Reproduced by kind permission of the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance RegimentWe knew there were images in the Photo Archive that we could use, some of which are also in the Civic Society’s publications, ‘Addingham in World War Two’ by Beryl Falkingham and Richard Thackrah and ‘Main Street Memories: Living and Shopping in 1940s Addingham’ by Beryl Falkingham, Gloria Stitt and Don Barrett. And of course there are plenty of images on the internet, but these had to have a relevance to our story and one in particular did. Les Chamberlain (whose story is told in the exhibition) was in one of the gliders that landed at Pegasus Bridge and we wanted to show a Horsa glider in flight – there were six of them so a flight of six was needed. This was difficult to arrange since there are very few model kits of the glider available (and our model making skills are not what they were when we were teenagers). However, there is a great photo from the 6th Airborne Armoured Recce Regiment RAC that we were able to use and also Ken Crooks, son of Les Chamberlain was kind enough to lend us a Horsa glider model.
Physical artifacts would enhance the display – and that’s where the co-operation really started. Firstly, we heard about Keighley Plastic Model Club who meet in the Hub every month and were very pleased to let us borrow a superb selection of D-Day models their members had made. The models are delicate so we needed some display cases to protect them from inquisitive fingers. And that’s where Ilkley Library and The Thackray Medical Museum collaborated and loaned us the display cases.
The Second World War Experience Centre in Otley is a treasure trove of information and artifacts and they kindly let us borrow a genuine Air Raid Warden’s kit. And finally, pupils at Addingham Primary School made a brilliant scrapbook including all sorts of things, including war time recipes. We’d love to know whether anyone has tried making the vinegar cake!
And to round off the co-operation, Addingham Film Club helped us to show that epic film about D-Day, ‘The Longest Day’'
So, ten different organisations and people co-operated in making the display. It’s been so popular that it will now run through to the end of July, so you still have time to go and see it in the Hub.
The 1,683 slides project
Over many years we have accumulated 35mm slides from various sources, principally from Hilda Holmes, Kate Mason, Arnold Pacey and Don Barrett.
Many of these slides have been scanned and incorporated into the Heritage Group’s collection but there are others that have not been scanned and many were only scanned at low resolution.
Therefore, in 2023, the group decided to get all the 1,683 slides commercially scanned at high resolution and added to the photo archive.
This has become a multi-stage project necessitating sorting through all the files, adding as much information as possible, adding them to the main collection stored ‘in the cloud’, removing duplicates and then copying them to the public archive where needed to ‘tell the story’. This will be done after Heritage Group Members have looked through all 6,000 files on public display and eliminated photos which are not needed.
This project was started in the autumn of 2023 but is unlikely be completed until up to a year later.
The Greenwood Mausoleum
The Greenwood Mausoleum is a Grade II listed building in the Methodist cemetery along Chapel Street. It is an utterly unique structure, carefully designed and beautifully built of ashlar stone construction, with original wooden doors to East and West. On both the North and South faces there are well carved panels charting the deaths of leading members of the Greenwood family in the mid to late C19. What cannot be seen are the 3 panels within the building, 2 of which had fallen to the floor because of water penetration from the roof.
Chris Cobley of the Heritage Group carefully reconstructed these smashed panels on the floor and recorded their contents with the permission of the Methodist Church. They also permitted him to water-proof the roof by using a combination of lime mortar and mastic where appropriate to fill the very small cracks which had opened out in the stone joints of the roof, so no further damage can be done to the interior of the building, especially the one panel which survives in its original position on the wall.
Unlike many other listed buildings in Addingham this one is not just an amazingly imaginative and unusual architectural oddity, but one which contains both inside and outside it a full record of those interred within: the family which built both Netherwood House and the Swan.
New Addingham High Mill Information Board
200 years ago, Addingham was a hive of textile industry with hundreds of mill workers click-clacking to work in their clogs. High Mill, originally a Medieval corn mill, was extended to include two spinning mills in the late 1700s which was a ‘boom-time’ with new textile mills being rapidly built in Addingham and across the north of England.
In 2023 the Heritage Group unveiled an Information Board at the mill, the first of its planned boards marking the development of industry in the village. This new board, designed by Don Barrett, features a painting of the mill by J M W Turner, a photo of it at the end of its working life and a brief history. It is positioned, opposite the bottom of High Mill Lane, so that it will be passed by up to 5,000 Dales Way Path walkers each year and so inform both visitors and residents.
It was unveiled on 15 February by Chris Cobley and Suzy Stewart in front of an audience of about 40 members and locals. Chris Cobley, a mill resident and Heritage Group member involved in preparing the board, said “It will really put High Mill on the map, together with its long and fascinating history.”
“We have been planning this initiative for some time,” said Don Barrett “but covid and other problems delayed implementation. We are delighted to now have the first board in place and are very grateful to the residents of High Mill and Suzy Stewart of Hamiltons Restaurant next door to the Mill for jointly funding the project”.
After the unveiling everyone was invited to Hamiltons restaurant for a celebration tea, generously provided by Suzy, with extra cakes from Jackie Olive – a most enjoyable event!