Details of Morley Mills: Gillroyd Mill to Providence Mill
The map at the link shows the position of the mills in the town where this is known.
Gillroyd (21) |
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| Location | off Wide Lane |
| Best known Owners | JOHN HARTLEY & SONS Ltd. : Asquith Clark & Co Gillroyd Mill Company |
| Known History | One of the town’s oldest established woollen mills, opening in 1834/35. |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Developed in several stages. 4th Steam-driven mill in the town. 5 storey new mill opened 26/5/1860. Huge destruction in 2 fires followed by re-building: 2/12/1886 and 25/1/1891. Closed in late 1966 with 184 members of staff losing their job. |
| Use of site | Whole complex completely demolished – only the concrete base of some buildings now visible. Site developed as a housing estate. |
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Glen (22) |
| Location | Topcliffe Lane |
| Best known Owners | ALBERT GLOVER & SONS Ltd. |
| Known History | Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Not recorded by Wm. Smith since it was regarded as an Ardsley mill. Probably started about 1880 and worked for 90 years by same family. |
| Use of site | Still in production in 1972 but no evidence of mill now. A housing estate now stands on the original site with new roads: Topcliffe Fold Grove Ingleborough Drive. |
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Grove (23)(aka Bantam Or Bantam Grove) |
| Location | Bantam Grove Lane off Wide Lane |
| Best known Owners | DAVID BRADLEY Ltd |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Bantam Grove dyeworks on 1854 OS map. Mill chimney dated at 1899. Mill fire on 7/1/1920. Closed in 1960s. |
| Use of site in 1995 | Building demolished. |
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Hembrigg (24) |
| Location | Mill Street between Bridge St/High St. |
| Best known Owners | J & E STOCKWELL Edwin Hinchcliffe Stockwell & Barron Hirst Bros. |
| Known History | In existence in 1866 and 1876 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Small mill built between 1854 and 1863. 27/6/1863: Great boiler explosion with large loss of life; 7/9/1863: Chimney fell down; 8/4/1872: Mill burnt down in February 1944: 5 people died in the blaze, including two firemen.1970: gutted by fire. Mill for 90 years. |
| Use of site | Shemtec Sheet Metal Technicians used the building for about 25 years from mid 1940s |
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Highcliffe (25) |
| Location | Bruntcliffe Lane near former Railway Bridge |
| Best known Owners | A & A BROOKE Brown Hepworth & Co |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Probably built in 1880s when Peel Hepworth had an argument with Chas. Scarth. Last worked in 1960s. |
| Use of site | Large amount of new building and site extension. |
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Hollow Top (26) |
| Location | Bridge Street |
| Best known Owners | RICHARDSON & Co Chaffer & Keighley Watson & Holton Watson Rhodes & Co |
| Known History | In existence in 1876 In existence in 1866 Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | 5th Steam-driven mill in Morley. In existence before 1854. It produced cloth for just over 100 years. |
| Use of site | Brick extension makes old stone almost invisible. |
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Hope (27) |
| Location | Hope Street |
| Best known Owners | F DICKINSON & Son J Harrop & Son |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Joseph Rhodes started it as a foundry in 1850s for making textile machinery and water storage tanks. 7/4/1869: Fire in foundry. Started up as a mill about 1906. Production for about 60 years. |
| Use of site | Site now a car park for Wilko supermarket and nearby shops. |
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Howley Lower (28) |
| Location | Howley Mill Lane |
| Best known Owners | BENJAMIN LAW and BENJAMIN PARR |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Former corn mill leased by Law & Parr (Batley clothiers) to produce shoddy from rags – about 1813 to 1820. This with cotton warps was the essential ingredient of Morley Union cloth. |
| Use of site | Low single storey building across Howley Beck has been converted to a high class dwelling house. A large lawn occupies the site of the old mill dam. |
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Howley Upper (29) |
| Location | off Scotchman Lane |
| Best known Owners | The EARL of DARTMOUTH |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Mentioned in a Dartmouth estate rental book of 1835 but neither a water wheel or scribbling process are indicated. Used at that time for dyeing. |
| Use of site in 1995 | The mill building close to Scotchman Lane has been long demolished and replaced by housing. The other remains are listed but in poor condition. The mill dam is now a fish pond. |
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Lane Side (30)(aka JAPA – Just a Paper Article) |
| Location | off Victoria Road in Churwell |
| Best known Owners | Chas SCARTH & Sons Ltd (Also owned Wesley St Mills) JAPA PAPER PRODUCTS – from 1936 George Crowther |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Morley’s 3rd steam-driven mill started in 1829 by George Crowther; it remained in the family for about 40 years before it was taken over by Chas. Scarth who expanded to make it the biggest mill in the area. Closed for textiles in the 1930s and taken over by Japa Paper products for next 40 years. |
| Use of site in 1995 | The mill building was destroyed by fire and the whole site is now covered by housing. |
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Low Moor (31) |
| Location | Albert Road |
| Best known Owners | SARAH DIXON & Son |
| Known History | In existence in 1866, 1876 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Burnt down. Time uncertain: during WW1 or in 1920s. A textile mill for about 80 years. |
| Use of site | Walls left standing after fire but site left derelict during two World Wars. Re-roofed. |
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Melbourne (32) |
| Location | Melbourne Street and Middleton Road |
| Best known Owners | JOHN WILSON
Joseph Stockwell |
| Known History | Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Mostly worked by J. Wilson of Gildersome. A small mill which traded in textiles for about 80 years. |
| Use of site | Now modern apartments. |
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Oak (33) |
| Location | Texas Street and Topcliffe Lane |
| Best known Owners | JOHN Wm APPLEYARD |
| Known History | Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Built in 1906. Separate weaving added in 1929. Last cloth produced in 1984. |
| Use of site in 1995 | The mill is still standing and has the only intact mill chimney remaining in Morley. |
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Park (34) |
| Location | South Street and South Parade |
| Best known Owners | A MARSHALL & Son Ltd (Also owned Perseverance Mills) Original owner: L Johnson & Co |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Last completely new mill to be opened in Morley – during the slump in 1921. Owner went bankrupt in 1925. Made textiles for about 50 years. The mill closed in mid-1968 at the same time as the Perseverance Mills of Marshalls. |
| Use of site | Empty and derelict. |
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Parkfield (35) |
| Location | Queens Road and Fountain Street |
| Best known Owners | JOHN BRUMFITT & Son
E & R Bradley Ltd Jonathan Stead & Sons |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Date of 1906 is imprinted on the building but it is mentioned in a 1905 Directory. Textile production had ceased by 1945. |
| Use of site in 1995 | Mill buildings demolished in mid-2007. Replaced by modern housing. |
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Peel (36) |
| Location | Commercial Street |
| Best known Owners | W & E JACKSON Ltd |
| Known History | In existence in 1866,1876 Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Always known as “Jackson’s Mill” it was one of the largest in the town when built in 1860. Largely rebuilt after the fire about 1915. One of the last mills in Morley to close -in the 1970s. |
| Use of site in 1995 | Large variety of businesses in the buildings both sides of Commercial St.: Peel Market Night Club Munch Kings Future Bodies etc. |
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Peel Street (37) |
| Location | Peel Street |
| Best known Owners | GREENWOOD & WALSH J & S Rayner |
| Known History | In existence in 1876 Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Mill begun in about 1870. It flourished and in 1912 took in Commercial St. Mills |
| Use of site in 1995 | Demolished for the new Kwik Save shopping complex and Car park built in 1993-95. |
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Perseverance (38) |
| Location | South Queen Street |
| Best known Owners | HIRST Bros A Marshall & Son Ltd |
| Known History | |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Hirst Bros were Mungo manufacturers and Rag merchants who went out of business before WW2. The mill was then used for warehousing by Marshall’s. |
| Use of site | Now converted into apartments. |
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Perseverance (39) |
| Location | Station Road |
| Best known Owners | A MARSHALL & Son Ltd (Purchase of Park Mills in 1920s doubled the size of Marshall’s) |
| Known History | In existence in 1866 and 1876. |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Very large fire on 8-March-1915 caused £10,000 damage. The main building on Station Rd was a fire replacement. About 100 years manufacture of textiles. Mill closed in mid-1968. |
| Use of site in 1995 | After closure, the main textile mill was to let and the site was used by Clugston Construction and BS Auto Service. Later, the mill building was demolished and modern apartment buildings replaced it. |
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Prospect (40) |
| Location | Victoria Road |
| Best known Owners | J & S RHODES Ltd [Owned Providence Queen’s Mills and Valley (after 1919)] John Blackburn & Co Josiah Rhodes J & H Benn |
| Known History | In existence in 1876 In existence in 1866 Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Largest of 3 mills owned by J & S Rhodes from 1878. After the closure of Laneside Mills Rhodes’ became the largest firm in Morley. Lasted over 100 years. |
| Use of site | Mill area demolished and replaced by housing. |
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Providence (41) |
| Location | Victoria Road |
| Best known Owners | J & S RHODES Ltd G H Hinchliffe Ltd – see Field Mill S & J Schofield |
| Known History | In existence in 1876 In existence in 1866 Still working for textile purposes in 1968 |
| Notes on Textile Manufacture | Built next to the Prospect Mill in 1860s. Ceased trading on its own between the World Wars. Then incorporated into the Finishing Dept. of the Prospect. Mill lasted over 100 years. |
| Use of site in 1995 | Providence House built for the first owner on Victoria Rd still stands. Rest of the mill was demolished for housing in late 1980s – eg Victoria Grange Mews. |