Bancroft Mill Engine Trust in Barnoldswick
Bancroft Mill Museum on Gillians Lane, Barnoldswick BB18 5QR between Colne and Skipton.
The Bancroft Mill Engine Trust is a registered charity which preserves the last working steam mill engine in the area. It is a working cotton textile museum which opens many summer weekends - check their web-site for details of what days they are actually in steam and how you can find them - see for details.
At the mill, there is a lot of industrial engineering and architecture on display - you can spend hours there learning all about some pretty heavy-duty 20th Century engineering and the Lancashire textile industry. If children have never seen anything like this, they will be amazed at all the machinery, the noise and all the steam.
The key exhibit is the magnificent mill engine, with its two cylinders (called James and Mary Jane) and 16 foot flywheel. The cylinders are arranged so that James (high-pressure) turns the flywheel, and the waste steam goes to Mary Jane (low pressure) who then gives the flywheel another turn. The used steam from Mary Jane then goes to a condenser (where is changed back to water), before it goes to the boiler, where it is converted to steam again and send back to James. This clever arrangement can generate over 600 horse power. Whilst 600HP is less than you'd get from a Bugatti Veyron, a mill engine produces an awful lot of turning power (torque), meaning that the Bancroft mill engine originally drove some 1,250 looms and various other mechanical equipment. In case any-one isn't sure what a loom is, it is a machine which is used to weave cloth. In the case of the Bancroft weaving mill, it could produce 200,000 yards of high-quality cotton cloth per week in its heyday. The Trust still run some of their Lancashire looms, and you can buy some of this excellent cloth in the form of top-quality cotton tea towels and other samples in their shop. The Lancashire loom was preferred for fine cotton because it was semi-automatic. If a thread broke, it rang a bell (so the weaver could fix it) and it stopped itself if it ran out of thread. In this way, one weaver could operate up to 6 looms at once, which reduced labour costs to one-sixth of what a traditional hand weaver could manage.
The mill engine was powered by steam, and this is delivered by a Cornish boiler which dates from as early as 1912. The boiler house is worth a trip on colder steaming days; and you can really feel the heat generated by the massive fire inside the cast iron boiler. The good condition of the 120 foot tall mill chimney is in part due to work done by the late Fred Dibnah who worked on the masonry structure and added some new steel support bands.
Importantly, though the charity is run by a band of dedicated volunteers who take great pride in running the mill and the factory; and are very helpful towards everyone who comes to see them. Hopefully you will like this video; and take the time to pay them a visit to see what they do. It's a great day out for anyone from small children who will learn loads of new things, right through to old timers who might even have seen or worked on machinery like this before.
Check out their web-site and find out when they are steaming - it's a great experience.
With many thanks
Simon Flory
Badger Specialist
badgerland.co.uk
Bancroft Mill Engine, Barnoldswick, Lancashire
A typical day at the Bancroft Mill Engine Trust when the steam engine is operated for the benefit of the public. Visit my website heritagerecording.co.uk for 1000s of other heritage images.
The Bancroft Mill Engine
Bancroft Mill Barnoldswick Lancashire England
Centre piece is a 600hp Wiliam Roberts cross compound engine running on steam supplied by a Cornish boiler, both in their original settings. An original Lancashire boiler is preserved but not steamed. Greens economiser with working engine and many cotton weaving artefacts.
A Smith Brothers and Eastwood 350hp tandem compound engine is under rebuild on site. Tea towels are woven each steaming day on a Pilling Lancashire loom
Bancroft Mill engine start up
The Bancroft Steam Mill Engine is preserved by volunteers and enthusiasts. It once powered a cotton weaving mill in the town of Barnoldswick in the north west of England. If you would like see the Record Photos of Bancroft Mill and Barnoldswick visit heritagephotoarchive.co.uk and type 'Bancroft' or 'steam' or 'Barnoldswick' in the site search box.
Bancroft Mill Steam Engine
Bancroft Mill engine ran a weaving shed in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, England. It is situated on the road to Skipton, in Yorkshire was started in 1914 and commissioned in 1920 for James Nutter & Sons Limited. The mill closed in 1979 and was demolished.
Bancroft Mill Steaming Day 18 August 2013
Had a great time at the Bancroft Mill at Barnoldswick on 18th August for one of their Steaming days. Why not pay a visit and help keep our Heritage alive. Anyone with a passion for steam will love it. Many thanks to all the volunteers who were so friendly, and very informative about the engines and the history of the mill.
A small selection of photos can be found at:
Bradley Engine at Bancroft Mill II
Bradley Engine in operation at Bancroft steam museum trust - for heritage open days 9th September 2017.
Steaming up Bancroft Mill
Highlights from steaming up the engine at Bancroft Mill. The camera ran out of battery.
Short video of Coldharbour Woollen Mill machinery
Short video of Coldharbour Woollen Mill machinery. Uffculme,Devon, England. Rare Pollit & Wigzell Mill engine, 1867 steam Beam Engine and weaving machine.
grane mill engine 1976
SS.STOTT cross compound 500 hp filmed in 1976
under full load at the Grane mill haslingden.the mill closed in1979 and the engine is now undergoing restoration along with the engine hose and boiler house which contains the two original lancashire boilers.The man starting the engine is mr eddie swindells the mill engineer.
P1120717
Lancashire looms at the Queen Street Mill Burnley. As used in North and South film.
Grane Mill engine rollover test
After installing new eccentric rod end straps on the Grane Mill engine with Anthony Pilling and David Arnfield, we rolled it over.
Engines are like children, they should be seen and not heard.
Ruston engine. Moteur Ruston Hornsby et Lister sa
Moteur Ruston. 30 cv. Ancien moteur d'une minoterie en Normandie. 1900.
Göteborgs Remfabrik
From the website Originally a weaving mill for industrial belting, it was founded in 1891 and closed down in 1977. Very few changes were made during the last 30 years before closure. All the original looms, transmissions and tools are left in their places. The city of Göteborg acquired the buildings after closure, and today Remfabriken is a unique ”living working museum” run by an association of volunteers. The volunteers are maintaining the machinery and producing ribbons, lace and other products for the museum shop. They also make guided tours of the mill.
Gardiner staionary engine at west of England rally
This video was uploaded from an Android phone.
Göteborgs Remfabrik
From the website Originally a weaving mill for industrial belting, it was founded in 1891 and closed down in 1977. Very few changes were made during the last 30 years before closure. All the original looms, transmissions and tools are left in their places. The city of Göteborg acquired the buildings after closure, and today Remfabriken is a unique ”living working museum” run by an association of volunteers. The volunteers are maintaining the machinery and producing ribbons, lace and other products for the museum shop. They also make guided tours of the mill. Filmed 29/6 2015.
1 nil Purps, Peterson goes clear and slots v Barnoldswick
video courtesy of Jason Morland
Göteborgs Remfabrik
From the website Originally a weaving mill for industrial belting, it was founded in 1891 and closed down in 1977. Very few changes were made during the last 30 years before closure. All the original looms, transmissions and tools are left in their places. The city of Göteborg acquired the buildings after closure, and today Remfabriken is a unique ”living working museum” run by an association of volunteers. The volunteers are maintaining the machinery and producing ribbons, lace and other products for the museum shop. They also make guided tours of the mill.
Trencherfield Mill Open Day 19th Feb 2017
In this video we see one of Wigan's finest attractions in the shape of the mill engine within Trencherfield Mill. Situated in the heart of the town near Wigan Pier, this is a much-loved piece of history and a big part in the Cottonopolis story.
The engine itself is of J & E Wood design, being a triple-expansion four-cylinder engine. The engine itself has Corliss valves and can operate up to 68rpm with a 54 rope transmission system.
This particular engine was built in 1907 but was rebuilt and steamed once again thanks to the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund. The engine is no slouch, at full capacity the engine power output is 2,500hp.
The mill building itself is now an apartment block but keeps many of the original features such as the brickwork exterior. The engine-house was kept as it was during the time the mill was being regenerated, this meant that the engine could be kept in place as a visitor attraction and as we see here, can be run on public steaming days.
One thing to note is that a tradition in Wigan now is that on Armistice day and Remembrance Sunday the engine is steamed and the hooter is blown at 11am to mark the start of one or two minutes of silence.
So, sit back, relax and watch the engine work!
Heritage Park of North Iowa 031
Marshall steam traction describe how the cable winch and brake used for.