Carding Mill

In Medieval times (13th century) the mill was built in Carding Mill Valley and used for grinding corn.

In 1812 the mill from which the valley derives its name was built, a 'Carding Mill'. Carding is the process of straightening the tangled fibres (combing) of wool to prepare it for spinning. This would originally have been done by hand, using teasels, but the mill drove a machine called the carding engine. Local people, probably women, would then have taken the wool and spun it at home: this was known as the 'cottage industry'. Black sheep were particularly prized before dyes were widely used.
Join now!


In 1824 George Corfield bought the mill and expanded; he built a factory. By this time the Spinning Jenny and Hand Loom had been invented, and the cottage industry was disappearing. A group called The Luddites used to travel round and smash up machinery in a bid to save it. George Corfield installed Spinning Jennies and Hand Looms into his factory and became a cloth manufacturer. It was a small- scale business because the heart of the woollen industry was in the north of England. By 1851 business had become a bit slack, so it was decided that ...

This is a preview of the whole essay