Explain why changes to the original Helmshore Mill site have taken place

L. Whittaker rented the fulling mill and bought it after fifty years. He ran the mill, providing a fulling and finishing service for other woollen mill owners, as he did not have his own supply of woollen pieces. In the early 1900's Whittaker introduced rotary milling machines to speed up the process of fulling woollen cloth. In 1922 he built a brick extension at the back of the mill to house more rotary milling machines.

In the 1950's business started to decline in the British textile industry. This was due several factors; a lack of investment in new machinery meant that other countries had begun to overtake Britain. Foreign companies had bought up all the cheap machinery from closing British factories and were then buying all the newly developed machines off manufacturers who no longer had a large enough home market to sell to. These foreign firms could also pay their workers less money and therefore keep the costs down. Another reason sales fell was that synthetic fibres had been invented and there was a high demand for these over that of the cotton goods.

In 1954 the water wheel in Higher Mill failed, the power it had once provided was replaced by electricity. Electricity had several advantages; the water wheel had no brake so power was often wasted but the electricity could be switched on or off as needed. There was no longer the cost of maintaining the watercourses, which deteriorated and electricity could be applied to whichever machine was needed so once again power was not wasted.

In 1967 the Whittakers retired due to Mr Whittaker's ill health and the mill closed down. There were no buyers for the mill so it began to fall into disrepair. In June 1967, to prevent the pulling down of the mill, the Ministry of Works scheduled the mill as an ancient monument. When the mill went to auction in the August this kept the bidding down to just five hundred pounds when the reserve was eight thousand, nobody wished to buy the mill if they could not knock it down or convert it into homes. A group of local businessmen gave five hundred pounds to the owners to repair the roof in order to prevent damage to the machinery. Eventually in November this group of businessmen, interested in the eighteenth century machinery housed inside formed a trust and bought the mill to preserve it and its contents, they also planned to turn it into a museum. This is the most distinctive change, that of the mill changing from a working textile factory into a museum. In April 1969 Higher Mill was listed as a protected building along with the surrounding cottages. The government also gave one thousand pounds to the trust to be used repairing the mill so that it could be opened as a museum. The trust soon opened the mill to pre-booked parties who were shown around at the weekends and on evenings.

In 1971 a company called TMM offered a collection of early textile machines to the Trust so that they could be shown alongside the other machines. These were added attractions containing examples of Spinning Jennies and the last working Arkwright's Water Frame and visitor demand increased because of them. The trust could no longer cope because of the increased demand and so agreed a ninety-nine year lease with Lancashire County Council who offered to manage the mill. In 1980 the watercourses were dredged and the water wheel was repaired.

After Turner died, Whitaker's mill changed hands several times. In 1857 there was a fire in the mill and most of it burned to the ground this was rebuilt in 1860. The mill was eventually bought by L.Whitaker and sons who, in the 1920's converted the mill into a condenser cotton spinning mill, which bought waste cotton from surrounding mills and returned it to its original cotton plant state before re-spinning it and using it as weft thread to make a soft cotton material. This was cheap and the firm made a good profit from the cloth. The opening, blending and recycling of the cotton was based on the ground floor and the carding machines and spinning mules were on the first and second floors.

In the 1950's the opening and blending machines were moved to another factory so that Whitaker's mill could focus on carding, spinning and weaving. The government had also introduced new regulations on working conditions which stipulated that all carding mules must have dust hoods fitted to prevent workers developing respiratory diseases caused by dust inhalation. The carding mules also gained individual electric motors; this was to prevent wasted energy by having machines that were not in use, running.

During the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's, as the Lancashire cotton industry went into a decline, more and more mills closed down so there were fewer mills around Whitaker's mill for the owners to buy waste cotton from in order to recycle it and resell it. Also there was the problem that was causing the decline, the dwindling demand for the product from Britain. In the Christmas of 1978 the mill closed down (as explained in document ten). The owners sold the mill in April 1979 to Lancashire County Council who wished to expand the museum at Higher mill and also to gain the collection of machines housed in the mill.

Once the mill had been purchased it was adapted so that it could be used as a museum open to the public. The ground floor nicknamed the 'devil hole' was put back to how it had been when blending had been done there, but some duplicate machines were removed to make space for visitors to walk through. Part of the ground floor was used as a display gallery and visitor facilities such as toilets, a café and a shop were also located there.

The first floor was kept as it had been up until the factory was closed with carding engines and spinning mules, but the second floor was changed, as it would be uninteresting for visitors to view two identical floors. All the machinery was removed and the floor was used as storage. Recently this space was utilised partly as a practical room for visitors to understand the logistics of the textile industry first hand. Another part of the second floor has been converted into a lecture room and a temporary display gallery showing travelling exhibits.

Health and safety regulations have also determined the way in which the mills are now set out. Fire regulations mean that a new staircase has been fitted as an emergency exit, hoses, extinguishers and notices have been installed to improve the previous fire fighting facilities; a few buckets filled with sand or water. Barriers have also been placed between visitors and the machines. Staircases have been boarded in and banisters added to prevent accidents.

Provisions for the disabled have also been included; ramps have been fitted to allow wheelchair access to most parts of the museums, disabled toilets have been installed and a wheelchair is available to borrow at the museum. These provisions were made to qualify for government grants given to museums offering equal chances to everybody.

By looking at documents 4 and 14 I can see that a new car park has been put in outside the museum to allow coaches and cars, bringing visitors to the museum, to park close by. Trees and bushes were cleared to create space for the car park. The nearby railway by pass was closed in the 1960's and is now a footpath and the old tenter fields are now a housing estate.

Some buildings have been removed from the site, these were makeshift and their removal does not detract from the knowledge gained from visiting the museum. The rotary milling sheds were demolished and so were the bleaching sheds (this can be seen by comparing source six with source seven). A safe footpath has been laid around the watercourses to prevent accidents. Inside the buildings a new library and offices have been set up to allow administration space and wider resources.

The mill is now a 'museum with an outstanding collection'; this allows it to bid for government money. This money has in the past been used building an interactive display where the old display gallery was; this includes some of the machinery that was moved down from the higher floors. The trust is awaiting further grant money in order to convert the first floor of higher mill into another exhibition area. The finishing room is now used as a demonstrative room to show the finishing processes.

Throughout the mills lives they have both always been connected with the textiles industries, woollen or cotton. And now as museums they still show how these industries once worked.