Catalogue description Records of Moorside Mills, Bradford

Records including inventories, order books, plans, samples

Moore, John, fl 1875-1920, worsted spinner

Open by appointment

• W and J Whitehead, worsted spinners
• Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire
• Textile industry

Moorside Mills, like many Bradford textile establishments, grew from a simple beginning on an open field site into a medium-sized industrial complex. John Moore, worsted spinner, built Moorside Mills and Moorside House in 1875. In 1897 the mill consisted of a three-storey building with a gabled roof and it had two dams. The ownership of the mill changed many times until 1908 when Clifford and Arnold Wilson, worsted spinners, acquired the business. In 1910 they installed a mill engine built by Cole Marchent and Morley of Bradford, with a rope race on the northern end of the mill, behind which was the chimney and boiler house. They extended the existing mill in 1916 and in 1918 a new four-bay garage was built, together with a new entrance road, weighbridge and weigh house. In 1919 two extra floors were added to the new mill, an extra storey added onto the old mill and the clock tower was erected as a memorial to the employees killed during the First World War. Moorside Mills was taken over by Messrs W & J Whitehead, spinners in 1929. In 1970 the premises were acquired by Bradford City Council and Bradford Industrial Museum was officially opened on the premises in 1974.

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