Robin Longbottom
Oakworth
Wednesday, April 19, 2017 18:25 |
'gating a warp'
Are there any old mill hands who can explain what 'gating a warp' entailed? I believe that it must be to do with running the yarn onto a beam in readiness for weaving, but I would be delighted if anyone can explain the process. |
Ronald Walton
Sutton in Craven
Friday, April 21, 2017 11:35 |
Hi Robin the gating of a warp is the procedure of putting the prepared warp and heald shafts into the loom to commence weaving.
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Robin Longbottom
Oakworth
Sunday, April 23, 2017 16:45 |
Thanks for the explanation Ronald. There must be a host of local dialect words and phrases that were once used in the mills and are now almost forgotten. I wonder why 'gating'? |
Ronald Walton
Sutton in Craven
Sunday, April 23, 2017 20:25 |
Hi again Robin
The space or alleyway between the looms was known as the gate or weavers gate hence gating
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Ronald Walton
Sutton in Craven
Monday, April 24, 2017 16:20 |
Hello Denis
As far as I know there is no connection, some places they are known as heddles in others gears but in most places I have worked they were simply called shafts
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Denis Marshall Pickles
Norfolk
Monday, April 24, 2017 21:02 |
Interesting! My mother was a weaver - sadly long gone so unable to ask any questions. However one phrase that that you used Ronald was 'heald shaft'. And the that got me thinking. I know that my mother used to weave at Heald Brothers shed close by Kildwick Station - could it be that the heald shaft was something developed and patented by Heald Brothers or was a typographical error made and it should have read 'head shaft'? Just wondering! |
Maurice Atkinson
Keighley
Monday, April 24, 2017 21:14 |
As far as I know it was Hield Bros. rather than "Heald". They also had Briggella Mills in Bradford. Nothing to do with heald shaft I'm afraid. |
Maurice Atkinson
Keighley
Monday, April 24, 2017 21:21 |
Lots of illustrations of heald shafts on Google images. |
Hazel Martell
Sutton
Monday, April 24, 2017 22:19 |
Just for interest - Hield Brothers also had Springfield Mill in Morley for many years, just at the end of the street where I grew up.
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Robin Longbottom
Oakworth
Friday, April 28, 2017 07:27 |
With regard to Hield Bros. In 1935 they were established at Midland Mills in Crosshills, Lowertown and New Mill & Shed in Oxenhope and also had a branch factory at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. They were worsted spinners and manufacturers making what were known as fancies, serges, grey mixtures and dress coatings. The head office was at Crosshills. They are not listed in either Morley or Bradford at this time and no doubt expanded there after the War.
The 1935 directory lists Hields running 10,000 spindles and 220 looms. In comparison T & M Bairstow, Sutton were running 20,400 spindles and 400 looms.
At the age of 14 I was shown round Bairstows Mill, during which I made a list of all the processes for a school project, the noise was overwhelming and my ears rang for days afterwards. |
Terry Longbottom
Valley
Friday, April 28, 2017 09:55 |
Hi Robin not only the noise but the smell of warm oil mixed with traces of lanolin in the wool. The heat that the various processes generated or was required to enable the fabric to be processed and the bright lights required to enable operatives see the fine detailing that was required to produce the finer cloths.
not only the process and the employment butt many of the buildings have gone, the ones that are left converted into flats/apartments, gone with them the mill dams and the swans who's job was to manage the weeds and provide hours of enjoyment to those that had the time to just watch them. just another reason to be late for school. |
Robin Longbottom
Oakworth
Saturday, April 29, 2017 07:35 |
I got a day off school for my project, which I still have and contains the following samples from Bairstows (together with explanations of the process):- raw wool, combed wool, re-combed and dyed wool, a gilled top, a drawn top, roved yarn & re-roved yarn, reduced yarn, single spun yarn and two fold yarn and finally three samples of finished worsted cloth.
The project is headed 'Crafts and Industries in Sutton in Craven' and also includes Thompson's Woodturners and Alan Green's Gear Cutting Company.
Those were the days when Sutton was a diverse manufacturing village and not just a dormitory.
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