West Leeds: Intertwined with pride before a fall

Volunteer Wendy Adams cleans a guard book in the textile archive held at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley. Picture by Tony Johnson.

Much has changed at Sunny Bank Mill. The various weaving sheds, once home to generations of textile workers, no longer hum to the sound of mechanical looms. These days they are home to less dirty, if no less creative businesses. There’s a photographer in one, a jewellery maker in another and an art gallery and coffee shop has taken over one of the larger spaces.

However, there is a corner of this sprawling site in Farsley which will forever be a reminder of the mill’s heyday. Looking exactly as it did 50 or even 100 years ago, one of the stone buildings has been turned into a working archive of Yorkshire’s textile industry which once employed thousands and which made wealthy men out of those who owned the mills.

Established over the last two years, the archive houses more than 60,000 lengths of fabric, 8,000 original designs and 5,000 wool-dyeing recipe cards. There are also shelves of leather-bound ledgers and cash books, each detailing the rise and fall of this once great industry and dozens of letters, photographs and personal documents relating to the men and women whose hard work and dedication built the company, but who ultimately couldn’t save it from closure.

The mill was decimated by the recessions of the 1970s and 80s and while the Gaunt family, who had first become involved in the mill in the 19th century, struggled on, difficult decisions had to be made. The first was to stop the spinning arm of the business and concentrate instead on supplying the luxury end of the textiles market. It bought the company some time. However, by 2008 that too proved not to be financially viable. All avenues were explored, but each one led to a dead end and on May 2, after almost 180 years, the mill ceased production.

Archive curator Rachel Moaby with the textile collection held at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley. Picture by Tony Johnson.