Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills facts for kids

Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills

The spinning mule at Armley Mills Industrial Museum

The Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills is a cool museum in Armley, near Leeds, in West Yorkshire, Northern England. It shows off the history of industry in the area. You can see amazing collections of old machines, like those used for making textiles, plus railway equipment and other big engineering tools.

This special building, which is a Grade II* listed building, was once the biggest woollen mill in the whole world! The buildings you see today were built in 1805 by a man named Benjamin Gott. The mill stopped working commercially in 1969. Then, Leeds City Council took it over and opened it as a museum in 1982. It's located right between the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire. It's part of Leeds Museums & Galleries, which runs many other interesting places in Leeds.

Where is Armley Mills?

Armley Mills sits on the south side of the River Aire and also on an island in the river. The mill is about 46 meters (150 feet) above sea level. This spot is great because the river drops here, which helps power things.

A weir (a small dam) was built upstream. This keeps a good amount of water flowing to power the water wheels. Water from above the weir goes into the millpond. It then flows under the main mill building and over the water wheels, before going back into the river.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal was built in 1777 on the south side of the river. This canal gave the mill its own wharf (a loading dock). The wharf was used to bring in raw materials and send out finished goods. Later, it was also used to bring in coal for the mill's boilers.

Close by is a place called Botany Bay Yard. It got this name because it was the first place in England where wool from Botany Bay in Australia arrived. There was a wharf here that served Benjamin Gott's mill. You can still see parts of the old unloading shed and what looks like a sunken boat next to the canal.

History of the Mill

The first records of Armley Mills are from the mid-1500s. A local cloth maker named Richard Booth leased 'Armley Millnes' back then. In 1707, documents describe them as "fulling mills." Fulling was a very important but messy process. It made woven wool thicker and stronger, almost like felt.

The cloth was repeatedly hit by large hammers, called fulling stocks. It was soaked in water and a special type of clay called Fuller's earth. The mills grew bigger, and by 1788, they had five waterwheels powering eighteen fulling stocks.

In 1788, the mills were sold to Colonel Thomas Lloyd, a cloth merchant from Leeds. He made it the biggest woollen mill in the world! He then leased the mills to Israel and John Burrows.

In 1804 or 1805, the mills were sold to Benjamin Gott. Sadly, they burned down. Early mills were often fire hazards because of the fibers in the air. Gott rebuilt the mill using special "fireproof" ideas. The building you see today is from his rebuild, which is why it's a Grade II* listed building.

Gott owned several woollen mills. After he died in 1840, his sons, John and William, took over. In 1850, they added a steam engine to help the water wheels. By the 1860s, the water wheels were no longer used.

By 1907, parts of the mill were rented out to other businesses. A company called Bentley and Tempest, who made woollen clothing, took over the mill. The museum even has an old accident book from their time there. The mill finally closed in 1969. This was because technology changed, they lost customers, and economic conditions were tough. Leeds City Council bought it and opened it as a museum in 1982.

The museum was damaged by floods in 2015, but it has since reopened.

Mill Buildings

Most of the buildings you see today are from Benjamin Gott's rebuild in 1805. Some parts were added later in the 1800s. A small part of the 1795 corn mill, which survived the 1804 fire, is also still there.

The mill is shaped like an "L" and is built on sloping ground. This means some parts are four stories high, while others are two stories. The main part of the mill runs north–south over the millrace. It has 23 sections and is made of stone with a slanted slate roof. There's also a six-section part that sticks out to the east, called the Corn Mill.

The mill was built to be fireproof. It has round cast-iron columns that hold up brick floors, which are built like shallow arches. In the older parts that survived the fire, wooden beams were covered with sheet-iron to protect them. The roof of the main building was changed in 1929 and is no longer fireproof.

The mill race flows under the main part of the mill. At water level, you can see six detailed arches with iron grates. The 1788 mill was powered by five waterwheels. The 1805 mill used two metal wheels named Wellington and Blucher. These were named after heroes fighting against Napoleon at the time. These wheels were very powerful, rated at 70 horsepower. A steam engine was added in 1855 to help the wheels. The water wheels were removed in 1885, but old photos show them in place. There's also an older wooden wheel that powered the corn mill, but it needs fixing.

In 1805, this mill was the largest woollen mill in the world. It had 18 fulling stocks and 50 looms!

Museum Collections

Leeds was a very important industrial city in the 1700s and 1800s. The museum's collections show both old and new industrial history from the city. This includes old documents and objects from famous people like John Smeaton and Matthew Murray.

Textile Gallery

This part of the museum shows you how woollen cloth was made. You can see the whole process, from raw wool to a finished blanket. Here are some of the machines you can see:

• Carding machine: This machine prepares the wool fibers.
• 1904 Platt Brothers & Co, condensor mule: This machine is still in working order and spins the wool into yarn.
• Warping machine with creel: This machine prepares the yarn for weaving.
• Hattersley Standard Loom: A type of weaving machine.
• Hollingworth Knowles of Dobcross Jacquard Loom: This special loom was built in 1909 and was used until 1980!
• Blanket Loom: A loom specifically for weaving blankets.
• Fulling stocks: These are the big hammers that used to thicken the wool.
• Raising gig: This machine makes the blanket fluffy by using fine hooks.
• Cropping machine: After fluffing, this machine trims the nap (fluffy surface) to make it even.
• Cutting machine: Woollen cloth is heavy and can get damaged if rolled. This machine folds it instead.
• Pressing machine: This hydraulic machine presses the cloth.

Railway Collection

The museum has a large collection of old trains, both standard size and smaller ones. The collection started in 1956. A short railway track is set up at Armley, so some of the trains can actually run!

Locomotives

Models

The museum also has some very important models. This includes the world's oldest model locomotive! It was built by Matthew Murray in 1811 as a test model for a real train called Salamanca.

See also

• Listed buildings in Leeds (Armley Ward)
• British narrow gauge railways