For the first 80 years of the 19th century the textile industry in Barlick was dominated by two partnerships, the Slater Brothers at Clough Mill and William Bracewell who joined in the bonanza in 1846 when he built first Butts mill and then, in 1853, Wellhouse. By 1885 his enterpriseswere the biggest employers in the town.
The Slater Brothers demonstrated original thinking and independence from the start. Their policy was to let space out to other manufacturers so they could get a start in the industry. During the Cotton Famine of the 1860s they diversified into wool and even hank dying of yarns to try to keep going during those difficult years. Bracewell on the other hand stuck to his original model of vertical operation, spinning and weaving at both mills and refusing to let space to others who he saw as rivals. Billycock Bracewell was a ruthless business man and his aim was total domination, he even forced his cousins out of business at Old Coates. He died in 1885 and by then his business was in bad shape, over-borrowed and still spinning, he was completely out of touch with modern developments in the industry in Lancashire which had moved on, adopted specialised weaving, and was booming. Barlick was looking old fashioned and with both his mills closed and unemployment in the town forcing a mass migration of workers to Colne and further afield grass grew on the streets according to one report.
However, all was not lost. The independent manufacturers who had been building their capital and resources at Clough and other public spirited men who stood to lose by the recession got together and decided to do something about it. It's significant that the first public meeting to address this matter was chaired by the local parson and attended by all the prominent business men in the town. Politics had nothing to do with this, this was self help, the aim was to survive. The upshot was the formation of the Calf Hall Shed Company which by 1903 had bought both Butts and Wellhouse, built a new shed at Calf Hall and specialised in weaving using the most modern plant. The company was not a manufacturer, it operated mills and let space to independent tenants on a Room and Power basis. Another shed company was formed and built Long Ing Shed at the same time.
This totally new business model was successful to the extent that by the early years of the 20th century tenants in the shed companies had made enough capital to build their own mills and the town boomed until the start of the Great War. I'm not suggesting that this was totally altruistic, these men didn't see themselves as serving the public but in effect this was what was happening. Barlick joined the party late but by its own efforts soon overtook rival towns in terms of concentration of looms per capita. Model Lodging houses had to be built to accommodate itinerant weavers who came in for the work.
Butts, Bracewell's first mill built in 1846.
Not such a wide audience of course - I reckon (this is probably where I join the sad people), there have been only 34 individual posters in the last two months . I appreciate there are more readers than that, but It's still a very 'niche market'.
