Reins Mill, Honley, Yorkshire, February 2019

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HughieD

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1. The History
Reins Mill is located in the Yorkshire town of Honley, just outside Huddersfield. The three-storey mill was built in 1847. Textile mills like this one have been making cloth in Honley since the 11th Century. It was initially occupied by Charles Dean in 1866. A year later Dean started in partnership with John Hey which lasted until Hey’s retirement in 1883. By 1889, Joseph Dean, son of the original founder, started at the company and it became known as Charles Dean & Son, which operated until the end of the nineteenth century.

David France & Co were at Reins Mill at the turn of the century. Apparently, the mill’s weavers went on strike in 1902, when half of the looms were speeded up, and wages for the fast loom weavers reduced, while the slow loom weavers were kept idle waiting for warps. By 1950, Reins Mill was occupied by Marsden, Sykes & Co and N Marsh Ltd. It next provided a home to the Holme Rug Co which was of incorporated in 1960, establishing itself as a Ltd Company. They wove and sold rugs
for 15 years until it was liquidated in 1975. Later the place was an M.O.T centre/garage but this also closed, in 2008.

2. The Explore
An opportunist explore as I was in the area. Access was relatively easy and the floors are all pretty solid, but copped out of going into the attic. Had the place to myself, bar a few of our feathered friends. The light was falling plus a lot of the stuff in the mill as seen in previous reports appears to have gone walkies. Still, just enough pictures for a short little report.

3. The Pictures

32259619187_94699bee7c_b.jpgimg9740 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47149963732_56212f0a16_b.jpgimg9744 by HughieDW, on Flickr

46287264865_61bfe20d24_b.jpgimg9745 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47149908562_ca3c13b410_b.jpgimg9746 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The first floor:

40236912133_66986e9d25_b.jpgimg9747 by HughieDW, on Flickr

32259483807_38c1cf1052_b.jpgimg9749 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47149836532_83cfef89c3_b.jpgimg9750bw by HughieDW, on Flickr

Then up to the second floor:

46287159545_daaea69e18_b.jpgimg9751 by HughieDW, on Flickr

47149783852_24848cbf99_b.jpgimg9753 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Bottled this one:

40236787653_2ae70ebc56_b.jpgimg9756 by HughieDW, on Flickr

46478107774_72d9a7a6c6_b.jpgimg9739 by HughieDW, on Flickr

33326490428_45ebe18ee8_b.jpg2019-02-24_11-15-59 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
A nice building with a few issues. On image 9745 right in the centre of camera shot is a magazine holder, a nice design. A lot of sturdy workbenches left behind.
 
On image 9745 right in the centre of camera shot is a magazine holder, a nice design.

Sorry; it's a set of wooden desk storage shelves for your, then standard, Foolscap card filing wallets. The original W. H. Smith's had a very similar design in their early catalogues. This place looked much better in the very early '60's when the rug/carpet looms were operational. A Mill second was a very good buy and one could always tell the dwelling of employees/ex employees by the quality of the rugs on the floors of their cottages/houses. In places like this all the benches used by the engineers keeping the looms going would have been constructed in the Mill's joinery shop. Most of the looms were well worn out by the end of the First World War, but were still working in many Mills in the very early '60's, when I first made contact with the industry in Huddersfield, at the start of my working life.
 

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