BYGONE INDUSTRIES OF THE PEAK: THE BLEACHWORKS
This is one of a series of articles published in
The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper, on 13th July 1998 (p9), and
reproduced by kind permission of its author, Julie Bunting.
The series is now available as a fully-illustrated paperback, published in 2006
by
Wildtrack Publishing of Sheffield (ISBN 1-904098-01-0) See also this
Review by Alan Jacques.
BYGONE INDUSTRIES OF THE PEAK: THE BLEACHWORKS
Bleaching, often in preparation for dying, was an important
process in the production of wool, cotton and linen. Before the
introduction of chemical bleaching, the strong powers of sunlight
did the job simply and cheaply, in much the same way that
laundered clothes and linens were kept white by putting them out
in the sun. On the Upper Tean at Cheadle, where tape was
manufactured from the mid-18th century, linen tapes were spread
out on open ground for this purpose until the 1930s.
Generally, however, the so-called bleachfields had been no match
for the vast increases in textile production brought about by the
Industrial Revolution and in any case must have seemed distinctly
old-fashioned. One early advance in bleaching cotton, linen and
hemp still saw thread or cloth spread out on grass but only after
it had first been subject to alternate soaking in an alkaline
solution of potash and lime, washing, then souring in buttermilk
or bran and water. Unfortunately the whole process was lengthy
and expensive.
Change came about with the cheap production of sulphuric acid,
which found one of its numerous uses in making a liquid bleach
for fabrics although both in manufacture and use it was injurious
to workers' health. It was recognition of the bleaching
properties of chlorine by French chemist, Berthollet, in 1785,
which led Charles Tennant of Glasgow to patent a bleaching powder
made from a solid compound of chlorine and lime. A process which
had formerly taken weeks could now be accomplished within a few
hours and gave far superior results. In 1800 Tennant's factory
price for the powder was £140 per ton but improved techniques
meant that seventy years later it cost only £8.50 per ton. By
this time chlorine was being recovered from the waste
hydrochloric acid of soda works and this was to become the main
means of bleach production.
None of these technological advances were suitable for animal
fibres, notably wool, for which ancient bleaching methods
continued well into the 19th century. Before being spun, wool was
de-greased in a solution of stale urine and water, generally in
stone troughs known as lants (the name Lant Lane survives at
Tansley). This process also lightened the colour of the wool
sufficiently for dyeing but in order to obtain a white finish,
largely preferred for flannel, blankets and hose, the wool
subsequently had to be stoved or sulphured. Damp wool, either
yarn or fabric, was laid out in a well sealed chamber or 'stove'
together with containers of burning brimstone. Moisture from the
wool was an essential component of the resulting sulphurous
vapour, which effected a bleaching process within 12 to 24 hours.
Softness was restored to the wool by a final wash, sometimes
followed by a dip in a very weak solution of indigo dye.
This bleaching method was not without problems, one being that
potent condensation tended to drip from the roof and make holes
in the cloth, as did sparks from the burning brimstone. At time
went by, woollen goods were faced with increasing competition
from cheaper - and whiter - cotton and stoving began to die out,
although the famous Witney blankets made by the Early family
continued to be stoved until the 1940s.
A VERY PROPER OPERATION
From documentary sources we learn that Brassington had a
bleachworks for woollen blankets and that around 1770 a Mr.
Gardom operated a bleaching yard or whitening croft at Bakewell.
Sited down Combs Road near Spencer Flatt, its water supply came
from Ball Cross and Wicksop springs. Yet the journals of White
Watson of Bakewell reveal that in 1816 he sent cloth to Mr.
Tarrand of Tansley to be bleached and in 1817 yarn to Mr. Cawood
of Ashover for the same purpose.
Farey in General View of the Agriculture & Minerals of
Derbyshire (1811-17) made reference to a bleachworks on the
Bentley Brook at Lumsdale near Matlock, where the remains of two
bleachworks, one with its smithy, still stand at either side of
the road. A description and photograph of Lumsdale Bleaching
Works appeared in 1893 in The Matlocks and Bakewell, a
book reprinted by the Arkwright Society in 1984. The bleaching
process began by boiling the cotton in lime and soda followed by
a thorough pummelling with immense steam-driven beaters in soap
and water ('a very proper operation', remarked the author,
'either for cotton, or little boys and girls even, who have dirty
faces'!) This was all merely a preliminary to further washing,
beating and boiling before the goods were transferred to the
Patent Vacuum Bleaching Kiers in which steam-operated air pumps
created a vacuum so that the bleach could penetrate every fibre
of the material.
Large quantities of cotton were sent here from Manchester in
spite of the fact that there were closer bleachworks in the
northern Peak including those of Fernilee, Chinley, Charlesworth
and Glossop. Batches also arrived regularly from Nottingham,
Leicester, Loughborough, Coventry and Derby. It was noted in
The Matlocks and Bakewell that the works had been in the
Farnsworth family for 80 years, 'well calculated to uphold the
prestige that these works have borne for more than 200 years'.
Trade directories at the turn of the century list two other
bleachers at Lumsdale, Edward Garton and F.H. Drabble of Tansley
Wood Mills. At that time Messrs. Drabble were also dyers and it
is this side of their business which they still conduct there
today; their bleachworks, like all the rest, have been abandoned
to progress.
© Julie Bunting
From "The Peak Advertiser", 13th July 1998.
© Copyright Julie Bunting, GENUKI and Contributors 1995-2008, &c.
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[Created 8 May 2003. Last updated 10 Mar 2009 - 10:37 by Rosemary Lockie]
