Pencil Sketch of Low Mill by Fred Shears

L O W  M I L L

 (excerpt from “The Industrial Archaeology of the Lune Valley” by James W A Price, Centre for North-West Regional Studies, University of Lancaster. Occasional Paper No.13.) [additional details extracted from P J Gooderson’s “A History of Lancashire”, published by B T Batsford Ltd]

Low Mill is an example of an early mill rebuilt after a disastrous fire.  It remains as perhaps the finest of the local textile mills, although we do not know who designed it.  It is less vernacular in style than the larger Willow Mill at Caton, but according to Ashmore displays many of the “attractive features of the early factory period, symmetrically placed windows with small panes and Georgian doorways with fanlights outlined in rusticated stonework”. 

The original building was put up by Thomas Hodgson, a Caton man, in 1784, he having purchased a farm on the side of the Lune valley for the purpose.  Thus it was built on the edge of the flood plain of the river while, on the terrace above, a large pond covering 2.2 acres provided a water supply fed by the millrace.  The farmhouse itself he converted into an apprentice house to which he added dormitories.  Because of the remoteness of Caton and its lack of an industrial tradition, labour was difficult to obtain and so orphans and other unwanted children, many from Liverpool, were employed; in 1808 they comprised 75 out of a total labour force of 150.  [Up at 4.30am, the apprentices had to be at work by 5am and were not back until 7pm except for meal breaks - a minimum 72 hour week.  They worked very hard yet were well cared for by the standards of the time.]  They were boarded in the apprentice house, clothed and fed, and had a schoolmaster for their daily instruction. 

The mill was originally used to spin cotton . . . to produce a poor quality yarn.  [After the Napoleonic wars profit margins narrowed as foreign competition increased.  The peace brought dislocation and depression. The Hodgsons at Caton also had financial difficulties.  In 1804 they had disposed of Willow and Forge Mills and had been obliged to mortgage their Escowbeck estate to creditors.  But it was probably old age and lack of inclination in their sons to mill-work which made them sell Low Mill as well, in 1814, to their relative, Samuel Greg.]  The mill passed into his hands as part-payment of a debt and was run by the Gregs for spinning cotton, except for a short period in the 1840s when it was used for weaving.  

The Gregs modernised the mill when they took it over, building an engine house at the north end and installing a 20hp Boulton and Watt engine and by 1830 had spent £15,769.  In 1838 fire destroyed a large part of the mill, particularly the southern end which housed much old and out-of-date machinery.  The fine five-storey [structure] seen today largely results from its rebuilding after this fire and explains the two dates, 1784 and 1838, on the keystone of the door leading to the staircase turret. 

The 1838 mill is 76ft 6in long, 49ft wide and 48ft high.  [Before its 1994/6 conversion to flats it had] at roof level on the front elevation a projection with a removable window for a hoist and at the south-west corner the stone turret, added in 1838 and later topped by a sprinkler tank.  The fireproof ground floor had cast iron pillars supporting jack arches running the length of the mill: the other storeys of traditional construction had iron columns [still featured in the present interior] that carried timber beams and wooden floors.  The timber-framed roof is covered with slates. 

Power was derived from water wheels driven by the large pond on the terrace and a smaller pond to the rear of the building.  In the wheelpit to the south was [an overshot] water wheel (25ft 9in in diameter by 7ft 3in in width) and at the north end a low water wheel [powered by the smaller pond], possibly undershot, 17ft 6in in diameter: the two wheels together produced between 18 and 55hp.  The tailraces met and were culverted under the yard and then ran as one along the edge of the Lune flood plain for a quarter of a mile before entering the river.  The low water wheel was replaced after 1864 by a 75hp Gilkes turbine.

Power was supplied to the carding and spinning machines by means of horizontal shafts, and holes in the tops of the iron columns allowed these to pass along the mill.  Since water power fluctuated throughout the year and high water could back up the tailrace the Gregs in 1819 added steam power.  In 1918 there were two steam engines [of 160 and 185hp] at the north end, as well as a boiler house, and these necessitated the building of a large red-brick chimney [only demolished, by Fred Dibnah, in December 1990].

After purchase by Storeys in 1864 a retort house was built to manufacture gas to illuminate the mill and part of the village.  Storeys continued to operate the mill until 1970 to produce warp for weaving in Lancaster.

South of the mill at the edge of the millpond (now the trout fishery) is Bank House; it was the manager’s house and was rebuilt in the late 19th century.

Compiled by PeterWest 12/95

(updated 5/2/02)

Fire at Low Mill - Extract from Lancaster Guardian December 16th 1837

The Greg Family Tree

Extract from Low Mill Books - May 1833

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Last modified: 02/01/09