Description and History of Site:-
Possibly converted from a forge about 1785 and used for spinning cotton with worsted added by 1800. There may also have been some textile machinery making at the mill about 1800. Later used for mule spinning. In the latter part of C20 converted to residential housing. There may have been a mill here for 'fulling' woollen cloth in the sixteenth century. A forge, possible using water-powered tilt hammers to smelt iron, is recorded on the site of the mill in 1774.
The mill is adjacent to the River Ribble, which provided its power supply. It was converted in 1785 by Thomas and William Buck of Settle, whitesmiths, Thomas Wilkinson of Leeds, pocket book maker, David Jay of Leeds, apothecary, and Thomas Ritchie of Leeds, book keeper. The partnership was dissolved later that year. Wilkinson may have been the same person involved with cotton spinning at Hillhouse Bank in Leeds.
The mill was for sale in 1800 by William Buck. It was then taken by Edmund Armitstead who was a cotton merchant.
Later it was taken by the Claytons from Langcliffe Mill until their failure in the 1840s when it became a saw mill. In the latter part of 20th century it was converted to residential housing.
Settle Hydro was built in 2009 on part of the site. It is powered by water taken from the Ribble immediately above the weir, through a sluice gate, along the mill's original head race, down the Archimedes Screw and back into the river a short distance from the base of the weir. The water-powered Archimedes Screw turbine drives a generator and the electricity is fed by a direct line to the apartments in the old mill building. Electricity not needed by the apartments is fed into the National Grid.

Further Reading and References:-
Ingle, G. Yorkshire cotton. Carnegie, 1997.
Aspin, C. The water spinners. Helmshore Local History Society, 2003.
Ingle, G. Yorkshire Dales textile mills: a history of all the textile mills in the Yorkshire Dales from 1784 to the present day. Royd Press, 2009. http://www.settlehydro.org.uk/bridge-end-mill.html

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Key Words :- water steam textile mill cotton spinning sawmill hydro electricity

Viewing the Site :- Visible from road

Address :- Langcliffe Road, Settle, North Yorkshire, BD24 9JS
Grid Ref :- SD 81702 64102
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.072520 , Long -2.281119
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to residential housing
Site Dates :- 1785 - 1840s
Record Date :- 9 December 2017

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © George Ingle