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Description and History of Site:-

Multi-phase, and the chronology is not clear. Stylistic features suggest that the southern-most building was the oldest.
The buildings to the south west of the site were still standing, though derelict, in 2015. Now completely demolished (2018).
Built by Henry Birkby c.1800 as a 'card mill' with steam engine, Peg Mill probably made card-clothing, an important, very local, trade in which the Birkby family was involved. If so, as cards were set laboriously by hand, the engine would have been used for wire-drawing. Another possibility is that wool was carded here, using steam power. Or all these activities may have been at work, perhaps 'room and power' sub-letting arrangements. Worsted spinning first started in 1807, by Carter, Burrows & Co., whose accountant William Atkinson had taken over the business by 1822. Some card-making continued as late as 1834, when Atkinson described the mill as accommodating worsted spinning, wire-drawing, and doubling card teeth (for card clothing). He said that part of the power was let for drawing wire. His own employees on the textile side then numbered 110. In 1851, Atkinson, then aged 74, still lived on the site, where he employed 366 people. The site was cleared illegally in 1987, shortly after the buildings had been listed. Sources: 1851 census 1834 Royal Commission on Children's Employment See also G. Cookson, 'The Mechanization of Yorkshire Card-Making', Textile History 29 (1) (1998), 41-61

Further Reading and References:-

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Key Words :- card-clothing manufacture wire-drawing worsted steampowered

Address :- St Peg Lane, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, BD19 3SL
Grid Ref :- SE 19490 25280
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.723564 , Long -1.706108
Local Authority :- Kirklees Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Dates :- c. 1800 - 1987
Contributor :- Gill Cookson - 15 March 2015

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Gill Cookson