Description and History of Site:-
The second steam powered textile mill to be built in Bradford (the first one being Holme Mill in 1800, almost directly across Thornton Road, see WYK00509).
Built by a Mr Benjamin Peile, a dyer, in 1801-2 and purchased almost immediately by his Great Nephews Matthew and Benjamin Thompson.
The mill was built over two separate periods, the first, a worsted spinning mill was built to the North of the mill goit and commenced production in 1803. The second half was a worsted weaving shed and built to the South of the spinning mill on the opposite side of the mill goit (See WYK02339) at a later date.
In 1833 it is recorded that the mill had a 20 h.p. steam engine installed.
The Thompson's built early examples of back to back housing to the North side of the spinning mill, known as the Thompson Buildings.
By 1833 the mill was trading as just Matthew Thompson. Matthew later became Lord Mayor of Bradford in 1862. The mill had strong associations with Sir Titus Salt. Titus joined his fathers wool staplers firm of Daniel Salt in 1824, the company name now Daniel Salt and Son.
Titus became chief wool buyer and came across the tough, tangled wool of the Donskoi sheep from S.E. Russia. Unable to persuade Bradford's wool spinners to use the wool, he decided to experiment with spinning the wool himself.
He leased part of Thompson's spinning mill, whilst working for his fathers business, and successfully spun the wool, selling the yarn to William Fison for weaving and providing Bradford with yet another wool staple. Eventually he would spin it under his own name at Hollings Mill (See WYK02339), his first mill when he went into business on his own account following his fathers retirement in 1834.
Titus would go on to make his fortune by adapting and experimenting with existing machinery, enabling difficult wools to be processed which other spinners shunned, such as the Donskoi and Alpaca.
Titus went on to weave worsted cloth at Thompson's Mill weaving shed under a 'Room and Power' agreement before eventually moving his entire workforce out of Bradford to the new model industrial village of Saltaire, now a World Heritage Site.

Further Reading and References:-
Continuation and Additions to The History and Topography of Bradford. John James 1866, Republished 1973 pp 223-226
Salt and Saltaire. Dr Gary Firth. pp 7-14

Help us improve this entry

The compilers welcome corrections or additional information on all sites.
Any information provided will be verified before appearing on the web site.

Email comments

Key Words :- worsted spinning weaving titus salt

Viewing the Site :- Public Footpath alongside road.

Address :- Thornton Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SE 15986 33097
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.793941 , Long -1.758808
Local Authority :- City of Bradford
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site cleared - no above ground remains visible
Site Dates :- 1801-2 -
Record Date :- 6 August 2019

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford