Description and History of Site:-
Cotton weaving and spinning mill of 1860, refurbished to residential use c2006. July 1860 Cross Lane Mill Building Company created by local businessmen, keen to create employment for the village due to long distances having to be walked by local workers to find employment.
10 July 1860 The directors were; Roger Currer, Thomas Smith, Joseph Thornton, Thomas Wilson, Peter Sugden (first Chairman and Treasurer), Abraham Gill and James Sugden.
January 1861 Building tenders had been accepted.
May 1861 A beam engine had been ordered from Cole, Marchent and Co (later to become Cole, Marchent & Morley), Prospect Foundry, Bowling, Bradford.
27 June 1861 A tender was accepted for making a boiler from Holdsworth & Sons of Bradford, to be delivered and
installed for the sum of £16 per ton.
1861 The first tenant to occupy the mill was a Mr Richard Hebden of Harlington, near Burnsall. He was to fill one half of the mill with looms, the other half for spinning.
1869 A plot of land was purchased to use for a dam thereby ensuring a reliable supply of water to the mill.
January 1871 It was evident from the minutes that the company (Cross Lane Mill Building Company) was in financial difficulties.
May 1881 Financial difficulties persist and the directors put the mill up for sale at £7000, or to let.
1882 The price was lowered to £4000 with a view to selling to Messrs H. Thornton & Co, Tetley Street, Bradford, however the sale fell through.
1883 The mill was sold to Mr Peter Green, after years of financial difficulties with the Company.
1885 Cross Lane Mill Building Company was wound up. Plots owned by the company, and some cottages, were sold off.

1901 The Cole, Marchent & Co. beam engine, was removed and replaced by a Smith Bros. & Eastwood 350ihp tandem compound condensing engine, named 'Progress', (see WYK01100, WYK01098), in a new adjoining room and ran until mill closure in 1978.
An 8' x 30' (2.4m x 9.1m) boiler was installed next to the engine, delivering steam at 135psi. The old engine house was used as a rope race and contained the second motion wheel.
The engine was dismantled and removed when the mill was sold for residential use. The engine was given a new home at Bancroft Mill Engine Trust, Barnoldswick (see LAN00012) with the intention of conserving and returning it to steam. This was achieved after hundreds of man hours and was run in steam for the first time in nearly 40 years on 8th September 2017.

Further history of the engine and conservation details, along with steaming dates are at http://www.bancroftmill.org.uk/

Further Reading and References:-
Bancroft Mill Engine Trust http://www.bancroftmill.org.uk/
Cross Lane Mill Building Company Directors meetings minutes, with thanks to Jim Gill for collating these and making available.

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Key Words :- textile cotton mill steam weaving

Address :- Ings Lane, Low Bradley, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD20 9QB
Grid Ref :- SE 00181 48423
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.931932 , Long -1.998730
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site refurbished to residential housing
Site Dates :- 1860 -
Record Date :- 26 April 2018

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