25 Church Lane, Melksham, Wiltshire

25 Church Lane, Melksham, Wiltshire

Photograph taken 21 September 2007 © Tim Belcher. Source Historic England Archive ref: 314246

This building from the late 1700s was a wool drying house. It was known as the Round House and has also been used as an ammunition store.

Location

Wiltshire Melksham

Period

Georgian (1714 - 1836)

Themes

The machines to the right of this picture are carding machines. These used spiked drums in which the cotton was rotated. This process aligned the fibres, which were then placed in buckets as lengths or 'slivers'. The slivers were combined on a doubling frame, which is the machine that most of these women are working on.

Textile Industry

Tags

industry wool architecture georgian (1714 - 1836)