Fulling Shed, New Ing Mills, Batley, West Yorkshire

Photograph taken June 1986 © Copyright Crown copyright.NMR ref: BB86/01536

Fulling is the controlled shrinkage of woollen cloth, which helps to give it a close weave. Large hammers or rollers pound the material while a solution of soap and a fulling agent is added. The process was mechanised in the medieval period; previously workers' feet pounded the cloth.

Location

West Yorkshire Batley

Period

1980s (1980 - 1989)

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.

Fulling Shed, New Ing Mills, Batley, West Yorkshire

Location

Period

Themes

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