The mill that manufactured history
Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:20:00 GMT
IT can claim to be the oldest continuous family business in Britain – tracing its roots to the 1540s – and a team of young historians at the University of Huddersfield has played a key role in a new, permanent exhibition that tells the long and fascinating story of Brooke’s Mill, at Armitage Bridge, Huddersfield.
Nowadays, the mill complex is a thriving business park – including film and TV studios – with a large gallery space. But for generations it was a textile factory, John Brooke and Sons. The enterprise originated in the reign of Henry VIII, reached its peak in the Victorian age and continued to produce high-quality woollens well into the 1980s.
When current owner Mark Brooke decided to mount an exhibition outlining the story of his family, the mill, the people who worked there and the Huddersfield wool textile industry in general, he approached the History Department of the University of Huddersfield.
Supervised by lecturer Dr Rob Ellis, a team of five final-year history and heritage students – Kimberley Jackson, Ashleigh Peacock, Teagan Smith, Paul Thornton and Simona Tiskute – probed the past of the mill, the Brooke family and the evolution of the wool cloth industry that became central to the economy of Huddersfield.
The collaboration between the Brooke enterprise and the University was highly appropriate. During the nineteenth century, the Brookes were major backers of the Huddersfield Mechanics’ Institution, an important educational initiative which would evolve into the present-day university.
Exhibition organiser Christine Johnstone and designer Adam Simmonite worked closely with the five students as they researched and wrote material for the exhibition, which also contains many fascinating pictures and artefacts that illustrate the lengthy Brooke’s Mill saga.
At the exhibition’s official opening ceremony, Mark Brooke said: “This mill represents all the mills of Huddersfield,” and he recalled the time when the phrase “Woven in Huddersfield” was the hallmark of the highest quality cloth.
Professor Paul Ward, who is Acting Head of the Department of History, English, Languages and Media at the University of Huddersfield, said that the collaboration with Brooke’s Mill symbolised the historical links between industry and education in Huddersfield.
“It has been wonderful to have five students developing their skills by working on this project and enriching the historical culture of the area where their studies were undertaken.
- The Brooke’s Mill exhibition is open on Fridays and Saturdays (10am - 4 pm).
