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Thousands of textile treasures preserved in new project

Ollie Samuels,Helmshoreand
Lynette Horsburgh,North West
News imageBBC Becky Brown standing in a large industrial workshop, wearing a blue checked shirt, with rows of machinery, workbenches and metal equipment visible in the background beneath skylights and overhead lights. She is smiling.BBC
Becky Brown says the review of the historical gems will end up in a "ginormous spreadsheet"

A treasure trove of thousands of items in storage for decades at a mill museum in Lancashire are being checked for the first time and added to a new database.

Helmshore Mills Textile Museum has helped preserve Lancashire's textile industry history for the past 40 years.

As textile firms collapsed in the 1960s and 70s, many contents of mills were scrapped or sold but the Lancashire Museum Service saved items and stored them at the Helmshore museum.

Spinning frames, weavers tools and clocking-in machines are among the 4,000 items in storage, which a group of trained volunteers are set to catalogue to protect them for future generations as part of the Cottoning On project.

News imageInside a mill museum filled with large cast-iron machinery, metal shelving, tools, and equipment. The spacious room has white-painted support columns, exposed ceiling beams, skylights, and hanging pendant lights, with work materials and machinery arranged throughout the workshop floor.
About 4,000 items will be reviewed under the Cottoning On project

Becky Brown, assistant curator for the project, told BBC Radio Lancashire some of the smaller objects with the owners' initials engraved on them had "a special place in my heart".

"We've come across weavers' tools or spanners or pay tallies that people have etched their initials into and you think, 'Who was that person?'."

She said it would be a "ginormous spreadsheet" that would protect and preserve the museum's textile industry collection, much of which was in storage and inaccessible to visitors.

News imageCluttered industrial workshop area containing machinery, spare parts, wooden storage bins and metal shelving. A large machine covered with protective fabric stands near tall windows, while gears, wheels and mechanical components are arranged across the floor and storage racks.
Volunteer Polly Tetlow says it was "utter magic" to be able to be involved in the project

A team of 13 skilled volunteers are helping catalogue the items, which include a former engineer, a textile artist and a history graduate.

Volunteer Polly Tetlow said she was "thrilled" to be involved in the project, especially as her ancestors were all involved in the industry.

"I'm really into textile history so opening a sales ledger from 1900 and finding cut out squares of fabric samples was utter magic for me.

"I've been studying my family history with my dad and went back to about 1720, and we've always been involved with textiles; we're cotton workers, spinners, weavers and we go right back to the silk trade in the 18th Century."

She added: "It seems like serendipity that I'm now helping to tell and preserve the story."

Councillor Ella Worthington, cabinet member for civic pride at Lancashire County Council, said: "Cottoning On is preserving and protecting thousands of items of historical significance and makes sure Lancashire's textile history, its workers and their stories can continue to be shared and discovered by new generations."

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