Steaming Day at Bancroft Mill Engine Museum

See the engines and looms in operation, plus guided tours of the museum.

2024 steaming days

11am to 4pm. The engine starts at 1pm.

July 21 2024
August 11 2024
September 1 2024
September 22 2024
October 13 2024
November 3 2024
November 24 2024

bancroftmill.org.uk/steaming-days

 

On Steaming Days, you can see the engine in operation, running at its original speed. In the weaving shed there are three looms, one of which was believed to have been in use at the mill before it closed. The museum currently weaves with the Cooper and the Pilling looms. The Pilling loom has a Jacquarette and is used to weave Bancroft Mill souvenir tea towels, which you can buy in the shop. The Cooper loom produces a plain cloth, very much like the bulk of the production at the mill when it was in operation. Also on display is a large collection of artefacts from the weaving industry which brought so much employment to Barnoldswick and the region.

In the museum is the original boiler which powered the engine, driving all the looms and other machinery in the mill. There is a smaller boiler, which is now used on Steaming Days. In a separate building there is a Smith and Eastwood engine, which ran Green’s Mill in nearby Bradley until 1978.