Burling and Mending

[Jim B]

In the 1950,s at Baildon Yorkshire ,when i was a very young lad , i remember going to a large room ,full of bolts of cloth , with elderly ladies working on them .
The auntie who took me , told me they are mending the cloth,but to a young tyke like me ,it looked ok .

My question is .....Did every mill have a work place for this job? or was it a separate operation.

A cross the road from it ,was a mill at the top part of Baildon [forgotten the name],looked on the internet ,could not find it

Jim.

[helachau]

Did it look like this in the '50s?

http://saltairedailyphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/burling-mending.html

Also enjoyed a report that appeared in several newspapers Jan 1949 -

SHE JOKED WITH THE DUKE - Twenty five years old Betty Jackson, who works in the Leafield Mills, Yeadon, Yorks today shared a joke with the Duke of Edinburgh who called there before going to Bradford to open the new Bradford Grammar School. Betty, who works on a close check pattern in the burling and mending department was asked by the Duke "Doesn't it give you spots in front of the eyes? It would be a bit awkward if you had been out the night before!" "Yes, rather", laughed Betty

[Jim B]

The large room was not as big , and the cloth was laid across a table on a tilt , like on a architects drawing table .
I can still remember the smell of the cloth .
The works was at the side of the"Malt Shovel " on the left hand side in North gate .Baildon
We have been looking to find what my auntie did as a job ,when she lived in Doncaster , then she came to live with us in 1953.
At the opposite side ,a tad further up was a wool mill , what they did i can not remember.
As a lad we would watch them take huge bales off a lorry , and host them up to either floor they needed be on.
Out of a large amount of post cards i have uploaded off the internet of Baildon , i have never come across a image of the mill , most strange.

Jim

PS The Duke of Edinburgh being a ex-royal navy sailor , i know what he meant ,I having been one myself

[helachau]

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html

click on the link and enter the coordinates 415388 439934
when all maps loaded, click on 1893 map and when loaded in main window click on main window to "zoom". You can switch to later "old maps" but images not always easy to make out

Re the name I have seen reference to the "Providence Mill better known as Baildon Mill". On the 1893 map you can see a "Providence Row".

[helachau]

have you checked
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradfordlibraries/sets/72157628821843387/detail/

Is that a shot of the mill under "Baildon View"?

[Jim B]

I have viewed the "old maps" and i notice there is a mill just behind the P.H "MALT SHOVEL" called Prospect Works . What a great find.

[Jim B]

As a child ,i used to go to this shop in browgate , as it was a tailors where my mother brought cloth to make my suits and trousers, how long it stayed in business i dont know , my mother in her days before she was married ,was a "seamstress" i think that is what they called it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradfordlibraries/6678297669/in/set-72157628821843387

jim

[helachau]

My mother was also a "seamstress" - I didn't know what "shop bought" was 'til my teens.

Great pic' of the 'Malt Shovel' also.