Uncovering Carlisle’s Textile Revolution: Upperby School

In October, we learned about what life was like as a Carlisle weaver in the 1800s.  One in four people were employed in the weaving industry and a third of them were children.  Stephen White, historian from Carlisle Library told us that children from seven years old worked in the local mills. They were cheap to employ and as they were small, were sent under the machines, whilst they were still running, to clean, tie yarn and make repairs.  It was hard dangerous work for all in noisy, dusty conditions.  Only wealthy children went regularly to school (not made compulsory until 1880 for 5 - 12 year olds).  Charity schools and Sunday schools taught children how to read, knit and sew however. As the cotton industry grew, workers flooded into Carlisle, most were agricultural workers.  Living conditions were cramped, close to the Mills.  There were ten thousand, mostly in the Caldewgate area. We learned about the 'put out' system - where hand loom we...

  Following our visit to the Farfield Mill, we reviewed our visit with the aid of slides and looked more closely into where it was located, what it did, how it worked and who worked there, especially regarding the children who would have worked and lived near the Mill. We talked about how it was powered and how water from the nearby river had been diverted down a channel to make the water wheels turn. We focused on the machinery and especially the water wheels that provided the energy to power the machines. Also the wheels used for spinning the wool and pulley wheels. We then designed our own artwork inspired by what we had seen and learned about the Mill. Starting with drawing circles of different sizes, within these we created our own individual responses to our visit. Some show the water, the mountains, the workers – even a large fire that had partly destroyed the Mill.  Symbolic circles Drawings depict the fire and the unha...

At the start of the project on Wednesday 19 th September, Year 4 visited Farfield Mill, Sedbergh. We learned about the history of the Mill and how wool from local sheep was washed, spun and dyed then woven into cloth. As well as the processes involved in producing woolen cloth, in the heritage section, information boards told us about the social history associated with the Mill, the people who worked there, especially the children and what conditions were like for them. In this area, we were able to see a large 300 year old Witney blanket loom – this was a large 4 shaft heddle loom which had a flying shuttle to speed up the weaving process by taking the weft yarn back and forward through the warp threads quickly. The Mill is set over four floors and after enjoying our packed lunches in the cafe had time to visit many of the small businesses that are in the Mill and also visit the top floor where some of us tried weaving on a loom for the first time...