How Cotton cloth was made at
the Yard Works in Preston
Introduction
There are many stages that
cotton goes through before cloth is finally made.
In the Yard Works buildings
were set aside for each of these stages.
The text is structured in
three parts. Brief introduction to process, image and description of the
process with reference to that image. Each section relates to the cotton
process diagram. Click on each of the stages of the diagram to reveal a detailed
description of that process.
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The cotton plant was
grown on large plantations in
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a
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When the cotton arrived at
the Yard Works it was wrapped tightly in bales. The cotton bales
needed to be opened and mixed.
Balebreaking at the Yard Works, 1950s. Black and white print, produced by Eltons photographers for Horrockses, Crewdson and Company,
The picture shows a man at
the Yard Works opening the bales and feeding the cotton into the machine.
Notice how he has several bales open at once.
Why do you think he does
this?
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When the raw cotton had been
mixed it was still quite stiff and contained some sand, seeds and leaves.
These were separated from the softer cotton wool using two processes
called scutching and willowing.
 Scutching and lap making at the Yard Works, 1950s Black and white print, produced by Elton's photographers for Horrockses,
Crewdson and
Company,
The man in the picture is
operating a scutching machine. The cotton is placed on a wire frame in the
machine and beaten with parallel blades. This process opens the fibres of the
cotton and separates the fine 'cotton wool' from the waste, which falls
through the wire beneath. Willowing was a similar process done in a machine
with a revolving drum, which used air to separate the fine cotton wool from
the waste. The cotton wool then formed a sheet, which is rolled to produce
what is known as a lap. The lap is shown in the picture being removed
from the front of the machine.
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 Carding machine made by Platt Brothers and Company Limited Black and white print. Factory and photographer unknown.
Once the scutching or
willowing was finished the sheets of cotton wool needed to be made into long
lengths of cotton called slivers. This process was called carding.
Carding was originally done
by hand using brushes (or cards) that had stiff wires instead of bristles. In
the machine, the cotton lap is turned in a large revolving cylinder studded
with stiff wires.
The picture shows the cotton
lap being fed in at one end of the carding machine. As the drum turns it
straightens the cotton fibres. The cotton is then drawn together and passed
through a funnel and some rollers to produce a sliver (or card end) of
cotton, which is like a thick, loose knit rope. The slivers come out of the
machine and are collected in tall cylinders.
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After carding the slivers needed to be stretched, thinned and made more solid. This was done by drawing and roving.  Draw frames and speed frames at Hartford Mill, Black and white print, taken by Rudeni Photography,
This picture shows the
cylinders containing the cotton slivers being fed through a machine called a
draw frame. The draw frame pulls the sliver between rollers. Each roller
pulls the cotton through faster than the one before it. This stretches the
cotton and makes it thinner and thinner. Once
this is done the
cotton is twisted to make it stronger. Then the cotton is then wound onto a bobbin.
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Spinning turned the cotton slivers into yarn. Yarn is the name given to the thin lengths of cotton thread used in the weaving process. Yarns of different thicknesses' were used to make cloth of different qualities.  Mule spinning at the Yard Works, c.1950. Black and white print, produced by Elton's photographers for Horrockses,
Crewdson and
Company,
The man in the picture is
known as a mule spinner. He is operating a mule spinning machine. The
spinning took place in a hot and humid room, which required light clothing.
The floor was covered in machine oil and spinners worked barefoot. Three men
worked a pair of mules. The machine moved back and forward pullling and
twisting the cotton. This action stretched the cotton into thin threads
called yarn. The finest yarn was the thinnest. It was also the most expensive
as it took longer to make. Once the required yarn was made it was then wound
onto a cop. The cops are shown in the picture running along the front
of the machine.
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Winding was the process that prepared the yarn for weaving. The yarn which was used as warp threads was wound onto cones. Yarn to be used as weft threads was wound on to smaller cops, which were used in shuttles during weaving.  Winding at Aqueduct Mill, Photographic postcard
This picture shows a woman
operating a winding machine in Aqueduct Mill in
Imagine how quickly she has
to work to change the cops and keep the machine going.
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Warping was the process that wound the yarn onto beams so that each warp thread ran straight and an equal distance apart. Warp threads are the threads that run along the length of a piece of cotton cloth.  Warping machine at the Yard Works, 1950s. Black and white print, produced by Elton's photographers for Horrockses, Crewdson and Company,
The picture shows a warping
machine in the Yard Works. The frame holds the number of cones needed for the
number of warp threads in the cloth. The machine pulls the yarn from the
cones and passes them over and under a set of cylinders so each thread is
aligned horizontally onto a beam. The beam is shown at the front of
the machine. Up to 500 warp yarns could be wound onto the beam. The beams
were then taken off the machine and treated with starch. This was called
sizing. Starch is a chemical solution, which was used to make the warp
threads stronger during weaving.
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The
last stage in preparing the warp threads for weaving was drawing in. This was
when the ends of the cotton yarn were threaded through needles on the loom,
which act as guides keeping the threads in the right order. This was
especially important if there was a pattern to the cloth.
 Drawing in at the Yard Works, 1950's.
Black and
white print, produced by Elton's photographers for Horrockses,
Crewdson and Company,
Drawing in was originally
done by hand using a reed hook. This picture shows a machine in the
Yard Works which mechanically threaded the cotton yarn into the loom.
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was the process which made cloth. During weaving the wefthreads are woven through alternative warp threads. Until 1830 most weaving was done by hand on a wooden loom, where the handloom weaver moved the warp threads using pedals. After 1830 the power loom was used in factories to weave cloth.  Weaving at an unknown mill, early 1900's Photographic postcard.
This picture shows the power
loom which was used in factories after 1830. The loom raised and lowered the
warp threads so that the shuttle carrying the weft thread was batted back and
forth through the warp threads. Weavers shown in the picture had to look
after the looms and renew the yarn in the shuttles. Weavers were mostly women
and young girls. A weaving shed was the most dangerous working enviroment in
a cotton factory. The yarn sometimes broke sending the shuttles flying in any
direction.
How old do you think the
girls are in the picture?
Most of the children shown in
this picture were probably half-timers. These were children who worked
6 and a half hours a day and went to school for up to 3 hours each day.
Children between 8 and 14 worked in the Yard Works until the 1920's.
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A lot of cotton cloth made in
 Stitching Room at the Yard Works, 1950's. Black and white print, produced by Elton's photographers for Horrockses, Crewdson and Company,
Horrockses finished some of
the cloth they produced. This picture shows women in the stitching room at
the Yard Works. Here the women stitched the hems of a variety of products
like sheets and towels.
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