There was always a demand for more housing in Barlick and until the latter part of the 17th century this had largely been satisfied by self-build. Increasingly with the spread of skills in handling stone as the expertise of the monastic masons spread through the land, houses were being built entirely of stone and there rose a demand for these skills. We have no evidence for 'building firms' as such until later in the 18th century but I can't believe that local tradesmen weren't capable of getting together, a mason, a carpenter and a plasterer supported by labourers, and forming an informal group that worked together and took on building jobs. Remember that it wasn't just new builds, at this time there was enough money about from textiles and general trade to finance the rebuilding of timber houses in stone. Hey Farm was one of these, it was originally a timber hall but sometime in the mid 18th century was completely rebuilt in stone. The give-away is the retention of the old hearth pile and chimney in the middle of the building which is undoubtedly medieval.
The water powered textile industry was thriving before 1800 and we saw developments like Lane Bottoms, a small hamlet adjacent to the water power at Gillians and further down, the Parrock, both early mills producing sliver for the local spinners. The big boost came in 1800 when the canal arrived. The first effect was the construction itself which had three major results, it stimulated trade in the district because the canal contractors sourced many of their needs locally, it disseminated even more construction skills and perhaps biggest of all it demonstrated that projects of this size were possible. After all, building a house or a mill was easy compared to the massive canal undertaking.
Later, from about 1820 onwards, the availability of cheap coal in the town not only changed the face of the domestic energy market but made running a steam engine possible. I think the first engine was at Clough and possibly one at County Brook. By 1843 William Bracewell was building Butts Mill, the first purpose built steam powered mill in the town, an entirely different scale of enterprise. By the end of the 19th century Barlick was an anthill of activity in the throes of a building boom that lasted until the outbreak of the Great War of 1914-1918.
This burst of industrial capacity from 1850 onwards attracted labour to the town from the outlying areas and even further afield. By this time the railway had arrived and access to the town was easy. This created a demand for housing and initially this was met by the mill owners, particularly Bracewell, who built developments like Wellhouse Square as tied accommodation for his workers. The slack was taken up by local builders who erected cottage properties for rent and there was a well recognised market place of agents who made it easy for an incoming family to find a house and rent it.
The new mill in Butts built by William Bracewell and opened in 1843.
