Handloom Weaving

[rossylass]

Article in the Northern Whig 24/04/1834

"EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE IN HANDLOOM MANUFACTURE
'In Barnoldswick a weaver named Pickles, determined for a feat to ascertain how many pieces of 9-8 70s he could weave on the dandy loom, in the course of a week.
On the Monday morning he..commenced his task and when he quitted work on the Saturday night he had completed 30 cuts, each 24 1/2 yards long and about 31 inches wide. He worked, including meal times, 17 hours a day...and ...calculated that in the course of his performance, his shuttle travelled 800 miles. The length of the weft he actually wove, was about 433 1/4 miles. The price paid is 1 shilling a cut, making his net earnings 30 shillings."

Well who'd a thowt it!

[Stanley]

He was a hard man Rossy. I've worked 100 hour weeks but not being active like that all the time! The Pickles are a very well known family in Barlick. They founded the longest lived and arguably most successful weaving firm in the town, S Pickles and Son Ltd and after converting Long Ing Shed to knitting they were the last major manufacturer in the town. Lots on the site about them including their sojourn in the US during the Cotton Famine.