The Mills of Ambleside
"How busy must have been the little Stock Beck
- now chiefly valued for the romantic beauty of its glen and waterfall – in
turning those medieval walls of commerce, and all in this short course below the
fall, through the tiny town!" Mary Louisa
Armitt
Two hundred years ago the area around the River Stock shook with the sound of watermills. They were a source of fascination for all who saw them and were an inspiration for the paintings and drawings of the early tourists and explorers of the Lake District. However, for the inhabitants of Ambleside, the mills signified power and industry, toil and employment. They were at the heart of activity in the town yet the beautiful paintings and lyrical descriptions, belie the noise and smells and the rushing of water.
The Old Mill by John Harden, photograph by Herbert Bell Interior of the Horrax Mill, Ambleside The Bark Mill etched by William Green
The first mill recorded in Ambleside was a
corn mill high on Stock Gill Beck in 1324 when the town was just a small hamlet.
Corn and wool were the chief industries and they dominated the mill
trades until the 18th century.
The mills in South Lakeland are perhaps most famous however, for the
production of bobbins which sprang up in response to the booming textile
industries of the North of England in the 19th century. Ambleside
became a major centre and the mills were no longer just community-based, but
part of a wider international industry.
The manufacturing history of Ambleside often goes unnoticed by visitors today; such rural beauty is seldom connected to heavy industry. However, besides the waterwheels that survive in the town centre, the influence of the mills can still be found in place names such as ‘Millans Park’ and ‘Miller Bridge.’ Many of the mills were reused and it is now fashionable to convert old mills into businesses or apartments. They remain part of the characteristic architecture of Ambleside - industrial buildings in harmony with the natural scenery.
Works
have been loaned to the Armitt for this exhibition from the University of
Liverpool, the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, the Wordsworth Trust, Carlisle
library and several private collections and include a delightful watercolour by
J.M.W. Turner and a magnificent oil painting by T.M. Richardson.
Other works from the Armitt Collection will be on display including the
recently acquired watercolour of Stock Gill by William Payne and works by
Ambleside artist William Green.
The exhibition will also include hands-on models for children demonstrating how waterwheels work and an array of artifacts and manuscripts loaned from local organisations that bring the mills of Ambleside to life.
Stock Gill shown in an engraving by Joseph Farington