Combshop, Addingham Moorside

Gelatine silver print entitled 'Combshop, Addingham Moorside' by Ian Beesley. Produced for the commission `Through the Mill:, The Story of Yorkshire Wool in Photographs'. 1985-1987'.

This outbuilding at Hardwick Hall farm, Addingham Moorside, is reputed to be a combshop of the pre-factory era of worsted cloth production. Here, handcombers practised their specialist but unhealthy occupation separating woollen tops from noils. The proximity of the farm and the rural character of the surrounding environment demonstrates the close association of pre-industrial cloth production with agriculture.