Handcombing - Detail from S.C. Lister Monument, Lister Park Bradford

Gelatine silver print entitled 'Handcombing - Detail from S.C. Lister Monument, Lister Park Bradford' by Ian Beesley. Produced for the commission `Through the Mill:, The Story of Yorkshire Wool in Photographs'. 1985-1987'.

This detail in bronze is from the pediment of Samuel Cunliffe Lister's statue in Lister Park, Manningham and clearly shows the traditional skill of combing wool by hand. The wool comber used two heavy combs, each with numerous metal prongs which were heated in charcoal-fuelled pots. One comb was attached to a beam in this unhealthy cottage industry and the other was used to draw out the wool from it, separating the short fibres from the long to create a sliver. The short fibred wool, known as noils, was discarded but about twenty slivers were made into a 'top', the spinners' basic material.