Loomshop, Addingham

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

This building represents the wool textile industry on the threshold of factory production. Small independent clothiers extended their farm buildings by a single cell loomshop of two storeys but John Cockshot of Addingham was a substantial master manufacturer (a forerunner of the factory owner) and was able to erect this free standing loomshop with accommodation for 62 looms. This building signalled the beginning of the end of domestic production, the weaver's house no longer being also his place of work.