Guidebook: Stott Park Bobbin Mill
Located in a picturesque wooded valley on the shores of Windermere, Stott Park is the only surviving example of a Lakeland bobbin mill. Built in 1835 Stott Park was one of over 100 such mills that supplied the Lancashire textile industry with millions of wooden bobbins. These bobbins, individually turned on lathes, were used to hold yarn in the spinning process and on the textile looms. The decline in the textile industry in the 20th century forced Stott Park’s bobbin masters to diversify, producing a variety of different turned wooden products, from ladder rungs, to duffel coat toggles. Relying on its old-fashioned lathes, Stott Park continued in operation until 1971 when its machines and buildings were preserved – a time-capsule of a lost Victorian industry. Its workshops retain much of the original machinery as well as the belts and line-shafts by which they were powered. Today, visitors can watch the process of bobbin manufacture as the restored machines are demonstrated to turn a block of coppiced wood into a finished bobbin. This new guide explores the history of Stott Park, and through historic photographs, in-depth features, contemporary accounts and oral history, places it in its wider social and industrial context. A comprehensive tour explores the guided and unguided areas of the site, explains the bobbin making process and investigates the lives of the men and boys who worked there. Extent: 40 pages