Masson Mills Museum

Masson Mills house a fascinating collection of authentic historic textile machinery dating from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The collection has been described as “possibly the UK’s finest collection of working textile machines” and includes machinery originally from Masson Mills, along with a large collection of other items and artefacts from textile mills all over Britain.

Visitors to the museum can experience the genuine atmosphere of a working 18th century cotton mill in the original 1783 Masson Mill – the sights, the smells and the sounds are authentic and evocative. At Masson Mills there is a palpable sense of the continuity of enterprise. After “clocking in” with their entrance tickets, visitors “step back in time” on entering the old mill. Here they can see and appreciate Sir Richard Arkwright’s Legacy of over 200 years of industrial history.

The Collection includes:

The original 1785 bell which called the employees to work
Cotton doubling machines – some original to Masson Mills
Some of the oldest working looms in the world – still producing cloth
Pirn winders
Cotton “Mules”
“The Devil”
Carding engines
Overseer’s office
Mechanics’ shop in the ground floor of the Masson Gassing Mill
The largest bobbin collection in the world
A small room with a massive bobbin collection
Masson Mills Bobbin Room
Turbine House
Weir and Riverbank
Boilers and Boiler House
Mill chimney
Steam Engine