Carlinghow Mill

In 1826, soon after the Hick Lane and Hick Well Mills, John Nussey, whose father had been a partner in Smithies Mill at Birstall, built a mill of his own at Carlinghow. He had earlier had a lease on a fulling, scribbling and carding mill at Mirfield, but seems to have been quick to recognise the new opportunities opening up for Batley, and situated his mill adjacent to the line of the new turnpike road, the present Bradford Road, then being planned.

In 1831 most of the mill, described as an extensive woollen manufactory, was destroyed by fire, only the boiler room and fulling machinery being saved. Damage was estimated at about £10,000 of which some £7,000 was covered by insurance, and the mill was soon rebuilt, and James Willans, writing in 1880, tells us, much enlarged and worked successfully since.

The failure of the Leeds Banking Company in the mid 1860s meant financial losses for John, and in 1868 the firm became a company known as John Nussey and Co, the partners being John Barran, John Middlebrook, Henry Brooke and Edwin Wilford. Barran pulled out in 1887 and the firm became known as Brooke Wilford & Co.

In 1929 the mills were acquired by the firm of J R Burrows. John Burrows had been in business as a rag merchant in Bradford, and the move to Batley came when four of his sons were brought into the business.