Queen Street Mill Textile Museum

On the 7th of august all of us went to the Queen Street Mill Textile Museum - the last and only surviving 19th century steam-powered weaving mill in the world. At first we met Roger Frost, a local historian. He prepared a PowerPoint presentation for us about the industrialization and the development of the town. Afterwards we had the possibility to discover the museum. In the 19th century Burnley became one of the most important weaving towns in the world and Queen Street Mill is unique as it survives today with a lot of its original machinery. The mill remains largely unchanged. We could see the boiler house, engine house and weaving shed much as they would have been 100 years ago. In the end we could see the magnificent steam engine "Peace", driving over 300 looms in the weaving shed. We discovered the story of cotton cloth production, watched the weavers turn cotton into cloth and made experience about local and social history in Burnley.

The sights, sounds and smells of Queen Street Mill brought the textile industry vividly to life and we got a very good feeling for the town once dominated by the textile industry. It was a very interesting and revealing day for all of us.