Outworkers in Textiles in 1845 -9
Below is a list of outworkers from Bairstows Mill in Sutton-in-Craven, only approximately 2 miles east of Cowling parish. Cowling parish outworkers are highlighted in bold. An outworker was someone who worked for the business as a contractor or employee, working from home or in a workshop space away from the main business.
Sutton-in-Craven Parish Councils website History section states that:
The Bairstow family owned mills in the village from 1809, first a corn mill then in 1838 Sutton Mills, founded by Mr. Thomas and Mr. Matthew Bairstow. At this time a steam engine was installed which generated 7 h.p. in addition to the 40 h p. produced by the water wheel.
We cannot find a reference to say whether Bairstows were spinning or weaving at this time. The fact that they were employing outworkers points to the mill being a spinning mill and the outworkers doing the weaving. The Census of of 1841 and 1851 shows many handloom weavers in Cowling. This data shows that some of those handloom workers were not only working for manufacturers in Cowling parish (see Early Mills and Workshops article). These outworkers would have been handloom workers who were given the spun thread to weave and would then be paid when they returned the completed piece of cloth. Bairstows were worsted manufacturers, so we can presume that is the cloth being woven by the outworkers. Worsted yarns are long and smooth and give a smooth or fluffy finished product.
We have included all the outworkers to show how many were needed to support a spinning mill and how many village’s populations were included. Some of these were more than five miles from the mill.
Two place names will need an explanation. New Road Side was the name for the infant village of Cowling which was just growing along the new road (now Keighley Road/Colne Road) built after an 1809 act of parliament as a turnpike road. Cornshaw (pronounced Conrnshu) was and still is the local word for Ickornshaw.
The image with this article is the earliest we have of Middleton Street. In the 1841 census almost all the population of the hamlet, half a mile to the north west of Cowling village, were involved in handloom weaving and associated processes. Many of the houses were interconnected, probably to pass yarns and cloth between houses for different processes without taking it out into inclement weather. At this time, according to the 1841 census, it also had a manufacturer living there and at least one textile workshop.
The question marks in the record are questions from the person who typed the data from the original written record. The writing was probably unclear.
We thank Paul Longbottom, fellow local historian, of Sutton-in-Craven, for the Bairstows outworker records.
| T &M Bairstow Outworkers Records (137) | ||
| 1845-49 | ||
| Name | Place | |
| John Bailey | Earby | |
| Christopher Bailey | Lothersdale | |
| Adam Brigg | Crosshills | |
| John Brigg | Cowling Lane Ends | |
| Henry Brown | Earby | |
| William Brown | ||
| John Boocock | Glusburn | |
| Richard Broughton | Thornton | |
| Henry Bailey | Crosshills | |
| James Bowker | Cononley Moor | |
| William Broughton | Thornton | |
| James Brigg | Earby | |
| William Bailey | Earby | |
| Tempest Bailey | (Ick)Cornshaw | |
| James Brigg | ||
| John Broughton | Earby | |
| Hartley Barritt (?) | Houshaws Bar ? | |
| William Bailey | Kellbrook | |
| William Bracewell | Kellbrook | |
| Thomas Berry | Houshaws Bar ? | |
| Amos Barritt | Sutton Mill | |
| Hartley Barnard | Hollin Racks Howshaws Bar | |
| Edmund Brown | ||
| Nathan Binns | ||
| Mary Sugden | Steeton | |
| William Emmott | Cowling New Road | |
| Henry King | Lothersdale | |
| Betty Greenwood | Thornton | |
| William Jackson | Glusburn | |
| Robert Hudson | Glusburn | |
| Joshua Smith | Sutton | |
| James Wallbank | Glusburn | |
| John Kirk | Earby | |
| Matthew Green | Glusburn | |
| James Thompson | Sutton Mill | |
| William Slater (sen) | Earby | |
| Jane Shackleton | Earby | |
| Thomas Holgate Windle | Earby | |
| Robert Peel | Cononley | |
| Edmund Lund | Earby | |
| Richard Lund | Earby | |
| George Robinson | Thornton | |
| Joseph Whiteoak | Earby Hill Top | |
| David Singleton | Earby | |
| Henry Nutter | Earby | |
| John Kenyon | Cononley | |
| John Hartley | Lothersdale | |
| James Parker | Kelbrook | |
| John Smith | Glusburn Green | |
| William Shaws | Earby | |
| William Smith | Glusburn (late of Earby) | |
| Henry Robinson | Thornton | |
| Hartley Wilkinson | Earby | |
| William Heaton | Glusburn | |
| John Heaton | Glusburn | |
| John Smith | Earby | |
| William Duxberry | Earby | |
| Richard Robinson | Thornton | |
| John Thistlewaite | Thornton | |
| Robert Kirk | Earby | |
| Robert Whitaker | Thornton | |
| Thomas Heaton | Glusburn | |
| John Caton | Lothersdale | |
| George Smith | Earby | |
| Richard Windle | Earby | |
| John Rediough (sen) | Earby | |
| William Greenwood | Glusburn | |
| James Mitchell | Thornton | |
| John Snowden | Cowling Hill | |
| Thomas Smith | Thornton | |
| John Shackleton | Crosshills | |
| Thomas Greenwood | Glusburn | |
| Hannah Wilkinson | Earby | |
| Abraham Lund | (Ick)Cornshaw | |
| John Windle | Earby | |
| Greenwood Hartley | Earby | |
| Robert Dent | Earby | |
| William Wilkinson | Earby | |
| Richard Riley | Sutton | |
| Thomas Lee | Earby | |
| Richard Smith | Earby | |
| George Chester | Thornton | |
| James Whitaker | Earby | |
| Joseph Hey | Middleton | |
| James Snowden | Middleton | |
| Henry Hudson | Sutton | |
| Benjamin Holdsworth | Earby | |
| Richard Ogden | Glusburn Moor | |
| John Greenwood | Glusburn | |
| John Rediough (jun) | Earby | |
| Richard Wilkinson | Earby Moor Side | |
| George Cowgill | Earby | |
| Richard Smith | Middleton | |
| William Brown | Surgill | |
| Henry Holdsworth | Earby | |
| Mark Green | Earby | |
| Robert Holgate | Earby | |
| Peter Smith | Sutton | |
| Thomas Watson | Earby | |
| Robert Smith | Lothersdale | |
| John Watson | Glusburn | |
| William Smith | Crosshills | |
| James Smith | Earby | |
| John Smith | Thornton | |
| Joseph Holgate | Crosshills | |
| John Smith | Earby | |
| Richard Holdsworth | Earby | |
| John Slater | Earby | |
| William Windle | Earby | |
| Christopher Hartley | Earby | |
| George Mitchell | Thornton | |
| Samuel Craven | Glusburn | |
| Peter Smith | Lothersdale | |
| Joseph Tempest | Cononley Moor | |
| William Conyer | Cononley Moor | |
| Elijah Harrison | Earby | |
| John Whiteoak | Lothersdale | |
| James Greenwood | Lothersdale | |
| James Crowther | Earby | |
| William Starkie | (Ick)Cornshaw | |
| William Harrison | Earby | |
| James Cowgill | Earby | |
| William Smith (sen) | Earby | |
| John Harker | Sutton Mill | |
| Phineas P Baxandale | Sutton | |
| Ralph Thornber | Holling Root Sutton | |
| William Holdsworth | Earby | |
| John Wilkinson | Earby | |
| Jonas Cowgill | Long Hill End Cowling | |
| John Shuttleworth | Lothersdale | |
| John Smith | Middleton | |
| Stephen Archer | Cononley | |
| John Keighley | Lothersdale | |
| Benjamin Shuttleworth | Cowling Hill | |
| George Laycock | Glusburn | |
| David Shackleton | Beck Foot Cowling | |
| Elijah Shackleton | Beck Foot Cowling | |
| William Cowgill | Gill Top Cowling | |
| John Town | Glusburn Green | |
| Martin Green | Glusburn Green | |
| Maria Nixon | Long House (Sutton ?) | |
| Thomas Town | Glusburn | |
| Richard Riley | Glusburn | |
| William Spencer | Long House (Sutton ?) | |
| Stephen Hargreaves | Long House Sutton | |
| Robert Smith | Lothersdale | |
| William Smith | (Ick)Cornshaw | |
| Joseph Smith | (Ick)Cornshaw | |
| Peter Shuttleworth | Cononley | |
| Sarah Shuttleworth | Lothersdale | |
| John Watson | Earby | |
| John Edmondson | Middleton | |
| William Nixon | Long House | |
| Joseph Hartley | (Dairy?) Daviy House Cowling | |
| William Crabtree | Lanshaw Bridge | |
| John Smith | Sutton | |
| Edmund Sharp | West Field Cowling | |
| Henry Hartley | Kellbrook | |
| Phillip Mawson | Carlton | |
| John Hargreaves | (Ick)Cornshaw | |
| James Wilkinson | Houshaws Bar ? | |
| William Wilkinson | Lothersdale | |
| James Wilson | Houshaws Bar ? | |
| Thomas Smith | Lothersdale | |
| William Walton | Lothersdale | |
| Joseph Cowgill | Earby | |
| Henry Whitaker | Cowling | |
| Robert Clough | ||
| Henry Rushton | Lothersdale | |
| Ralph Thornber | Steeton | |
| John Holgate | Earby | |
| John Wilson | Shay Head | |
| Alexander Wilkinson | Howshaw Bar | |
| William Hartley | Howshaw Bar | |
| George Proctor | Howshaw Bar | |
| Isaac Nixon | Ayden | |
| Nathan Binns | Sandyforth Cowling | |
| Thomas Swire | Lathe ? Syke Shay Head | |
| John Whittam | Black Lane End | |
| Thomas Whittam | Shay Head | |
| Nichols Smith | Middleton? | |
| Onesimus Walton | Kelbrook | |
| John Walbank | Harden | |
| Ellis Green | Shay Head | |
| Jude Crabtree | Shay Head | |
| Edmund Brown | Spin House | |
| James Emmott | Stony Head Cowling | |
| Valentine Smith | West Field Cowling | |
| William Windle | Carlton | |
| James Goddard | Sutton | |
| Edmund Hargreaves | Cowling Hill | |
| Benjamin Taylor | Shay Head | |
| John Bailey | (Ick)Cornshaw | |
| Benjamin Crabtree | Wine Wall?? | |
| Thomas Hickeringill | Surgill Cowling | |
| James Shackleton | Cowling Hill | |
| Thomas Swire | Lothersdale | |
| Peter Watson ? | New Road Side Cowling | |
| Henery Swire | Lothersdale | |
| Alice Smith | Sutton | |
| James Brown | Howshaw Bar | |
| John & Henry Berry | Howshaw Bar | |
| William Ralison ?? | Thornton | |
| William Smith | Earby Lane End | |
| Robert Smith | Stubbing Cowling | |
| Christopher Benson | Gill Top Cowling | |
| Thomas Binns | Hawes Cowling | |
| James Hartley | Hawes Cowling | |
| John Watson | Kelbrook | |
| John Binns | Cowling Hill | |
| John Proctor | Salt Py? Lothersdale | |
| Joseph Metcalf | Earby | |
| James Snowden | New Road Side Cowling | |
| William Clark | Crosshills | |
| Mark Smith | Shay Head | |
| Hartley Watson | Lanshaw Bridge | |
| Isaac Brown | ?? Hill | |
| William Taylor | Shay Head | |
| Thomas Duxbery | Earby | |
| Edward Foster | Carlton | |
| William Whittam | Shay Head | |
| Mark Whittam | Shay Head | |
| John Shaw | Shay Head | |
| William Wallbank | Shay Head | |
| George Sharp | Lothersdale | |
| William Wilkinson | Stone Head Cowling | |
| John Smith | Lothersdale | |
| William Slater | Harden & Howshaw Bar | |
| Isaac Mason | Cononley | |
| Danniel Binns | Cowling | |
