The Minor Family of Somerset

Name Suffix:<NSFX> of High House Addingham, Yorkshire
from www.addingham,info/village/lowmill.htm
In 1784 John Cockshott and John Cunliffe became the assignee's i
n a bankruptcy of an estate of West Hall, this gave them the opp
ortunity to use water power of the river. In 1787 a small piec
e of land was purchased from Isaac Robinson with permission to e
rect a dam. Isaac Robinson's house is still at the end of the L
ow Mill development. cockshott and Cunliffeintended to buil
d a cotton mill, on its completion in 1787 instead of spinning c
otton on the water frames they experimented with wool to produc
e a worsted yarn. This was the worlds first commercially viabl
e factory produced worsted yard.
The mill by the river became known as the Old End or Low Mill
. In1793 John Cockshott became bankrupt, this left John Cunlif
fe financially embarrassed, he was bailed out by his relation Ni
colas Cunliffe who in turn soldhis shares to Thomas Gill. In 1
802 the Cunliffe family bought out Gill. By1811 the miss was n
ow owned by J. Cunliffe and sons, the mill and hamlet hadincrea
sed to 26 cottages and 40 spinning frames. John Cunliffe died i
n 1813. His son Ellis lived in Bradford, and his second son Wil
liam was living the life of a country gentleman at Farfield Hall
. thomas Lister Thompson Cunliffe was not of age yet. On the d
eath of William in 1824, Jeremiah Horsfalltook out a 20 year le
aste and came to live at Farfield Hall
In 1826 he was re-equipping the mill with new spinning mules, th
ey were being brought from Manchesters but the shipment was atta
cked by a mob and destroyed. The mob ledby 'Gurt Bill' of Cowl
ing were men who had been put out of work by the new machiner
. They were called 'Luddites', allegedly named after Ned Lud
d a fabled leader from Nottingham, he was a legend told; the car
rier of 'Great Enoch'a sledge hammer for smashing machinery. T
he mob decided to attack the millthat had bought them. In Addi
ngham as the news got through the workers started to prepare t
o defend the mill, iron grills were placed over the windows, sto
nes and firearms were taken to the higher storeys. The mill wa
s put in charge of Timothy Brayshaw who had fought Waterloo wh
o then sent a warning toGreenholme mills at Otley, who in tur
n called in the Yorkshire Hussars from Leeds. The women of th
e village put up their shutters and chalked on them "this hous
e "to Let' to deceive the rioters.
The defenders were able to holdthem off but the outhouses wer
e ransacked. the next Day the attack went on and some of the ri
oters got into the mill. A Justice of the Peace was neededto r
ead the Riot Act, this was John Ellis Cunliffe, now living in Ma
nningham with his second wife Mary Kay. Soldiers were sent fro
m Leeds and local farmers and work people helped to drive the at
tackers away. One of the rioterswas suffocated in a tank tha
t was draining a privy. Two other rioters were sent to York jai
l and later tried and imprisoned. Two defenders also died. Th
e Hussars stayed for a few weeks and the vilence died down.
Horsefall nowhad the opportunity to build a new and larger mill
, the New End, to the Westof the Old End. He re-equipped the m
ill for mule spinning and later broughtin power looms without p
rotest, the Addingham workforce was content. When the New End w
as built he added another water wheel, this survived until 193
8when a new turbine was installed. In 1835 Horsefall added a s
team engine of34 hp. In 1827 Horsefall made a gas works for su
pplying lighting to the mill and the hamlet of Low Mill, this so
on supplied all the other mills and thevillage of Addingham. I
n 1841 Horsefall unexpectedly ceased trading explaining a drop i
n population. In 1842 William Threlfall and William Seed took o
ut a 21 year lease and continued spinning cotton for nine years
. In 1859 they went bankrupt, and the mill ceased worKing agai