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 The Gates of Lune Mills |
Lune Mills Throughout its history Lancaster has had brief periods when it was a prosperous town - when the rest of the country knew something of Lancaster. Through most of its history, however, Lancaster has just been an obscure place in the North West of England. |
In the last half of the nineteenth century
came one its better times - a time almost wholly connected with James Williamson
and to a lesser extent the Storey brothers. These men were industrialists
- they owned huge factories which employed many of the people in Lancaster,
they were very wealthy and they built things for the people of the town
- Williamson Park, The Storey Institute and the Town Hall to name but a
few.
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How did James Williamson get to be so rich? In 1844 he invented a 'table baize' which was a type of oil cloth - it's a bit like the shiny plastic coated table cloths you sometimes see on peopleÕs tables today. He started to manufacture this cloth - which was a bit revolutionary at the time - and by 1852 he claimed to have driven French and German manufacturers out of the market. By the 1860s he owned several mills in Lancaster. In 1875 James Williamson's son, also called James took over. He extended the business to manufacture floor-cloth, linoleum, and window blind cloth, and he bought a new site on St. George's Quay, called Lune Mills. |
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 Ryelands House |
A job at Williamson's was thought to be a job for life, and contrary to rumours, he paid slightly above average wages, gave pensions to 400-500 men, and employed about 25% of the men, and possibly women in Lancaster by 1911. The foremen in the factories always wore bowler hats and it was they who controlled most of the workforce. Lord Ashton, as James Williamson became, lived in Skerton in his house, Ryelands. Ryelands used to be surrounded by a high wall and there was a cycle track around the garden. |
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