Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) 26 Clitheroe Advertiser & Times, Thursday, December 7th, 2006 www.clitheroetoday.co.uk Clitheroe 422324 (Editorial), 422323 (Advertising), Burnley 422331 (Classified) THE THURSDAY FEATURE SPOTLIGHT ON. . .


Clitheroe’s last working mill and the local family behind it


____________by Susan Sumner____________


LEAFING through back copies of the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times the other day, I came across an important milestone in Clitheroe’s history. It would be remiss not to mention the cente­


nary of a Clitheroe family firm which has played an important part in the town’s industri­ al and social heritage, quietly and intelligently surviving through ever-changing times. James Thornber Ltd, at Holmes Mill, Greenacre Street, is the town’s last surviving mill. When you think that in 1914 there were 13 mills operating in Clitheroe, it tells you just how much the firm has had to adapt to continue. James Thornber Ltd was started as a family


business in May 1906, with the premises being leased from Alderman Parkinson. The eponymous James was actually a grand­


son of Benjamin Thornber, a farmer and hand- loom weaver from Rimington, who started his own mill in Burnley in 1840. When James started the Clitheroe business,


lighting was by gas. His son, William, joined the firm in 1910, and was the mill’s salesman for 40 years. James bought the premises in 1913, along


with the steam engine which powered the mill from 1910 to 1972, when all the looms were con­ verted to electric drive. The engineer who first started the engine in


1910 came out of retirement in 1972 to turn the steam off for the last time. Over its hundred years, the mill has seen good and lean times. After the 1914-18 war, there was a boom - England made cloth for all the world up to the 1920s. It was only then that the developing countries started to make their own materials and the great slump of the 1920s and ’30s began. When Gandhi visited Blackburn in 1934, half


the mills in the town which had been making Indian saris closed and thousands of people joined the dole queues. These were lean times, but the family firm


survived, albeit taking a few knocks. They had a loyal and intelligent workforce and developed new fabrics using Jacquard machines and arti­ ficial silk.


In 1939, James - William’s son and the pres­


ent owners’ father - joined the firm. A man of quiet integrity, he steered the business through to 1985. While he was serving in the RAF during the


Second World War, the mill was closed because there was neither enough cloth nor workers to continue. However, after the war James went round on


his bicycle recruiting old hands to run the looms. Trade was good until 1952, when there was once again a slump. In 1962, the mill was equipped with 140


Northrop Automatic looms, which meant that the firm could move into furnishings and Jacquards - now its core business. In 1975, the


IN A 100th anniversary reflection of that photograph, today’s company directors, brothers Mark and James Thornber, are pictured standing at the same spot in the mill yard as their father, Janies, and grandfather, William (A271106/6c)


mill bought its first Domier weaving machines, again allowing them to open up new markets. Today, two of James’ sons, Mark and James


run the mill, still a family-owned business. Six generations of the family have, over the years, purchased almost 5,000 looms. The firm cur­ rently employs 60 people, described hy Mark and James as “a good and loyal workforce.” Such is the loyalty that only this year, four


employees - Colin Bate, Michael Shuttleworth and brothers Danny and John Clarkson - have each clocked up 30 years’ service with the firm. As James explained: “ In the beginning, the


mill wove fine cotton shirtings, then linings and corset brocades. Thomber’s now produces pre­


dominantly furnishing fabrics and curtaining ,


supplying some of the top names in the mar­ ket.” Always evolving, the firm has introduced an


interesting innovation, weaving slides of local scenes.


A prototype - a view of the mill - makes a


stunning picture and is currently on display in the window of the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times office, in King Street. Plans are in the


pipeline for more local scenes, such as views of Clitheroe. Over 100 years ago, the Thornber family were


selling milk and cloth to the world. More than a century on, this is still the case, as another


Always evolving, the firm has introduced an interesting innovation-weaving prototype - a view of the mill - makes a situnning picture and is currently on the Clitheroe Advertiser and Times office, in King Street. Plans are in the scenes, such as views of Clitheroe.


THE fourth generation of Thornbers to run the family-owned business, brothers Mark (left) and James beside one of the modern looms inside Ciitheroe’s last remaining textiles mill (A271106/Gb)


Thornber brother, John, is a farmer in Sawley. Let us hope that the family firm continues to


survive for another hundred years, providing employment and writing pages for Clitheroe’s rich and vibrant history.


slides of local scenes. A display in the window of pipeline for more local


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TAKEN in 1956 to mark the firm’s 50th anniversary, this picture shows the founder’s son, William Thornher and his son, James, who later took over at the helm, standing in a doorway in the yard at Holmes Mill (s)


rim . THE man who started it all — company founder


and Mayor of Clitheroe for 1920-21, Conn. James Thornber (s)


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