The engine house, chimneys and boilers have been preserved and maintained as a working steam museum.

It is midway between Burnley and Skipton and 30 miles (48 km) north of Manchester, 600 ft (180 m) in altitude in the Pennine hills.

[2] Historically in Yorkshire, in 1974 Barnoldswick and a number of surrounding villages were transferred to the Borough of Pendle in the Non-metropolitan county of Lancashire as a result of the Local Government Act 1972.

About 50 Lancashire looms were installed and weavers from Calf Hall were brought in on a standard wage to loom-in.

When all the looms were installed and everything was running six weeks later, the company reverted to the Uniform List of Weaving Prices.

During the Great War, Britain lost much of its export market, and only the most specialised weaving sheds survived.

In 1935, 450 people were working at the mill running 1,152 looms for 50 hours a week making 200,000 yards (180,000 m) of grey cloth.

[4] During the 1939–45 war, many empty weaving sheds in Lancashire were requisitioned; Rover and Rolls-Royce moved into Barnoldswick.

James Nutter took action to close his businesses at Grove Mill and Westfield Shed and moved his looms into storage at Bancroft.

From a high point of 808,797 looms nationally in 1915,[11] the numbers had fallen to 530,000 in 1939 and plummeted to 220,000 in 1941 rising marginally to 355,500 in 1949.

[10][b] Under Board of Trade control, working conditions for the weavers improved and the average wage increased from 31s 5d to 78s 0d.

The existence of aero-engine manufacturers in the town provided alternative employment in cleaner conditions.

When the war ended weavers expected better working conditions, but the more looms system became almost universal.

Its speed is 68 rpm controlled by a Porter type governor and a Lumb regulator[e] acting on the high-pressure cylinder valves and Dobson-type trip gear is fitted.

[21] When yarn enters a weaving mill on different-sized cops and cheeses, it is rewound on to pirns to fit the shuttles used by the looms.

Bancroft Shed bought its weft "shuttle ready" on pirns in 1920; there was no winding on site.

The reacher-in, usually a young boy, passed each end in order to the loomer, who threaded it through the healds and reeds.

Alternatively, if the loom had already run that cloth, a short length of warp thread could be left on the healds and reed.