Harle Syke is a small village within the parish of Briercliffe, situated three miles north of Burnley, Lancashire, England.

Harle Syke lies at the edge of the Burnley urban area connecting it to the village of Haggate.

To the south is the valley of the River Don or Thursden Brook and to the north is hill of Marsden Height, (270 metres (886 ft)) in Brierfield.

[2] Briercliffe was named in the Charter of Freewarren granted to Edmund de Lacy the Lord of Blackburnshire in 1251,[3] allowing him to use the area for hunting hares, rabbits and foxes.

They chose a site on farmland next to the road to Burnley, near a natural spring and constructed workers housing close by.

There, the buildings and engine were owned by a room and power company called Briercliffe Mill.

Because of the availability of room and power, the Harle Syke sheds gave birth to many small companies who grew to build their own reputations and mills in the village, or Burnley and beyond.

In spite of the 1826–1848 crisis, handloom weavers were still having work put out to them from outside the district, but the community was suffering extreme poverty.

[6] 'Harle Syke Shed, the next mill to open in 1858, has an interesting history, not so much for the architecture but the means by which it was financed over the 150 years of its existence.

64 wage-earning men and women signed the deed of settlement and agreed to take up one £10 share paying a one shilling deposit.

[8] Shares were traded, and dividend paid, and the shareholders often contributed unpaid work to keep the business as well as having unlimited liability for the companies debts.

In effect they were running two businesses, protecting the capital assets that were the buildings, boilers and engine, and then manufacturing and trading in cotton cloth.

The producer partnerships that were formed when the looms were allocated consolidated, and shares in the room and power 'walls' company were traded resulting in a smaller number of shareholders with larger investments.

[b] A new larger engine was purchased, and a large new weaving shed designed by Joseph Keithley was built.

The Queen Street Mill engine is an 1895 single tandem compound of 500 hp [18] Corliss valves driving a 14 feet (4.3 m) flywheel.

The London engine which came from Harle Syke mill is a cross compound with Corliss valves driving an 18-ft, 6-inch flywheel.