It was originally a four-storey mill, drawing water from the nearby Hol Beck.

)[1] It was to eventually supplant Yorkshire's previous cottage industry of hand driven spindles.

As the business continued to expand further mills, warehouses, engine houses, and reservoirs were added on the south side of Hol Beck.

'[4] But other reports[5] claim that Marshall treated his workers better than most factory owners: overseers were forbidden to use corporal punishment to control the workers, and Marshall installed fans and attempted to regulate the temperature of the mill.

In 1844, Marshall and a neighbouring engineering firm, Taylor, Wordsworth and Co broke new ground by organising an away weekend in Liverpool for their workers, a novelty which caused even the editor of the normally liberal Leeds Mercury[6] some concern: 'Entirely approving of excursions for the working class, and with the kindest feelings towards the workmen of Messrs Marshall and Messrs Taylor and Wordsworth, we would express our earnest hope that the Sunday spent in Liverpool may not in any respect be spent in a manner unbecoming the day ...