Unique in being the world's only surviving operational steam-driven weaving shed, it received an Engineering Heritage Award in November 2010.

Previously open to visitors and offering weaving demonstrations, the museum closed in September 2016 (except for pre-booked school parties).

Harle Syke is approximately 4 km from Burnley town centre and a part of the civil parish of Briercliffe with Extwistle.

The hamlet was built on grid-iron layout and housed seven cotton mills, or weaving sheds.

The mill was originally equipped with 900 single shuttle Lancashire looms capable of producing grey cloth.

Around 1910, the hauliers, ex-employees of the mill invested in two steam driven flat bed lorries.

[5] In November 2015 Lancashire County Council announced it planned to cease its funding of the museum and shut to the public from 1 April 2016.

In March 2016 the museum was granted a six-month reprieve and remained open to the public until 30 September 2016 under the council.

Harle Syke workers had always been paid slightly below the list, which management explained as being due to the carriage costs to Burnley.

Many workers were also shareholders[citation needed] and took a dividend from the profits of the mill, so they refused to join the strike.

The issue was resolved in December 1915 when the War Bonus came into effect and weavers were persuaded to see this as the rise they had been seeking.

The fire did not affect the boilers or the engine, and the mill was fully operational again 10 days after the incident.

As forementioned, Prudence the engine, was undamaged in the fire and was renamed Peace, in respect for the fallen soldiers of the First World War.

[6] The mill again produced cloth as a result of the demonstrations, and the machinery is deemed a collection of national importance.

One of the commissions is a blue and white shirting that is sold exclusively to 'Old Town' of Holt, Norfolk, who produce Victorian workware.

After the fire in 1918 it was remodelled into a single-storey building, space being taken from the weaving sheds for a new preparation area.

On closure in 1982 it was reconfigured by Burnley Council, the weaving shed was partitioned, about a third being used for rentable industrial units, and a similar area being used for visitor facilities.

[14] The whole site was granted Grade 1 listed status in 2013 giving protection to the rest of the building.

On the Queen Street side was the boiler room and engine house, and the four-storey warehouse.

After the fire the ground floor of the frontage was rebuilt and used for winding and preparation, 100 looms were removed, and part of the Harrison Street end of the shed became the new warehouse.

[6] Coal was obtained locally from Bank Hall Pit but now with pollution controls being stricter it has to be imported.

When yarn enters a weaving mill, it is on different size cops and cheeses, and these had to be wound onto pirns to fit in the shuttles used by the looms installed.

Queen Street has also featured in a variety of documentaries including Channel 4's 2014 series Hidden Villages presented by Penelope Keith.