Small Lancashire Cotton Mill 1942

You can almost hear the deafening clatter of power looms in this remarkable snapshot of a wartime cotton mill from Winston Robinson

This 1942 film shows workers and machines at Jack Bridge Mill in the Colden Valley, going flat out producing cloth. Elderly men and women workers operate machines, weaving cloth that's wound onto large rollers. A man sets up a loom as we see close-ups of machinery at work. We enter a large room filled with clattering looms operated by women working in confined spaces. The machines are driven by belts, which are themselves powered by the steam engine seen at the end of the film.