Patons And Baldwins Knitting Factory, Lingfield Close, Darlington
The spinning shed at Patons and Baldwins knitting factory in Darlington showing women working machines. James Baldwin of Halifax England and John Paton of Alloa Scotland separately developed businesses working with the early inventions of Crompton’s spinning mule in the mid to late 1770s. In 1920 the two businesses merged. Construction started on a new factory at Lingfield Point in August 1945. The 107 acre site was 2 miles east of the town centre. It was ideally located next to the Stockton to Darlington railway line. The factory had its own railway sidings. By 1951 the factory was completed at a cost of £7.5m. It was the largest wool factory in the world. This photograph comes from the John Laing Company Archive.
