Wool sorting, Cumberland Works, Manningham, West Yorkshire

Photograph taken March 1988 © Copyright Crown copyright.NMR ref: BB88/04524

Combing is one of the preparatory procedures in wool processing. This picture shows one of the worksheds built in the 1870s or 1880s still being used for sorting wool in the 1980s, about 100 years since it was constructed. Raw wool is heaped in baskets awaiting treatment.

Location

West Yorkshire Manningham

Period

1980s (1980 - 1989)

Themes

The machines to the right of this picture are carding machines. These used spiked drums in which the cotton was rotated. This process aligned the fibres, which were then placed in buckets as lengths or 'slivers'. The slivers were combined on a doubling frame, which is the machine that most of these women are working on.

Wool sorting, Cumberland Works, Manningham, West Yorkshire

Location

Period

Themes

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