Ceulan Woollen Mill
For what looked like it would be a quick nosey in an unassuming outbuilding round the back of a garage, this little gem of a site provided quite a lengthy distraction.
The Ceulan Woollen Mill sits in the mid-Wales village of Talybont, but if you’re planning on paying a visit you should note that there are at least three Talybonts in Wales that I noticed while route mapping this trip, and if I hadn’t checked the 28DL location map I’d almost certainly have ended up in the wrong one.
The mill was built in 1847 by the Morris family and produced cloth and flannel for the coal miners and farming communities to the south. It’s hard to imagine how it could have been any smaller an enterprise but it must have been initially, as it was extended in 1880 to cope with heightened demand for its goods.
The war years were hard though, and while production picked up again in the post war years and a shop was opened on site to sell directly to the public, it couldn’t compete with bigger and more modern factories doing the same thing, ultimately closing in 1962.
Over half a century later Ceulan Mill remains packed with machinery to the point that you can barely move inside, yarn still on the rusting looms and in baskets on the floor. Some years ago the current owners offered the mill to the National Trust to preserve for the nation, but as they were unable to also part-fund the restoration the Trust declined.
There’s a water wheel barely visible now in the vegetation climbing the mill which provided its power. It also provided power to the Bethel Chapel and high street, making Talybont the first rural village in Ceredigion to have any form of electricity. The parish council paid £10 per annum for street lighting and houses were charged 5 shillings for a 60W lamp, with a further seven shillings and sixpence for 3 months’ electricity supply. Mr Morris cut the power at 10.30pm each night believing that was late enough for the villagers to be awake!
The Ceulan Woollen Mill sits in the mid-Wales village of Talybont, but if you’re planning on paying a visit you should note that there are at least three Talybonts in Wales that I noticed while route mapping this trip, and if I hadn’t checked the 28DL location map I’d almost certainly have ended up in the wrong one.
The mill was built in 1847 by the Morris family and produced cloth and flannel for the coal miners and farming communities to the south. It’s hard to imagine how it could have been any smaller an enterprise but it must have been initially, as it was extended in 1880 to cope with heightened demand for its goods.
The war years were hard though, and while production picked up again in the post war years and a shop was opened on site to sell directly to the public, it couldn’t compete with bigger and more modern factories doing the same thing, ultimately closing in 1962.
Over half a century later Ceulan Mill remains packed with machinery to the point that you can barely move inside, yarn still on the rusting looms and in baskets on the floor. Some years ago the current owners offered the mill to the National Trust to preserve for the nation, but as they were unable to also part-fund the restoration the Trust declined.
There’s a water wheel barely visible now in the vegetation climbing the mill which provided its power. It also provided power to the Bethel Chapel and high street, making Talybont the first rural village in Ceredigion to have any form of electricity. The parish council paid £10 per annum for street lighting and houses were charged 5 shillings for a 60W lamp, with a further seven shillings and sixpence for 3 months’ electricity supply. Mr Morris cut the power at 10.30pm each night believing that was late enough for the villagers to be awake!
The Wholesale Bespoke Tailoring Company named in this invoice was founded in Leeds in 1926 and was liquidated in 1995.
John Sykes and Sons of Huddersfield made the cone winders. I’ve found a suggestion that they were at one time based in the town’s Bank Bottom Mill but again there’s no record of the firm now.
William Hall & Sons – established 1874 - are actually still trading in yarn in Manchester.
Cliffe & Co are also still trading in Huddersfield.
Worth a look if you find yourself in mid-Wales.
Thanks for stopping by
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