Modern Day Views of the Belle Vue Mill, Skipton





 

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Ardern's Star Sylko

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 Over many years I have purchased and read old magazines from the 1920s through to the 1950s. I love the advice columns, wacky recipes, corny stories and most of all, the old adverts. Home Chat and the like are truly a portal into another world, one that both horrifies me and makes me titter in equal measure. And quite often you can pick them up for less money than a new magazine. Throughout these forays into the 20th century, I have often been puzzled by the advertisements for Ardern's Star Sylko thread. This was a brand of varying thicknesses of thread that you could use to embroider, crochet or knit with, and which came in balls. As it was always listed as Ardern's, I wondered how they continued to get away with using the Sylko name, which had long been adopted by Dewhurst's for their sewing cotton. My investigations into the English Sewing Cotton Company  have cleared up the mystery - here was the connection. Although Ardern's, based at Hazel Grove, were not origina...
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A Visit to Masson Mills

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 If you take a trip down the A6 south from Matlock, you can’t fail to miss Masson Mills. Built by Sir Richard Arkwright ‘s company in 1783, the cotton mill was deliberately constructed to stand out. Back then, the majority of Derbyshire buildings were constructed of local stone. Arkwright chose red brick for his new mill – a big sore thumb next to the Derwent. It showed off just how rich he had become on the proceeds of his cotton spinning. There is a ring attached to one of the internal walls which is reputedly where Arkwright tied his horse when he came to inspect the works. They say that if you touch it, you will become as rich as he was! Today, the mill buildings are a museum and heritage centre, and guided tours currently take place on Thursdays and Fridays. I decided to join one of these, as I thought it could be a source of ESCC information. Masson Mills became part of the ESCC combine when the grouping took place in 1897, and remained operational until 1991. I was very plea...
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The Sylko Label Change Mystery

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 You can always tell the older wooden Sylko reels with their white and gold labels. These obviously pre-date the blue and white ones that are better known, because there are no colour names, only numbers and they are less modern in design. The big question for me is when did the changeover take place? When did the colours start to be given names on their labels? I would guess that it took place sometime in the mid-late 1920s. My reasoning is that I have an old style reel with a colour number D229 - this is the highest number that I own with labelling of this type. I also have an advertisement from 1930, stating that at that point in time, there were 280 shades. It is easier to date 1930s shades (see the post on the Colour Council) and at that point around 10 new shades a year were being introduced.  IF that rate was the same in the 1920s, then D229 was introduced in around 1925. But that if is everything. What we need is company documentation. And that still doesn't pinpoint e...
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