Armley Mills once the world’s largest woollen mill
Last weekend I visited Armley Mills in Leeds. I am going to be involved in a felting project associated with the mill over the next 12 months. This project is organised by region 10 of the IFA and I wanted to get a feel of the place before the project starts in a couple of months. I certainly was not expecting the Mill to be such a large building, stupid really as it once was the world's largest woollen mill. It was huge. Sited between the river Aire and the Leeds-Liverpool canal, it was almost as if the water was following under and through the mill itself. In my head, Armley Mills was a solely used as a woollen mill, and indeed that was its original purpose. But that was not true. As the woollen industry declined Armley Mills was used for alternative purposes. These included munitions and garment making. I did not…