Thwaite Watermill: The historic Yorkshire mill which provided oil for Stephenson's Rocket
Standing on an “island” downstream from Leeds between the River Aire and the Aire Calder Navigation, the original building began life as a fulling mill in 1641.
This provided a service for the manufacturing of woollen cloth which would later make Leeds a great industrial city.
Fulling is a process in which the cloth is shrunk to create a more workable textile.
By 1823 the mill had become dilapidated. Its owners decided to have it demolished, and commissioned the noted millwright, Thomas Hewes, to construct the building that is seen today.
This new mill’s main purpose was the crushing of rapeseed to extract oil at a lubricant.
One of its earliest customers was the railway pioneer George Stephenson, who used the oil in his famous steam engine Rocket when it took to the rails in 1829.
Water in the Aire turned two wheels, both 18 feet in diameter and made from cast iron and elm. But in 1976 the mill’s weir was washed away and the mill closed.
At that time the machinery ground flint and china stone for the pottery industry, chalk for whiting used in whitewash and the pharmaceutical industry, and barytes for paint.
The mill also made putty, which was in much demand during WWII when the material became vital in repairing thousands of windows blown out by Luftwaffe bombing raids.
After the closure a group of volunteers, the Thwaite Mills Society, saved the building from neglect and created a museum.
The water wheels were repaired and returned to working condition, and the mill became one of Leeds Museums and Galleries’ attractions.
However, earlier in 2024 Leeds City Council decided that because of low visitor numbers (just over 11,000 in 2022) and “unprecedented financial challenges” it could not afford to continue operating the museum, and the mill awaits the next chapter in its long history.