We are looking at two photo of Banks Farm, Briercliffe, as it was before recent extensions. The farm is accessed from the street of the same name in the village of Lane Bottom. In recent years it is pleasant to record the cottages in Banks Street have reverted to their original name of Sparrable Row, though I understand the street name still exists.

Banks Farm is one of the most interesting in Briercliffe, not because it is old – it dates only from the 18th Century – but because the buildings there tell a fairly common story (at least in this part of the world) but better than most.

If you study the first photo you might assume, at least initially, that the farmhouse is on the left and the detached barn is on the right. You would, however, be wrong. The second picture tells us that what appears to be the farmhouse is not so. In fact this building was originally several cottages, at least three and, possibly, four. Notice also the windows on the ground floor. They come into our story a little later.

The chimneys on the "barn" would indicate there has been residential use of this building. It is clear the part of the structure nearest the camera was a barn with its own hayloft (the timber shutters confirm this) and the wall behind the two-wheeled dog cart is part of an extension to the barn. However, what this picture does not show is that the farmhouse was actually on the far end of the building.

It is more complicated than that as there was once a farmhouse and a farm cottage attached to the barn. This would be in line with others, what are called laithe, farms built in this area in the 18th Century.
In these buildings the barn is attached to the farmhouse and there may, or may not, be cottages which would have been used by agricultural labourers. Here, we know the buildings have been altered and I suspect the first photo shows the original farm buildings, i.e. before alteration. Later, the barn was enlarged though the farmhouse and the cottage(s) remained largely the same.

Now we turn our attention to the cottages in the second picture.
Together, the farm buildings and cottages constitute a small community detached from Lane Bottom. There were a number of similar communities in Briercliffe, and throughout the district, in the past and they had at least one thing in common. Communities like these, smaller than villages and hardly hamlets, allowed the development of a dual economy, one based on both agriculture and textiles.

When the dual economy was developing it was based on pastoral farming and the woollen industry. The farmer would keep sheep and cattle, sometimes with chickens and pigs. The most important of these were the sheep for they produced the wool which, when shorn from the animals, could be carded, spun and then women wove them into cloth. Of course, later, wool was gradually replaced by cotton.

Adding all the elements we have mentioned together, those who lived in the farmhouse, its cottage(s) (and the cottages on the left of the first picture) could be provided with the necessities of life. There would have been plenty of agricultural work – shepherding the sheep, milking the cows, the making of butter and cheese. Textiles also provided employment and this was particularly useful in winter when there was, perhaps, less to do on the farm.

If you consider the second picture you will be able to see some people in the bottom left-hand corner. They would have been aware of the carpet spread over the wall to air and they are clearly admiring the shire horse, but what interests me are the ground floor windows behind them. These are undoubtedly weavers' windows and notice they are to some extent below ground floor level.

It was here the handloom weavers who occupied a cottage in this part of the building lived and worked, ideal conditions for weaving at home, though (as you might expect) less than ideal for actually living there.
I have published these pictures this week inspired by two items in the news. The first is the business records of a handloom manufacturer from near Hebden Bridge have recently come to light. They mention Briercliffe handloom weavers in the early 19th Century, the cloth they made and wages they were paid.

More of this in a future article. The second news item concerns the Offshoots Permaculture Project at Towneley.

The project is hosting a meeting with the National Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens tomorrow (March 5th). Had they been able to attend the handloom weavers of Briercliffe may well have had a lot to say.