Built on Cloth: Sunny Bank Mills Heritage Festival
Tucked away in the heart of Pudsey, Leeds, Sunny Bank Mills has witnessed nearly two centuries of Yorkshire’s textile story. Founded in 1829 as The Farsley Club Mill, this was no ordinary enterprise. It began as a collaborative gamble by local clothiers, who pooled their resources to build a scribbling and fulling mill. Over time, the mill grew into a powerhouse of worsted spinning and weaving under the formidable Edwin Woodhouse, later becoming synonymous with fine cloth under the stewardship of the Ives family and the Gaunts.
Sunny Bank Mills fabric sample books, as viewed in the heritage archive.
Like many northern mills, Sunny Bank’s fortunes ebbed and flowed with global markets: the Great Depression, the boom years of the ’50s and ’60s, and the sharp decline following the Gulf War. By 2008, production had ceased, and it seemed like another thread in the story of Britain’s industrial decline. But mills, like textiles, are resilient. In 2010, John and William Gaunt set out on a bold regeneration project. They transformed the site into a creative hub, now home to 75 businesses, a gallery, studios, and a much-loved archive preserving over 180 years of cloth production.
The transformed Sunny Bank Mills site. Now a creative hub and heritage centre.
This September, Sunny Bank Mills throws open its doors for its annual Heritage Festival (12–14 September, 10:00–16:00) — a celebration of cloth, creativity, and community. Part of the nationwide Heritage Open Days, the festival offers a rare chance to explore unseen corners of the mill, from atmospheric weaving sheds to artist studios buzzing with contemporary practice.
Artists Kim Coley and Mel Davies, who will be exhibiting in the atmospheric Spinning Mill Loft.
Highlights include:
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Heritage Tours that peel back the layers of history, guided by experts who know every spindle and shuttle.
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Museum & Archive drop-ins, where visitors can pore over 60,000 lengths of cloth, thousands of fabric designs, and a treasure trove of dye cards and artefacts. This year’s special exhibition, Built on Cloth, takes architecture as its theme—mapping the transformation of the site from Georgian club mill to creative campus.
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Many Hands, the Gallery’s first major group photography exhibition, created with the Working Class Creatives Database, reflecting on industry’s impact on identity and tradition.
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Open Studios, where artists invite you into their creative spaces.
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Family Weaving Drop-In, proving you don’t need a Jacquard loom to weave your own bold coaster.
Sunny Bank Mills Archives, open to the public during the heritage weekend.
Add in film screenings of The Last Press, a Workers’ Reunion Party, and a talk with Neil Horsley on the regeneration of northern mills, and you have a weekend stitched together with memory, making, and meaning.
Once built on cloth, Sunny Bank Mills is now built on creativity — but its warp and weft remain the same: industry, imagination, and community.
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Further Information:
Sunny Bank Mills Heritage Festival is on from 12 - 14 September, 10-4pm. Please visit their website to find out more.
A programme of events can be downloaded here.
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Image Credits:
All images courtesy of Sunny Bank Mills.