Shops village founder Peter looks back at fascinating history of mill

THE founder of a shopping village, the site of which will be celebrating its 200th anniversary, has shared his memories of the shop's growth.

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Peter Hargreaves runs Oswaldtwistle Mills which was originally a cotton weaving mill since 1824, holding hundreds of looms and workers.

The mill produced cotton exported all over the world until the closure of the weaving sheds in the early 1990s.

Peter, who reached the grand age of 90 at the end of last year, has deep family connections to James Hargreaves, the inventor of the Spinning Jenny, and has traced his family back many generations.

He said: "The Hargreaves family has been involved with running the mill since 1874, and we're very proud of our heritage.

"We managed to trace the family back to 1050, when my 30th great great grandfather, Richard de Noers, was a steward to King William I.

"We're 14 generations ago, but we're actually linked to James Hargreaves's brother.

"In the 1950s and 60s, it became very difficult to attract weavers, so we opened a hairdressing salon at the side of the weaving shed with two hairdressers.

"We organised Bingo, where every member of staff had a Bingo card, and a new number drawn out every morning and every afternoon. The full house was £50, and the line was £25, which was more than an average wage."