Stories
Mallin & Son is based in the West Yorkshire Town of Ossett which has a rich history in textiles.
The town and surrounds has a landscape littered by reminders of it's industrial heritage from disused rail-lines to beautiful old mills. Ossett really built a name for itself in the recycling of woollen goods, known as Mungo & Shoddy. It's a really nice reference point for us as we began our life recycling wax jackets through re-waxing and repairs. We are doing what we can to build on the town's rich heritage through adding our own chapter.
We're here to celebrate the people that built our town and re-tell the stories that we don't think should be forgotten. We have researched many resources but the wonderful Ossett.net is a fantastic library for anyone wanting to go a little deeper.
The history of our Beanies
When I moved to Ossett, the first house I lived in was on Sowood Avenue. Sowood is a tiny section of the town that acts as a true halfway point between Ossett and neighbouring town, Horbury. It seemed like an apt name for the first hat that we created as an experiment. The experiment took off and we created more, adding a bobble variation named the Healey. Healey references the area I now live in, approximately half a KM from Sowood. It has always been really important to me to try represent where we come from and try bring some pride into the town. To know that we have customers in Japan, London, Norway, USA walking around wearing a beanie named after a street in our West Yorkshire town really does fill me with delight.
Our current beanies are settled on the one 'bobbleless' variation and are made less than half a mile from our workshop in Horbury. A weekly 'knit and natter' group meet every Thursday in Horbury library where you'll also find our beanies being made by hand.
Healey Low Mill Worker's Union - T-shirt released Summer 23
Another early Ossett scribbling and fulling mill, which dates from the early 19th century and was probably built circa 1815. Healey Low Mill was owned in 1819 by James Briggs and in 1834 by Samuel Ellis and Company. The mill was sited right on the bank of the River Calder at Healey before the river was diverted when the railway marshalling yard was constructed in the early 1960s. Like other textile mills erected at that time, the building height was very low, machines were located close together so that working space was tight.
In 1882, the mill was owned by Joshua Ellis and Bros. who were advertising for a power loom tuner against the trend elsewhere in Ossett where the textile industry was in the grip of a recession. In 1883, another advertisement appeared in the local press detailing an auction for a one-eighteenth share in Healey Low Mill. The mill was described as being constructed of stone with a dyehouse, loom shed, office, six cottages all set in six acres of land. As can be gathered from the 1883 auction, Healey Low Mill was sub-divided between various tenants as was common with many of the textile mills in Ossett. In 1889, there was a fire in a two-storey dyehouse, the business premises of Ossett worthy, Eli Townend where the dryhouse and another one-storey dyehouse were gutted. The total loss was estimated at £500 - £600 and the buildings were uninsured. At the time, the buildings were owned by the Healey Low Mill Company, but the machinery, fittings and contents were owned by Eli Townend, the tenant. Townend wasted no time and a couple of weeks later, the dryhouse was being rebuilt with the rags instead being dried at nearby Victoria Mills.
Later in 1889, the Ellis Brothers, cloth manufacturers, who had owned Healey Low Mill for many years, moved all their stock to Victoria Mill and Healey Low Mill was bought outright by Eli Townend, rag merchant. It was noted at the time that the old engine house was being demolished and new dryhouses erected.5
In 1898, Eli Townend Ltd., was registered with capital of £40,000 in £10 shares to take over as a going concern the business of Eli Townend, rag merchants.In the early twentieth century, Healey Low Mill had sixteen carding machines, but the space between them was so small that workmen had difficulty in cleaning them. The mill continued in use until 1930.
-Ossett.net