Llanidloes - the flannel makers
9
The Cambrian Factory
The largest flannel mill in Llanidloes was the Cambrian Factory by the River Clywedog, built in 1852 by Thomas Jones senior and later extended by his son, also Thomas Jones, who built the Spring Mills factory shown on page 7 of this sequence.
Cambrian Factory
Llanidloes
Photographs by
kind permission of
Llanidloes Museum
The early photograph above of the Cambrian Factory, which
then employed about 250 workers, was taken around 1885. This
view is of particular interest in showing the long strips
of finished flannel stretched out to dry on 'tenters' on the
slopes behind the factory. (This practice was the origin of the
term 'on tenterhooks'). The large pipe on the right was to carry
smoke over the river away from the exposed flannel.
The Cambrian Factory was almost completely destroyed in a disastrous fire on 30th November,1889, the result of which is shown on the following page. The picture above is of some of the workers and their employers arranged on the terraced rackfield behind the rebuilt factory for a photograph around 1897.
There are 11 pages on the flannel industry. Use the box links below to view the other pages.
