This area on the ground floor was used for opening the cotton bales, feeding it into the 'devils' and blending the cotton ready for carding. The 'devil' is a machine which separates the cotton from any hard waste products. The rotating cylinders in the machine would build up friction as they divide up the fine cotton fibres. It would be an uncomfortable, noisy and hot area with an enormous fire risk. Note the fire buckets at regular intervals in the pictures below.

Margaret Hale walks through this area in episode one on her way to meet Thornton for the first time.

Below you can see the carding and spinning room on the upper floor. The second photograph shows the area where Thornton repeatedly punched Stephens, whilst Margaret and Bessie looked on.

The workers would be barefoot as they worked on the spinning mules in order to avoid friction on the floors and a potential fire risk. Children would scamper underneath the machines to collect remnants of cotton fluff which can be reused (this is shown below from the first episode of N&S). We were told that workers using these mules could walk 15-20 miles a day just walking back and forth with their machines.

The fluff in the air was created using blizzard candles, so it's not cotton! Thornton ran alongside the spinning mules whilst pursuing Stephens and also at the end of episode one where he is seen in silhouette walking amongst the cotton fluff 'I've believe I've seen hell and it's white, it's snow white'.

The mill office at the far end of the carding and spinning room was used as Thornton's office in the TV series.

The BBC were at Helmshore for just 3 days of filming.

The weaving looms at Queen St were the first machines that Margaret Hale came across as she opened the factory door. During our demonstration only one loom was working and the noise was deafening. This room contains just over 300 looms so the noise must have been unbearable. Weavers soon learned to lip read in order to hold a conversation.

Thornton's platform was constructed about half way down the factory floor as seen below. When chasing Stephens, he ran from the middle of the room shown below towards the point where the photo was taken. His path continued at Helmshore, alongside the spinning mules (described above).

The picture below shows our guide, Conrad Varley, who appeared in N&S as seen in the screen capture below. He informed us that he was the only one actually doing any weaving during filming, the other extras were just pretending!

Queen St Mills still has some working looms and sells its products to vendors around the world. It is believed to be the last steam powered weaving mill in the world.

The BBC were at Queen St for just 3 days of filming.

Dalton Mills is not a working museum, but is privately owned. Some of the buildings are let to commercial ventures and parts of the property are under refurbishment. The Mills was actually a woollen mill rather than cotton and catered for all aspects of that industry, from carding, spinning, weaving through to finishing.

This property was used for exterior shots of Marlborough Mills and filming took place here for about three weeks in 2004.

The Yard

The stonework has been cleaned to its original colour since the BBC filmed there.

A plinth was attached to the building seen below on the left, which was used as the main exit from the factory in the TV series. The hexagonal office next to the gate was used during filming as one of John's offices. It's from that office that he observes Higgins and the boy sitting on the plinth and reading, waiting for Higgins to finish his shift in episode four.

Although the doors are still green, they have been repainted so that you can no longer see the lettering of Marlborough Mills, although for quite a while after filming these letters were still visible. A panel with the wine merchant's sign was placed outside the entrance to obscure the road behind.

The door on the left in the picture below was used as the entrance to the canteen. This is now housing a business which constructs wind turbines for domestic use, a step away from the wool and cotton industry then!

The small green door in the middle of the picture below is the one Thornton secured when protecting his Irish workers in episode two. You can see some rioters knocking against that door below right.

The Thornton's house

This was never a dwelling, but actually one of the engine rooms that supplied power to the mill.

Notice that the second window was put in by the film makers as this is actually a loading bay door.

The picture below is from the window that John and his mother stand in front of when observing the yard.  John and Margaret also stand there whilst watching the rioters below.

The roof of 'the Thornton's house' has been replaced and the building may be converted into a gymnasium. The second picture shows inside the top floor of the building, previously an engine room.