A few weeks ago a 'veteran homeschooler' advertised that she had rather a lot of books to pass on.  As you'll know I am a bookaholic so off we went.  After picking up several great books I decided to take a little detour and have 'an educational visit' too.  (It's hard to resist isn't it?)

We visited Helmshore Mills Textile Museum which combines 2 textile mills.  We were able to:

Trace how cloth production, first wool, then cotton, become Lancashire’s main export throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

Follow a journey to discover how raw wool and cotton were transformed into yarn ready to be woven into cloth.

I found it all quite fascinating, not least because I know some of my ancestors worked in the mills around Preston.  They worked very hard!  In the cotton mill there were so many machines to look after all at once.  This particular mill was recycling cotton products, way before recycling was the 'in thing'!  I can't remember all we were told about the process but we were given the cotton at one stage and asked to try and pull it apart. It was the easiest thing, a little like pulling cotton wool apart.  Then we were asked to twist the strand and amazingly it became almost impossible to pull apart.Untwisted (thick) and twisted (thinner) strand of cotton.    

At one point in the process the women had to lift a very heavy cylinder that was at least 1m long.  They placed their hands at either end to lift it from the first machine and lay it ready for the next.  A man came along an realised how difficult this must be so he designed a special device to carry the heavy cylinders for them, through the ceiling space above all the machines.  The only problem was that he forgot that the women were not as tall as him and not a one of them could lift the cylinders high enough to reach the carrier.  It's still there today - unused.  Oops!

In the wool section we were able to see and feel the huge waterwheel powering the fulling stocks as they thumped the wet woollen mass.  It was very noisy.  The wool story goes right back to Roman times.  They used urine to break down the lanolin so the wool could be used for a variety of purposes.  This method was used for hundreds of years.  The guide showed us a large urn that was used to collect urine from the chamber pots of the local homes for a small fee.  Imagine being able to sell your urine!  He told us that the urine collected from Methodists homes was considered superior because it had no alcohol in it!  In fact alcohol content makes no difference.  Happily nowadays they use other methods to process the wool.

The guide's comments about the Methodists reminded me that we were in 'Temperance country'.

There is now only one 'Temperance bar' left in the UK.  Fitzpatrick's accredited Temperance Bar in Rawtenstall has been making soft drinks for the people of Rossendale and the Lancashire regions for 118 years now.    The history of it makes very interesting reading.  I've taken this (and edited it) from the Fitzpatrick's site....   

The temperance movement started in the textile districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 19th century, and later swept across the whole of Britain, with the aim of combating alcoholism.

Alcohol was one of the greatest problems facing Victorian Britain, due to untaxed, cheap ale and gins that was driving the population into drunkenness.

It was a Methodist cheese-maker in Preston, Lancashire, who set about establishing a society under which a pledge was taken never to drink alcohol. The society quickly grew and expanded beyond churches and became part of the everyday life for the sober British. The temperance bar became the social outlet of the society where they would enjoy sarsaparilla and ginger beer. By the 1880’s, temperance bars graced every high street in the north of England.

Sadly, fifty years after the movement began, enthusiasm faded for the temperance movement on this side of the Atlantic, following the end of prohibition in the United States. The falling interest, along with a wave of imported, sugary drinks hitting our shores, resulted in the steep decline of the number of temperance bars.

I was pleased to find this in the 'gift shop':

Mr Fitzpatrick's Temperance Drinks Sarsaparilla Cordial!

This is one of those drinks I've heard about and read about but never tasted and I was so curious I had to buy a bottle to try.  Sadly, I don't really like it.  It's a little like Dandelion and Burdock but not as sweet.  My mum tells me her grandparents used to love it and she had it at their home when she was a child - so at least 65 years ago.