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Fred Dibnah was born on 28 April 1938. [3] He was the son of Frank and Betsy Dibnah (née Travis), [4] who were initially both employed at a bleach works.His mother later worked as a charwoman at a gas works. [5]
The UK's Fred Dibnah, a steeplejack, became a celebrity for his technique of chimney felling. He would remove bricks from the base of the chimney and shore up the structure with wooden supports. He would remove bricks from the base of the chimney and shore up the structure with wooden supports.
Notes: Cape Mill's chimney which was felled, at the time of its demolition, by steeplejack Fred Dibnah. This event was filmed and featured in his autobiographic TV series 'The Fred Dibnah Story'. The site remained empty for several years after the mills' demolition until the land was used for a brand new housing estate.
The Bancroft chimney was repaired and 'banded' by Fred Dibnah in 1997. The Bancroft mill engine is a horizontal cross compound Corliss valve condensing steam engine built 1914 and installed by William Roberts of Nelson in 1920. As was traditional, the cylinders were named, the high-pressure cylinder "James", and the low-pressure "Mary Jane".
After a period of restoration, started in 1978, the museum was opened by Fred Dibnah in 1991. [3] Inside the restored site visitors see displays on the history of the mill and its site, and its machinery. There is a working steam engine called "Princess" dating from the 1820s, which was second-hand at the time the mill was built. [4]
The house is a neoclassical 3-storey building with an attached lower service courtyard to the west and a symmetrical 13-bay south-facing facade dominated by a central hexastyle pedimented portico. It is built of stone with rendered elevations under a slate roof with rendered chimney stacks topped by moulded cornices and an Italianate water tank.
The mill was planned as a double mill with a central boiler house and built in two phases. [6] Swan Lane Number 1 Mill was built in 1902, and Number 2 Mill three years later. The double mill was built to contain 210,000 mule spindles. [7] Number 3 Mill was built in 1915 [8] and housed 120,000 mule spindles.
The west mill was built to a similar design. Its engine house had semi-circular arched windows with square windows above and had a tall circular chimney. Carrington Viyella operated the mill in the 1980s. [17] Fred Dibnah demolished the mill chimney in November 1983 [21] and the mill's ornate tower in January 1984. [22] Lodge Mill