Our work on Bleaching - 3

Bleaching/Bolton Museum

We went to Bolton Museum to look at old maps of Seven Acres. We saw big wooden stamps that were used to identify which factory had bleach the cloth.

Breightmet was a very important area of Bolton for bleaching there. We went on a visit to Museum of Science and Industry and learned about bleaching.

 

Bleaching

The first of the finishing processes, bleaching removed colour, pigment and improraties from woven fabric, it took many weeks for the sun to naturally bleach fabric chemicals began to be used from the early eighteenth century making the processes much quicker and more efficient. Traditionally, fabruic was soacked in a bath containing stale urine or sour milk.

The water from the river turned the waterwheel that provide the energy to make the machines work in the bleach works at Seven Acres. The boulders near the bridge were part of the weir, this controlled how fast the water flowed.

 

Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI)

Museum of Science & Industry. We saw giant water pumps that were used in the mine. They were used to pump out the water. Children used to work in the mines, this was very dark, cold and dangerous. We saw how cotton would have been made by large machines.