The Manorial Fulling Mill
All fulling of cloth had to take place in
the manorial mills just as corn had to be ground in the mills
belonging to the lord of the manor. The Halifax fulling mill
was situated near North Bridge. Such mills were always built
on the bank of a stream, and the lord leased the right to work
the mill to a Fuller or Walker. In 1379 there were nine Walkers.
The fulling process was the scouring, cleansing
and thickening of the raw cloth by beating it in water. The earliest
method was by men trampling upon the cloth in a trough, which
led to the task being called 'walking.' During the thirteenth
century the cloth was beaten by large wooden mallets which were
worked by a water-wheel.
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