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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