Stott Park Bobbin Mill near Lake Windermere is the very last survivor of the 100-odd Lake District mills which produced wooden bobbins for the Lancashire Cotton industry.

‘Bobbin boys’ aged from 10 to 14 worked here in arduous conditions to produce 250,000 bobbins a week. Packed with clattering belt-driven machinery, Stott Park Bobbin Mill is presented just as it was in the 1870s. Demonstrations show you how raw timber from the surrounding woodland was transformed into bobbins. 

Visitors to Backbarrow Ironworks can see the conserved remains of the ‘new’ 1770 furnace stack; the waterwheel pit and later power house; the ovens that re-heated waste gases to supply a hot blast to the furnace; and the massive stone barns that stored the iron-making ingredients.

Established in 1711, it was the first ironworks in this part of Cumbria. Using charcoal as its fuel until the 20th century, it kept going even though dwarfed by huge iron and steel works nearby. During its 250 year lifetime the ironworks was extended and rebuilt many times to accommodate new technologies that improved the way it worked and the amount of iron it produced.