DAMEMS mill continued to depend on water long after the textile industry had moved on to other sources of power.

Water from the River Worth was diverted into this dam, from which it was sluiced to a water-wheel housed in a building in the left foreground. As late as 1936 this was still turning nearly a hundred looms.

This photo was taken in the early 1900s when Damems mill was one of four operated by Messrs Wright Brothers, worsted spinners and manufac- turers. Their other three were Lumbfoot, Prospct and Ingrams mills.

As in so many cases there was a connection between mill and place of worship, James Wright, of The Whins, New Road Side, being involved with both Wesley Place and Hermit Hole Wesleyan Methodist chapels.

All four mills closed for the day of his funeral at Ingrow in 1913.

His obituary raises an intriguing point.

When, during a decade from 1875, Henry Isaac Butterfield was replacing his Netherwood or Cliffe Hall by his extravagant Cliffe Castle, James Wright had been steward on his estate.

And "Mr Butterfield's old home - Netherwood - was removed to make way for it and rebuilt at The Whins."