Commemorative plaque 11855

This green commemorative plaque records: LOW MILLS. In 1701 there was a spinning mill here using 'cotton wool' brought from Barbados by a Milnthorpe merchant, Joseph Grigg. Later the site was occupied by Richard Crampton's and Potter Fletcher's paper mills. The present house was erected in 1860 for the manager of Milnthorpe Gas Works and extended in 2003. The gasholder and retort, just to the east, were demolished in the 1970's and taken to the Beamish Museum in County Durham. Milnthorpe Gas Works were said to be the last in England to be stoked by hand and to measure their supply in cubic feet and not in therms. One of the last remaining gas lamps, now electrified, still stands in Mill Lane. Recorded plaque organisation: Parish of Milnthorpe.

Low Mills marks an early site of cotton spinning in England, utilizing raw materials from Barbados and later serving as a paper mill; it also housed Milnthorpe Gas Works, one of the last manually stoked gas works in England.