Coldharbour Woolen Museum
Overview
Coldharbour Mill is a rare surviving woollen mill that has worked at Uffculme since Thomas Fox developed the site in 1799. Its water and steam power, spinning frames and looms preserve the linked work that turned fleece into cloth during the Industrial Revolution.
Why it was built
Fox Brothers expanded an older mill site to spin wool by powered machinery for its growing textile business.
People and work
Men, women and children prepared fibres, tended noisy machines, wove cloth and maintained engines through long factory shifts.
How it changed
Waterwheels gave way to added steam power and changing machinery before the site became a working museum in 1982.
What survives
Mill buildings, waterways, boilers, steam engines, line shafts, spinning frames and working looms survive together.
Why it mattered
The complete machinery shows how factory power reorganised rural work and lets visitors see cloth made through the old connected process.
History checked 16 August 2026 against the named sources below.
A historic-building record does not grant access to the land or building. View from public ground unless current access is clearly allowed.