Marshall's Mill is a former flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

 spinning

Spinning (textiles)

Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...

 mill on Marshall Street in Holbeck

Holbeck

Holbeck is a district in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.The district begins on the southern edge of the Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 Leeds postcode area. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the only motorway that passes through the area since...

, Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Marshall's Mill was part of a complex begun in 1791-92 by English industrial pioneer John Marshall. It was a six storey mill, drawing water from the nearby Hol Beck, with machines supplanting Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

's previous cottage industry of hand driven spindles.

In the early years, child labour was employed. In 1832 Marshall's political opponents alleged that:

In Mr Marshall's mill, a boy of 9 years of age was stripped to the skin, bound to an iron pillar, and mercilessly beaten with straps, until he fainted.

Later, together with the adjacent Egyptian-style Temple Works

Temple Works

Temple Works is a former flax mill in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was designed by Joseph Bonomi the Younger and built by John Marshall between 1836 and 1840. Temple Works is the only Grade I listed building in Holbeck....

, the complex employed over 2,000 factory workers. When it was completed it was considered to be one of the largest factories in the world, with 7,000 steam-powered spindles.

Marshall's Mill is now a grade II* listed building.

The site was comprehensively redeveloped in the late 1990s. It is now used as office space for several companies, including Orange

Orange United Kingdom

Orange is a mobile network operator and internet service provider in the United Kingdom, which launched in 1994. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was purchased by France Télécom in 2000, which then adopted the Orange brand for all its other mobile communications activities...

. There are plans to further redevelop the site as part of Holbeck Urban Village

Holbeck Urban Village

Holbeck Urban Village is the name given by local government and planning agencies to a mixed use urban renewal area south of Leeds railway station in Holbeck, West Yorkshire, England....

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