Higher Mill Museum Trust

17/06/2026

09/06/2026

22/05/2026

📅 Date for Your Diary! 📅

Join us for The Friends Summer Fair on Saturday 20th June, from 11am – 4pm at Helmshore Mills Textile Museum! ☀️🎉

With over 20 stalls offering a fantastic variety of food, drink, crafts and gifts, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Plus, there’ll be live entertainment throughout the day! 🎶🍰🛍️

🎟️ Entry:
£5 Adults
Friends Members and Under 18s FREE

📍 Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, Holcombe Road, Helmshore, Rossendale, Lancashire, BB4 4NP

Bring your family and friends along for a brilliant summer day out — we’d love to see you there!

08/05/2026

⭐️ JOIN US TOMORROW ⭐️

Step back in time and discover the rich heritage of Helmshore and the Rossendale Valley at our Local History Fair! 🏛️✨

🎟 Entry is FREE
📅 Saturday 9th May 2026
⏰ 11am - 4pm
📍 Helmshore Mills Textile Museum
Holcombe Road, Helmshore, Rossendale, Lancashire, BB4 4NP

Enjoy a fantastic day filled with:
🔎 Local history displays from community groups Helmshore Branch Royal British Legion and St Thomas’s Musbury
🚂 Model railway display
🧶 Weaving Demonstration

🎤 Talks throughout the day include:
• 11:30am - The Beeching Cuts of the 1960s and their impact on East Lancashire’s railways, including the local story of Helmshore by Nigel Jepson
• 12:45pm - Rossendale’s Home Guard, exploring the role and experiences of local volunteers during wartime
• 2:00pm -The Higher Mill Water Wheel, uncovering the engineering and history behind one of Helmshore’s most iconic features

🎤 Talks are also free – simply reserve your place on arrival at the Museum on the day (spaces allocated on a first come, first served basis)

Whether you’re a history enthusiast or just looking for an interesting day out, there’s something for everyone!

We look forward to welcoming everyone 😊

01/05/2026

Step back in time and discover the rich heritage of Helmshore and the Rossendale Valley at our Local History Fair! 🏛️✨

🎟 Entry is FREE
📅 Saturday 9th May 2026
⏰ 11am - 4pm
📍 Helmshore Mills Textile Museum
Holcombe Road, Helmshore, Rossendale, Lancashire, BB4 4NP

Enjoy a fantastic day filled with:
🔎 Local history displays from community groups
🚂 Model railway display

🎤 Talks throughout the day include:
• 11:30am - The Beeching Cuts of the 1960s and their impact on East Lancashire’s railways, including the local story of Helmshore by Nigel Jepson
• 12:45pm - Rossendale’s Home Guard, exploring the role and experiences of local volunteers during wartime
• 2:00pm -The Higher Mill Water Wheel, uncovering the engineering and history behind one of Helmshore’s most iconic features

🎤 Talks are also free – simply reserve your place on arrival at the Museum on the day (spaces allocated on a first come, first served basis)

Whether you’re a history enthusiast or just looking for an interesting day out, there’s something for everyone!

We look forward to welcoming everyone 😊

24/04/2026

⭐️Lancashire Museums Event Tomorrow ⭐️

Step into history at Helmshore Mills!

On Saturday 25 April, we’re travelling all the way back to 1826 to uncover the stories of the Weavers’ Uprising.

Meet the workers and mill owners of the time, hear their powerful stories, and experience this dramatic moment in Lancashire’s past brought vividly to life by our costumed guides.

Plus! Enjoy our brand‑new museum trail, hands‑on weaving workshops, and a full family fun day from 11am–4pm.

http://tiny.cc/HelmshoreMill

Don’t miss this chance to explore, discover, and get creative! 🎉

20/04/2026

We are absolutely delighted to congratulate Helmshore Mills Textile Museum on being awarded a prestigious Royal Society Places of Science grant! 👏👏👏

Helmshore Mills Museum has been chosen as one of twenty-seven small museums across the UK to be awarded funding of up to £3,500 by the Royal Society in the latest round of its Places of Science scheme to engage communities with their local science stories.

The Places of Science scheme aims to celebrate projects that will evoke curiosity, interest and enthusiasm by exploring science in a creative way. From family days at the museum, through community-led creation and curation, to workshops for schools, projects offer an exciting way for people to engage with science in their local area and beyond.

Helmshore Mills Museum is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and one of the best-preserved sites in the UK. It comprises Higher Mill, an 18th Century water powered Wool Fulling Mill and Whitaker Mill, a 19th Century steam powered, (later electrically powered) Cotton Mill. Both have original machinery in place and offer an insight into the development of textiles in the area from the earliest days of the industrial revolution.

We plan to deliver a project that educates a diverse audience on this site's complex story of power and production and its environmental impacts; past, present and future. This will include our use of water, steam and electricity as power sources and the contradiction of being a cotton recycling mill set in a rural environment yet powered by fossil fuels. This will include illustrated talks and demonstrations on the early recycling process, and special nature activity days set by the mill pond.

"We are very excited to have been awarded this grant and to extending our community program to look at the historical environmental impact of the mill on its local area, and what the future might look like."

16/04/2026

The scripts have been sent, the costumes have been fitted, and lines are being learnt, but you'll have to come to Helmshore Mills Textile Museum on Saturday 25 April to see what we have in store for you at our Weavers Uprising Family Day!

🗓️ Saturday 25 April | 🕚 11.00am–4.00pm

While our brand new tour is top secret, we can tell you it features time travel, cleaver-wielding, and one sorry mill-owner…

Don't miss out on a family-friendly, fun-filled day. Join us for weaving workshops, a puzzling museum trail, and more.

http://tiny.cc/HelmshoreMill

11/04/2026

⭐️ FREE LOCAL HISTORY FAIR ⭐️

Join us for The Friends Local History Fair on Saturday 9th May, 11:00am – 4:00pm.
📍 Helmshore Mills Textile Museums, Holcombe Road, Helmshore

✨ Free entry – everyone welcome!

Come and discover the fascinating history of Helmshore and the Rossendale Valley with a range of local displays and talks throughout the day.

🔎 Local History Displays
• Helmshore Local History Society
• Helmshore Royal British Legion
• St Thomas Musbury Church
• Model Railway

🎤 Talks during the day
• Rossendale’s Home Guard
• Railways – by Nigel Jepson
• The Higher Mill Waterwheel

Whether you’re passionate about local heritage or just curious to learn something new, it’s a great day out for all ages.

Please share and bring a friend! 😊