Ottiwells Mill

The name Ottiwells survives to this day in the memory of the house and mill which once occupied the site at the bottom of Binn Road. The bridge over the Wessenden Brook at the bottom of Binn Road is still called Ottiwells Bridge. It is probable that Ottiwells was the place occupied by one Othuel Marsden who died in 1589. Parish registers show that Ottiwelle or Othuel Marsden continued to be the home of a family with the surname Marsden for years after Othuel Marsden died.

Ottiwells Mill was built in 1793 after the Manor of Marsden granted a 1000 year copyhold lease for the land. In 1801 the mill was bought by two brothers, Abraham and John Horsfall, who owned a considerable acreage of farmland in the area and wished to extend their activities into the fulling of woollen cloth which had been woven in cottages around the village. An auction catalogue c1820 describes the mill as being

“A Fulling Mill adjoining the Turnpike Road, two Stories high, 129 Feet in length, and 27 Feet 3 Inches in breadth, with a Fall of 20 Feet 3 Inches on the Wessenden River; together with the Boiler and Steam Pipes, Fulling Stocks, Two Water Wheels, Going Gear, Weirs, and Goits”.

The mill was supplied with water by a weir upstream and a goit which are evident on the 1801 Township map. Cropping frames, made by Enoch Taylor in the nearby Iron Foundry, were installed in the mill in 1812.

This substitution of machinery for hand labour attracted the deep animosity of the Ludddites. Fearing that the mill would be attacked Horsfall erected a barricade in front of the mill. The Huddersfield Examiner of 2th December, 1863 wrote,

'At Ottiwells, at the upper end of the road fronting the mill, and on an elevation, level with the present dam, a cannon was planted behind a wall pierced with openings three feet high and ten inches wide. Through these apertures, the cannon could be pointed so as to command the entire footage of the mill and fired upon an approaching enemy. This somewhat primitive battery still exists, but the artillery disappeared long ago; and though now walled up, the outlines of the embrasures formerly left for the cannon to be discharged through may yet be discerned'.

The mill was never attacked however the 'enemy' found another target. William Horsfall was shot in April, 1812 whilst riding his horse on his way home from Huddersfield. It is claimed that Abraham Horsfall was so devastated by his brother's murder that he removed the cropping frames from Ottiwells and reinstated workmen to carry out the procedure.

The 1854 O.S. map clearly shows the mill. The mill was sold in 1860 when it was described as a fulling mill. Particulars could be obtained from William Dyson of the adjoining George Inn which was also for sale. The George Inn was originally built to serve travellers on the Turnpike Road which passed in front of it. It was later named Ottiwells House. Ottiwells Mill became redundant and stood unused from 1865 until it was demolished in 1876.