Welcome to Oswaldtwistle Mills Linens Online

A family of weavers for over 500 years

Oswaldtwistle Mills has a long history of welcoming people through its doors; much of which is tied up with Oswaldtwistle’s industrial past. From humble beginnings in single roomed weavers’ cottages, the invention of the Spinning Jenny by James Hargreaves (an ancestor on our family tree) escalated the cotton industry into vast productivity.

The heritage of Oswaldtwistle Mills goes back over 500 years to 1480 when Christopher and Jenet Hargreaves were hand loom weavers.

In 1604 another Christopher married Elizabeth Nutter the niece of the famous witch Alice Nutter who was hanged at Lancaster castle and in 1764 James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny. 

At the start of the industrial revolution due to Hargreaves invention of the Spinning Jenny. The handloom weaver’s wages dropped from £1 a week to 5/shillings per week and as a result riots and loom breaking took place and in 1826 twenty six looms were smashed at the mill and the company received £249 compensation.

Later Generations of Hargreaves pawned their family bibles to buy bread for their families but eventually established a spinning and weaving business at Moscow Mill in Oswaldtwistle.

By the early 1800’s, hundreds of workers would stream through the doors of the Mill into the clattering atmosphere of what is now the Weavers’ Court. The Mill and the community were closely linked and the owners keen to offer its workers fun times, too. We have a wonderful photo in our archives showing excited Mill workers climbing onto ‘Charabancs’ to take them on annual trips.

In 1851 there were 597 employees at the mill made up of 127 men, 239 women, 170 girls and 62 boys. In 1891 the mill was equipped with 48,000 spindles and 1,074 looms. 

Weaving continued until 2001 when the mill was developed into the Oswaldtwistle Mills Shopping Village and Tourism Complex, where  the tradition of textiles has continued with "Tea Towels"  still woven on 3 looms more than 100 years old in the Textile Museum.

History has come full circle; modern day Oswaldtwistle Mills now welcomes thousands of coaches a year. Last year we had 1,500,000 visitors through our doors! That’s a staggering figure and one we are very proud of. This unique shopping complex is designed to appeal to all tastes and ages, with something to amaze, charm and intrigue every visitor. 

At Oswaldtwistle Mills we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise within our sales team for you to draw on. It is a family run company stocking and distributing at on-line prices, we offer top quality at competitive prices.

The company’s philosophy is:-

1. Provide a quality service – Our Sales Team has a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

2. Efficient way of ordering – This could not be easier, either call us to take your order or use our ecommerce online shop.

3. Low Prices – Our ecommerce site allows us to keep our prices to the minimum whilst offering you what we hope you will agree is a fast, efficient and effective service.