Leri / Lerry Mills, situated at the confluence of the Ceulan and Leri rivers produced Tweed for suit making using both water wheels from the river and workers to power the looms and spinning machinery.
Little history can be found about the mills but they were built on the site of an old furnace which smelted the lead from local lead mines. Records date this back to 1642. The mill itself stopped meaningful production around 1958-60 in-line with when the UK became a net cotton importer and the general demise of the industry put paid to over 800 mills. At this time the two mills (the one photographed here is further down the riverbank) were purchased by Mr J Hughes – he ran the mills with his wife till the end of 1980 as a popular tourist attraction. In the August of 1981 they put the whole site, including a 6 bedroom house, the two tweed mills, a craft shop and 14 acres of land around the river bank with shooting & fishing rights, for sale at a guide price £150’000. The site appears never to have been sold and has gradually fallen into decay since.
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