Ilkeston Town Walk - Stage 09 - Cluny
Lace Co Ltd
w/e 04 May 2003
The answer to the poser in Stage
08 of the Town Walk is of course "LACE" and the
factory on Belper Street is owned and managed by the eighth and
ninth generations of the Mason family. It goes by the name of
Cluny Lace and the company has been the proud manufacturers of
the finest Leavers lace since 1845.
Our guide, John, took time off from his
normal duties to show my wife Sandra and myself, around one of
the workshops on the ground floor. John is seen here clutching
one of the intricate patterns that he uses to set up the machines,
the inset shows the result of his labours as it appears on the
machines.
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I provided three clues
in Stage 08, the first being an Egyptian import. That was the
fine cotton thread that is used in the manufacture and the view
above is from the rear of one of the machines. Cotton accounts
for over 95% of the material used in most of the laces produced
in the factory. Small amounts of polyester and nylon are used
in some of the products.
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Hundreds of the "metal
objects", the second clue, are used on the machines after
being fitted with discs holding the thread to become the bobbins.
You can see them stacked up on the table in the photo as they
are prepared for the machines. With the bottles of orange and
water on the table, it looks like thirsty work!
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The third clue was the name
of John Jardine on one of the machines. All six of the machines
in this workshop were manufactured for export by John Jardine
of Nottingham which is less than ten miles away. Cluny Lace have
rescued, re-imported, renovated and refurbished them for use
in this factory in Ilkeston. The one above is still in need of
some work but will soon be in production too.
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To produce the intricate patterns on the lace the
bobbins are jiggled back and forth by means of thin metal rods
or plates that run along the length of the machine. They are
programmed to move by a punched card system similar to those
that are often seen on old fairground organs.
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Of the six machines in the workshop, one came from France, one
from the USA, two from Austria and two, including the biggest
ever made, from Canada. When fully laden each machine weighs
about 20 tons. It is easy to understand why they are on the ground
floor. The next floor up has medium sized machines and there
are small machines on the third storey. I marvelled at the ingenuity
of the designers of these machines for although the two largest
were built in 1960 and 1962, the original design dates back to
the early nineteenth century. They started out as steam powered
machines, then generators were used before their progression
to computer controlled electrically. Just moving with the times.
As a bonus to this Stage of the Town Walk, you can click on the
image below to see a panoramic view of the whole workshop. All
that remains is to extend our thanks once again to the company
for giving us the opportunity to see lace making at close quarters
and to John for showing us around. If you would like to know
more about the history of the Cluny Lace Co Ltd, please click on the name
to visit their web site.
Other stages of the "Town Walk"
may be seen by following the links from the Archives page.
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