Ruins of Staups Mill, Blackshawhead

 Built as a cotton mill in the mid to late 18th century, Staups Mill was originally known as Starling Mill and built alongside the then Blackshawhead Clough which was used to power it. Blackshawhead Clough was at the time of building of the mill the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire, it has become known more commonly as Jumble Hole Clough. The mill was largely damaged when a dam collapsed and caused water to rush down Jumble Hole Clough on the 24 September 1896 and there the story seems to end, other than the ruins that now remain.

I visited the area on the 4 May 2022, the path that passes the mill has had some trees put alongside it to prevent access to the mill area and signs have been erected warning of no access and private property. I can only assume this is because of what appears to be the unsafe nature of the remains of the building, I made no attempts to go anywhere near the building with that in mind as I was out to explore not upset the land owner. It was a shame as I would have liked to have pictured the mill from the other side where Jumble Hole Clough flows towards it.

A couple of things that struck me when I was heading back down the valley towards Hebden Bridge, why would you have ever built a mill there, I realise the water flow helps power the mill but it's a fair distance up or down the valley to nearby settlements for workers and access for transporting goods. The second thought i had was it must have been pretty bleak heading to and from work in the 18th and 19th centuries during the winter months.

There are a total of 9 pictures to see around the mill area, they were taken using a Nikon d3300 SLR.

Jumble Hole Clough flowing past Staups Mill, this was as close as I got to the
ruins and due to careful camera cropping it looks a lot closer than it was.

I thought this picture had a similar look to the ones of the Amityville House,
with the 2 windows like eyes at the top.

One of the streams flowing off the surrounding moors and fields into
Jumble Hole Clough, at one time this would have been me stood in
Lancashire looking across to Yorkshire.

The path away from the mill towards Blackshawhead.

I have recently been made aware that the remains of Staups Mill have been demolished.

Clicking any image should open a link in another window to the un-watermarked, higher resolution version on Clickasnap.

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All the pictures remain the copyright of Colin Green.