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In its 800 years existance, mixed farming has been the primary "industry" of the Pannal area and surrounds. Initially being in the middle of Knaresborough Forest, tree felling would have been common, though mainly for domestic use (buildings and fire-wood) and clearing land for farming, rather than as a timber industry per se.
Sheep and dairy cattle were the principal farmed animals, with horses as the normal means of transport. The usual farm-related small businesses, such as black-smithing, cart-wrights, etc. (see below) were also established. There was no local woollen industry, so apparently wool was sent to the Leeds-Bradford etc. mills.
By 1304, King Edward 1 had decreed weekly markets in Pannal on Tuesdays and an annual four day Fair at the Feast of St. Michael. (LANGDALE, 1822)
A variety of crops were farmed, including corn and barley. Orchards and the occassional vineyard appear to have been limited to house gardens only. Similarly, vegetables were home grown, with commercial "market-gardens" on the down-stream river flats being a recent development.
We know that a mill was situated in Pannal in the 14th century, but the first accurate information is that in 1765 the mill was bought by Dr. Richardson's Charity.
The mill is at the end of Mill Lane (naturally) on the south bank of Crimple Beck. A mill race takes water from the beck just down-stream from the Burn Bridge Mill feeding into a mill pond for storage to be used only when needed to drive the mill wheel.
In 1895, the mill was sold to James Henry Lister, who was also a tenant farmer at Walton Head. It remaind in the Lister family for 55 years, operated by his two sons. Then in 1950 it was purchased by Thomas William Bentley of Pannal Hall. He in turn sold it to Mr. and Mrs.Neville Wardle from whom it was then bought by the present owners Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey Clark.
As with the Pannal mill, a mill is known to have existed on this site in the 14thC. Burn Bridge Mill is on the right of the photograph behind the tall chimney.
The larger building in the photograph is the Burn Bridge Malt House. It received large quantities of barley from the railway sidings and the cart track across the fields can still be traced to this day. The malt-house is a much later building than the mill, dating from the 1840's and was owned by Miss Eliza Penelope Bentley of Pannal Hall, who sold it to Mr. Thomas Hudson in 1876. T. and A.Stockdale were still using the malt-house in 1965. It was subsequently sold and all but the thatched cottage (on the left of the photograph) was demolished for housing in 1975.
This building was built in the middle of the 19thC. It stood at the edge of Pannal Green. Large horses would stand patiently in the road waiting to be shod. In the front of the smithy lies a large stone block which was used for resting the wooden cart wheels on when the red-hot iron tyres/rims were being fitted and coooled with buckets of water from nearby Clark Beck. This beck was bridged over in 1926 (date on bridge) to give easier access to the shop. It was said that this stone plinth was all that remained of the ancient market cross that once stood there. The stone is now in the gardens of Pannal Hall with the old blacksmith's bellows.
Mr.Billy Outhwaite the village blacksmith whose father and grand-father were also blacksmiths, lived opposite at 23 Brookfield Cottage. He had a good business in the early part of the 20thC, but in 1938 when asked "How's trade?", he is quoted as saying "Rotten, You can't shoe motor-cars".
In the photograph, St.Robert's Church tower can be seen over the blacksmith's roof, partially obscured by trees.
Look carefully at this photograph of Lydia's Cottage and you will see on the far right a small building attached to the north side of the cottage. Against the front wall you can just see part of a cart wheel. This small building was used as a joiner's shop by Mr. Charlie Shutt who was the village wheel-wright, general joiner (carpenter) and funeral director (he constructed the coffins).
From the 1920's, Messers. Binns and Gatehouse manufactured latex foam. They started in a small hut on land purchased from the Clarkson's of Thirkill View, located behind Spacey Houses Hotel, on the north side of the Harrogate-Leeds Road. It faces Station Street between the hotel and the railway line. In due course, they extended their buildings forming a company under the trade name "Bintex". The company operated from 1938-1949. They called their product "Bintex Super Foam".
The Dunlop Group expressed interest in their business and this culminated in a take-over in 1949, when the name was changed to Dunlopillo. Then in 1960, a decision was made to relocate the Dunlopillo head-quarters to Pannal, and a new office block was built the following year. Dunlopillo were obviously pleased with their factory in Pannal, stating in their literature, that it "blends perfectly into the countryside".
These are the premises of what was Sheepskin Products, run by Mr.Burroughs, with shops in Castlegate, Knaresborough and the Market Hall Harrogate. The buildings were used for the curing and dyeing of sheepskin which was made into rugs, coats, slippers, moccasins, bootees, powder puffs, tea cosies and foot muffs. As well as the home market, goods were exported to America, Canada, Jordan and Australia.
The buildings were demolished in the 1970's. Before Sheepskin Products came, there were sheds on the site used by the Lister brothers for milling equipment and for mushroom growing, and long before that, pigs were kept here.
The surrounding hills provided an excellent source of stone for building, as evidenced from the photographs throughout this web site. Sandy Bank Quarry and Stone Rings Quarry were operated by the Nettletons early in the 20thC. Sandy Bank was on the side of Woodstock Hill on Church Lane. Stone Rings is just off the Leeds Road closer to Harrogate.
The proprieters took care of their workers in the construction of the Sandy Bank Cottages.
The little Hearse House stood next to the entrance to Sandy Bank Quarry, and the Vicarage was built across the way - when it was sold becoming a private dwelling, it was renamed "Quarry House".
Bintex Super Foam advertisement
Dunlopillo H.Q.
Sheep Skin Products