Queen Street Mill Textile Museum

This is a gem of an intact historical museum. It is a real close up sensuous, nay tactile experience - without ropes around the machines or video simulations. The boiler room and immense weaving floor are still as they were. The guided tour, in our case by the awesome Janet, and power loom demonstration by Chris were so informative.
In the gift shop I bought a little adapted pirn (? - they'll tell you when you visit) which now hangs proudly on our Brighton shower room cord pull.
They certainly could charge more, but you can always make a donation to show your appreciation!

On our visit to Queen Street Mill Museum we were taken on a wonderful tour of the mill with tour guide Janet, also meeting weaver Chris and engineer Iain, who let me have a go at shovelling coal into the furnace that would power the steam engine for the weaving looms.
It was a really interactive experience and we will be back again in the future. Also got some lovely things from at the shop that were made recently in the mill.

This place is a gem. The only surviving steam powered mill in the world (well when they get the engine back up and running). This place is fantastic. You get a guided tour round with a knowledgeable guide (ours was Sian) and even though the steam engine is under repair you still get to see the machines working and get a detailed explanation of how they work and who would have been working them. Most of the museum is the same as when it closed in the 1980's, it is great as you truly get a feel for how it would have been.

Absolutely amazing, thoroughly interesting, first visit to this mill, sadly the engine is not working at the moment as they are waiting for recruitment of new boiler/engine workers, however we’ve seen this at Bancroft mill (not far away) the history and information passed on by Richard who worked in textiles from the age of 15 (at the mill?, is incredible. The number of looms they have retained is outstanding, and fantastic tribute to the industry. Everyone should take the time to visit this museum to realise the achievements and inventions that kept Britain ahead of its time in the industrial revolution, plus the amount of hard work the women and men did

We had a great tour from Dave, lots of information about the Calico making process and the history of the mill.Fascinating place but you need to go on a tour, no free access. It also has a good cafe and is extremely good value for money.LCC need to increase the entry fee, it is far too cheap!

This is a really fascinating time capsule of Lancashire in the industrial revolution. At £3 for adults, including a guided tour, it's a bargain.

When we parked outside the mill we were met by one of the volunteers who showed us the way in, after first showing us the Lancashire boiler. We had arrived ahead of our booked tour with a plan to use the cafe first. The welcome desk staff were excellent in moving us onto an earlier tour leaving us time to have a snack.

Unfortunately, the cafe doesn't really offer lunch; cakes, teas and coffees are available so we made do!

Our guide, Richard, introduced himself and started our tour in a group of four. Richard had worked as a weaver and so his tour was a lively description of the processes and machines used in weaving cotton plus some anecdotes about what life was like for the workers. His depth of knowledge was amazing and his demonstrations of the machines working were fascinating.

Absolutely fabulous fascinating visit hosted by a wonderful guide Richard. Unique steam worked mill with every process expertly explained.amazing how skilled the operators had to be.
The team manning the boilers were terrific too, nothing too much trouble. Visitor numbers are underwhelming but what a magnificent few hours is being missed.
Surely every school should come. Something of which Lancashire should be very proud indeed and should be doing everything to promote.

Fascinating trip back in time. Dave our guide along with the other staff we met on the way really did a great job in explaining the processes and the machinery and the 3 of us couldn’t believe what a bargain we’d found - they really should be charging a little more. We spent some money in the shop and also visited the cafe which is also very good value. It would be great to go back on one of the days when the boiler is working.

A most enjoyable visit which was significantly enhanced by our volunteer guide, whose name I don’t know, but he was so informative and made our visit worthwhile.

The only disappointment was that it’s advertised as the last remaining steam powered textile mill with boilers engines and looms still working. The reality is that when we visited the boilers and engine had not worked for the previous 2 months!
It would be a sad situation if they never work again!
They need two new staff who are skilled in using the boiler and engine!
There are a number of machines that were in good working order and other volunteers demonstrating what they could do.

This was an interesting history lesson, all of the staff were so keen to show, explain and ensure we enjoyed our guided tour.

I would highly recommend a visit and to take a guided tour if possible.

I hope they publicise when the engine is running again, it would be worth another visit.

The boiler and engine, although not in steam for us, was professionally looked after and is obviously key to the whole working on the mill. An impressive part of the heritage. Overall this is a very important piece of industrial history and needs to be more widely recognised and appreciated by the public. The staff are very friendly and helpful.