Daniel Meadows: Shuttles, Steam and Soot

​Exhibition of cotton mills in 1970s Lancashire returns home
Fifty years on, the great documentary photographer Daniel Meadows returns to Lancashire. This facsimile exhibition recreates an original touring show from the 1970s, when these extraordinary  photographs were taken, documenting working life in Queen Street Mill, Bancroft Shed in Barnoldswick and even atop a 150 foot chimney stack! Shuttles, Steam and Soot premieres at  Queen Street Mill Textile Museum from 8 July 2026 before touring to other Lancashire locations. 

The photographer visits for an ‘in conversation’ on Saturday 18 July.
Daniel Meadows is now widely recognised as a pioneer of twentieth century documentary 
photography. His archive is now held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Back in 1975, the young
Daniel Meadows began two years as photographer-in residence to Pendle Borough Council, with  support from Mid Pennine Arts. Here, he found himself drawn to Queen Street Mill, and especially  to Bancroft Shed, the last surviving steam powered cotton weaving mill in Pendle. Daniel began documenting the life of the mills and getting to know the people who worked in them. From weaver and radical organiser Bessie Dickinson, to Bancroft Shed engineer Stanley Graham, flue cleaner Charlie Sutton and steeplejack Peter Tatham, he created a uniquely vivid portrait of Lancashire’s workers and their disappearing trades.