James Walker and Sons Ltd

Walker's Crofts Mill in the 1980s.

Dates of operation: 1930

Origins and history
When the firm of Walker's came to Witney in the 1930s they were already one of the largest manufacturers of blankets in Britain, operating from Yorkshire. The firm is still trading and is known as James Walker and Sons, based at Holme Bank Mills at Mirfield in Yorkshire. Part of their current business is making airline and hospital blankets; they have been supplying the Health Service for over 50 years. The original James Walker worked on two handlooms in a weaver's cottage and his descendants expanded the business during the 19th century, acquiring and building several mills in Yorkshire.

Walker's had a new mill built in Witney on an undeveloped site known locally as 'The Crofts' and which so became known as Crofts Mill. It was started in 1931 and completed by 1933, although the company had owned the land for some years before work began. This was good timing for Witney people as it bought new employment to the town at a time when the effects of the Great Depression were being felt [1]: at other mills in the town there was unemployment and short time working caused by the slump [2]. By the early 1970s Walker's were still employing some 120 people [3], but by 1980 shrinking markets left the factory on reduced working hours and Walker's closed it down in May of that year.

Products and operations

Advert for Walker's 'Tranquilitie' blankets.

Walker's made 'guaranteed all pure wool' Witney blankets for the years that they were they operated Crofts Mill. During the years of the Second World War they closed their business in the town and concentrated on production in Yorkshire [4]. By the 1970s it was the last factory in Witney using only traditional looms as by then Fiberweaving and more modern looms had been adopted by both Early's and Smith and Philips' [5].

Unlike other Witney mills, Crofts Mill had no facilities for spinning or finishing - all of the yarn used at this site was sent down from the parent company in Yorkshire, and woven blankets were sent back to be finished.

Premises
Crofts Mill was a large redbrick building with weaving sheds, offices, warehouses, stores, boiler and a tall brick chimney. The weaving shed held 50 looms, about 10 per cent of all the looms in Witney. The buildings are now no longer in existence.

In the 1930s the firm used their lack of a spinning plant to support their claim that the annual rates charge, which was imposed on it by the local authority, was too high and unfair in relation to the rates charged to the other town mills. They won their case and had their rates reduced by £54 to £646 per year [6].