The Burning of Westhoughton Mill 1812

2012 marks the bi-centenary of the Luddite Burning of the Mill in Westhoughton when 4 men were hanged for the burning of the mill and eleven others transported to Australia for seven years for the act of taking or administering an illegal oath. The Westhoughton Local History Group are planning a series of events to mark the bi-centenary, one of them being on the site of the mill when they plan to have a short ceremony followed by traditional activities. This will be held on Saturday 21 April. Around this time there will also be a display in Westhoughton Library of the findings of the research being undertaken by the group.

On Tuesday 24 April, One Accord will perform a piece in Westhoughton Library, exactly 200 years to the day since the mill was burned down. In 1882, the Bolton Weekly Journal published a long poem by John Clough that told the story of the burning of the mill. In the previous year the same paper had published court reports from the time of the trials.

The piece put together by One Accord uses this poem and splits it up into readings and songs using local folk and hymn tunes, and also uses excerpts from the trial reports as published in the Bolton Weekly Journal.

For more details of the burning of the mill, and of the events planned by the Local History Group, see: www.westhoughtonhistorygroup.org.uk and www.theluddites.org.uk

Having put together this piece for the anniversary, One Accord would like to perform it at other venues during the year. The performance will last approximately one hour and would be suitable for other local history groups, WIs or folk clubs. If anyone is interested in booking us to perform this project please contact us using the button below or phoning 01942 816869