Building of the mill was started in 1776 by Thomas Ramsden, but it was completed in 1780 by the Clayton Brothers.[1] It was opened in 1780, and was the first industrial building in Keighley, whilst also being the first purpose built cotton-spinning mill in Yorkshire.[2] Initially, the mill was powered by a waterwheel, using the adjacent River Worth, but the opening of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1773, greatly increased importation of coal into Keighley, and the mill eventually became steam powered.[4]
To generate enough water pressure to power the mill-wheel, a large dam covering 2 acres (0.81 ha) was built which was fed by a mill-race (goit). A weir, some 200 yards (180 m) upstream, near to where North Beck enters the river, was built to feed the mill-race.[5] This proved problematic for other mills downstream, most notably Dalton Mills further downstream, who had a long-standing argument over the amount of water being diverted into Low Mill.
The cotton-spinning equipment was built under the direction of Sir Richard Arkwright,[7] and a clutch of employees from Keighley travelled in 1780 to Arkwright's mill in Cromford, Derbyshire, for instruction on using the machines.[8] The mill was the only one in Yorkshire to use the patented Arkwright water frames under licence, but inflated charges deterred others from using Arkwright's machines. Between 1780 and 1787, the owners paid £4,200 to Arkwright and his partner in royalties for using the machines. At some point in the 19th century, the mill was converted to the manufacture of worsted,[11] but its greatest employment year was in 1803, when over 200 workers had jobs at the mill; this made Low Mill the largest mill in Keighley in terms of employment.
