Flax mills are mills concerned with the manufacture of flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

. The earliest mills were ones for spinning

Spinning (textiles)

Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...

 yarn

Yarn

Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, suitable for use in the production of textiles, sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery and ropemaking. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufactured sewing threads may be finished with wax or...

 for the linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....

 industry.

John Kendrew

John Kendrew (inventor)

John Kendrew was a Darlington optician who invented the process of the mechanical spinning of flaxen yarn in a flax mill. He had a mill for grinding glass at Low Mill at Darlington on the River Skerne. He arranged for Thomas Porthouse, who as a clockmaker was more mechanically skilled, to build...

 (an optician

Optician

An optician is a person who is trained to fill prescriptions for eye correction in the field of medicine, also known as a dispensing optician or optician, dispensing...

) and Thomas Porthouse (a clockmaker

Clockmaker

A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches...

), both of Darlington

Darlington

Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001...

 developed the process from Richard Arkwright

Richard Arkwright

Sir Richard Arkwright , was an Englishman who, although the patents were eventually overturned, is often credited for inventing the spinning frame — later renamed the water frame following the transition to water power. He also patented a carding engine that could convert raw cotton into yarn...

's water frame

Water frame

The water frame is the name given to the spinning frame, when water power is used to drive it. Both are credited to Richard Arkwright who patented the technology in 1768. It was based on an invention by Thomas Highs and the patent was later overturned...

, and patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

ed it in 1787. The first machine was set up in Low Mill on the River Skerne

River Skerne

The River Skerne is a tributary of the River Tees it flows through County Durham in England.The Skerne is about long, the Skerne begins in magnesian limestone hills between Trimdon and Trimdon Grange and ends at Hurworth Place where it joins the River Tees....

 at Darlington, which Kendrew used to grind glass. They then each set up a mill of their own, Kendrew near Haughton-le-Skerne and Porthouse near Coatham Mundeville

Coatham Mundeville

Coatham Mundeville is a village in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county ofCounty Durham, England. It is situated a short distance from Brafferton, on the A167 between Newton Aycliffe and Darlington....

, both on the same river.

They also granted permits, enabling others to build mills, including in northeast Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, where early mills included those at Douglastown

Douglastown

Douglastown is a hamlet in Kinnettles in Angus, Scotland, three miles south-west of Forfar. It takes its name from the landowner who in about 1789 provided land for James Ivory & Co. to build a flax mill to spin yarn for heavy linen cloth called osnabruks Douglastown is a hamlet in Kinnettles in...

 in Kinnettles

Kinnettles

Kinnettles is located in Angus, a Council Area in the northeast of Scotland. The Parish is bounded on the north and east by Forfar, on the southeast and south by Inverarity and the southwest and northwest by Glamis. The centre of the Parish is dominated by the oblong Brigton Hill whose steepest...

, Bervie, Dundee

Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...

. Others were built at Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

. Matthew Murray

Matthew Murray

Matthew Murray was an English steam engine and machine tool manufacturer, who designed and built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin cylinder Salamanca in 1812...

 moved from Darlington to set up a mill at Adel

Adel, Leeds

Adel is a suburb in North Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Cookridge, Holt Park, Weetwood and Alwoodley. To the north are the villages of Arthington and Bramhope and the market town of Otley...

 near Leeds, where Murray built an improved spinning machine for John Marshall. In 1791, Marshall built another mill at Holbeck

Holbeck

Holbeck is a district in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.The district begins on the southern edge of the Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 Leeds postcode area. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is the only motorway that passes through the area since...

 in Leeds. Murray went on to became a noted textile engineer, as a partner in Fenton, Murray, and Wood.

Ditherington Flax Mill

Ditherington Flax Mill

Ditherington Flax Mill , located in Ditherington, a suburb of Shrewsbury, England, is the oldest iron framed building in the world. As such, it is seen as the "grandfather of skyscrapers", despite being only as tall as a modern five-story building. Its importance was officially recognised in the...

 at Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...

 was built by Marshall and Benyons of Leeds in 1797 and was the first iron-framed textile mill anywhere.