The Friends

The aim of the Friends is to promote, support, assist and generally further the purpose of the Helmshore Mills Textile Museum by voluntary action and fund raising activities.

The museum itself consists of two mills;

Higher Mill is owned by a Trust but operated by Lancashire County Council. Whitaker's Mill is both owned and operated by Lancashire County Council.

The site houses collections designated under the Arts Council as having national and international significance

along with collections at Helmshores sister mill: Queen St Weaving shed in Burnley.

Helmshore Mills takes visitors on a journey from the local rural handloom weaving communities of the 18th century through the industrialization of the 19th century to the decline textile manufacturing in the 20th Century.