Friday 1 April 2022

James Kay of Turton Tower (1774 - 1857)

Upcoming Talk - April 2022

7.30pm at Harwood Methodist Church, Longsight
Thursday 28th April 2022
Visitors £2.00

Speaker: Richard Horrocks

Originally from Entwistle, James Kay was the inventor of a novel wet spinning system for flax in 1825.  His invention enabled very fine linen yarns to be produced by steam driven machinery, and provided the impetus for the growth of the Irish linen industry in the second half of the 19th century.  His wet spinning process is still the basis of modern spinning of fine linen yarns, although the industry is now concentrated in Russia and China.

He became sufficiently wealthy from his invention to be able to buy and refurbish Turton Tower to the state that may be seen to this day.

Turton Tower (by Tony Rostron)