LUMBFOOT Mills near Stanbury, photographed in the early 1900s, was originally built as a late 18th-century cotton mill but was later enlarged and reconstructed several times for worsted spinning and weaving.

During the earlier Victorian era, Lumbfoot Mills was operated by Butterfield Brothers – of the Cliffe Castle family – and subsequently by Wright Brothers, of whom James Wright also served as steward for Henry Isaac Butterfield. Latterly used by a variety of shorter-lived firms, it closed down in 1928. Little now remains.

In the right background are several houses in the surviving hamlet of Lumbfoot.

Its residents, in 1987, in a piece of inspired tomfoolery, declared as an independent duchy and issued their own passports. They erected a handsome sign, which read: “Independent Duchy of Lumbfoot. Twinned with Lhasa, Tibet. Population 19. Mutleys 4. Moggies 3.”

The Grand Duchy even hit national headlines at the time, but suffered a population decline the following year when one of the dogs, went missing!