A HISTORIC Keighley-built loom which holds a special place in the district’s textile heritage has a new home.

The Hattersley machine is now part of the collection at Bradford Industrial Museum.

But delivery of the loom was more challenging than anticipated.

The scheduled date had to be put back a day due to high winds.

And then when the new exhibit did arrive, large wooden doors had to be removed to get it into the building.

The operation, involving a large crane, took about two hours.

The machine is a full-width loom, of the same type used to weave woollen and worsted in mills across the district.

It was developed in the 1920s by engineering firm George Hattersley & Sons of Keighley, which was founded in 1789.

While the museum already has other Hattersley looms in its collection, this is the first Standard model.

The company built its first power loom in 1834, but it was destroyed by weavers concerned for their livelihoods.

A replacement was quickly built and the company developed into an internationally-renowned heavy engineering outfit, making spinning and weaving machines.

The firm closed in 1983, but its looms are still in operation in many textile mills around the world, and are still used to weave Harris Tweed.

It is believed the company sent a number of looms to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland just after the end of the First World War.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s executive member for healthy people and places, said: “This is a very exciting addition to our collection of looms at the Industrial Museum, helping us to tell the fascinating story of Bradford’s textile past.

“The Hattersley Standard Loom will be instantly recognisable to anyone who worked in the textile industry as it was used by many of the mills in the district up until quite recently.

“A small selection of cloth is currently weaved at the museum and the intention is to weave on this Standard loom as well. This is a very generous donation as the donors also paid for the transportation and installation of the loom, so there is no cost to the museum or the council.”