The dairy was a former 19th century cotton mill powered by an underground waterwheel supplied by a canal feeder from the river Wyre. The cotton mill was built sometime between 1790 - 1800, but was not an initial success. In the early 19th century it was taken over by Webster Fishwick of Burnley and not long after passed to his son George. Later, about 1854, Peter Ormrod became owner and the mill supplied his Bolton spinners with yarn. The cotton mill closed in about 1920 and after that was used as a joiner's shop and later a clog factory. In its heyday as a cotton factory, the main building was three storeys high. The site has been derelict for many years and the part that still survives represents only a small portion of the original mill. These scenes of the dairy date from the mid 1950's.