IN its hey-day, British Northrop Loom Company in Blackburn employed 2,700 workers who managed to produce a staggering 10,000 automatic looms a year.

The Little Harwood site was established in 1902 by William Livesey of Greenbank Iron Works and others to send the loom around the world.

The automatic loom had only been invented in the USA the previous decade and by 1905, the compant had opened a site at the Greenbank Works in Gorse Street, Blackburn.

The company's payroll grew to 220 by 1914 and grew rapidly as the years went by.

An industry decline in the late 1950s led to job losses and by 1968 the company's workforce dropped to below 500.

A large fire in 1982 saw large parts of the site in Little Harwood was destroyed and several other buildings were demolished around that time.

The site where the buildings stood is now used as an industrial and commercial complex.

The automatic loom used a rotating magazine to keep the shuttle supplied with cotton thread constantly, stopping itself automatically if the thread broke.

The looms were exported across the world and had a big impact on developing countries in the 20th century.

However the increase in automatic looms led to the decline of people employed in mills.