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John Smedley and Sons Knitware Works at Lea Bridge near Cromford

Though these buildings are twentieth-century, the John Smedley knitware works at Lea Bridge in Central England is the World's oldest operational automatic factory, established in 1784

 

On the Western side, visitors can still see eighteenth-century weaving sheds in which the distinctive dental chatter of knitting machines was heard in June 2009

 

The original power source was a small stream that bisects the site, and then the factory converted to steam and then public electricity

 

The mill girls appear to be clad in their choices of the firm's extremely expensive, and aristocratically unfashionable, garments

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Uploaded on July 3, 2009
Taken on July 3, 2009