Book peers into city’s ‘dark past’
A cleaner from Bath has written a novel looking at the “dark past” of Twerton’s mills, which he says, exploited workers.
Joe Scofield, 49, from South Twerton, said that factory workers in Twerton Mill endured “appalling conditions” and were forced to work in factories from as young as seven years of age.
Bath has a proud Georgian and Roman history, but Joe feels that this has overshadowed its “forgotten” industrial past.
The book is a criticism of the Carr family, who owned the mill and who are often praised for investing money in the area.
Joe, who has a PHD in Philosophy from the University of Bath, wrote the book in memory of the children and adults who had their lives shortened by working in the factories.
He said “I wrote it partly to represent Twerton’s history and its importance and significance. There were recently some student lots built on the site of the mill and it would be nice to commemorate the generations of people who worked there.”
“They endured appalling conditions to produce some of the finest woollen cloth in the world and they’re completely forgotten about”.
His book, titled A Dark Past, offers an alternative view of the Carr family who owned Twerton Mill and who were major financiers in Twerton.
“The Carr family were wealthy and well-respected so when people have tried to raise the profile of Twerton, it’s always been based around them” Joe said. “It’s back to front. Praising the Carr family sends the message that the workers aren’t important. What people need to remember is that Bath was built off of the back of something”
Joe was inspired to write his book after seeing archives from the Museum of Bath which documented some of the conditions of Twerton Mill.
He also heard stories from former mill workers from the Oral History Project, which “shocked him”.
One of the most harrowing stories, Joe explained, was about a woman named Mrs Price, who almost died at the factory from pleurisy, but had to continue work- ing as she had no other earners in her family. There were times when the factory did not pay her and she would be reprimanded by the foreman for getting a hot drink in the unheated factory.
A Dark Past was written as a fictional drama to make it more accessible to young people. Joe hopes that the book will help people to learn the lessons of the past and see what happens when “capitalism goes to an extreme”.