Gibson Mill is a 19th-century cotton mill that sits at the heart of Hardcastle Crags. Hardcastle Crags is a beautiful wooded valley punctuated by the stacks of millstone grit called crags.

Gibson Mill was built around 1800. It was one of the first generation mills of the Industrial Revolution.

The Mill was driven by a water wheel inside and produced cotton cloth up until 1890. In 1833, 21 workers were employed in the building, each working an average 72 hours per week.

In the early 1900s, Gibson Mill began to be used as an ‘entertainment emporium’ for the local people. The facilities included dining saloons, a dancing hall, a roller skating rink, refreshments kiosks and boating on the mill pond.

Since the Second World War, Gibson Mill has lay largely unused, but now the Mill is open to the public again for the first time in 50 years and is used as an exhibition and visitor centre.