It was an iconic mill and thousands of people will have worked there.

Now a new project is seeking the memories of people worked at Firth’s Carpets at the old Clifton Mill in Bailiff Bridge and people who lived in the area and have memories of the impact the mill had on the local community.

The research is being carried out by Dr Lisa Taylor, Principal Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Humanities at Leeds Beckett University, and the aim is to understand the effect the mill’s demolition had on the village and community. Leeds Beckett University was previously Leeds Metropolitan University and has around 32,000 students and just over 3,100 staff.

As a key part of her research Lisa would like to invite people to a focus group in Bailiff Bridge. This will be followed by individual ‘walk and talk’ interviews around the village. People will have their travel expenses and refreshments paid for as well as receiving a £20 Amazon voucher for each activity attended.

She explained: “From my own experience of growing up in Bailiff Bridge in the 1970s there was a great sense of community through the shared experience of life in the mill village and making carpets. The mill was a central physical object for the people and my parents worked there for most of their working lives.”

Clifton Mill was demolished in 2002, leaving an empty space in the heart of Bailiff Bridge.

Lisa added: “To this day there remains a piece of spare land containing rubble and overgrown weeds.”

Lisa’s project aims to build a picture of how local people perceive the life of Bailiff Bridge as a post-industrial village. The project will result in a dedicated Firth’s Carpets website, a photographic exhibition and a journal article.

The names for the people on these photographs are not known and Lisa would also like to know who they are.

Anyone with stories to tell or photographs to share about working life ​at Firth’s Carpets or if you can describe the effects the mill’s demolition had on your experience of the village or the community then contact Lisa at alteredlandscapes@leedsbeckett.ac.uk or on 0113 812 7727.

Dr Lisa Taylor, Principal Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Humanities at Leeds Beckett