Helmshore became a mill workers' settlement, comprising an extensive area of woollen and cotton mills and associated workers' housing built along the valley of the River Ogden. The Turner family first established the settlement, buying land in 1789 and building Higher Mill as a woollen fulling mill powered by two water wheels; later replaced by the one still in existence (now part of the museum). One of the next generation of the family, William Turner (1793-1852) added a larger wool carding and spinning mill, which was steam-powered, in the 1820s. Its chimney is still standing on the opposite hill-side. After a fire in the 1860s the mill was rebuilt, and was later sold to Lawrence Whitaker and his sons in the 1920s. Turners also built Tan Pits, a dye works, and the seven-storey, steam-powered Hollin Bank (or Middle Mill) which was built for power looms