WELLINGTON MILLS, Strangman Street, Leek, Staffordshire. Exterior view showing the pedimented section with a lamp standard in the foreground. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leek was famed for producing silk of exceptional quality. When this mill was built in 1853, the importing of French and Italian silk into Britain had been illegal for 25 years. The lifting of this ban had a catastrophic affect on the silk workers in areas such as this. Photographed by Eric de Mare in 1956.