Due to the acquisition of the old flour mills, which became the main Tonedale Mills site, the older Tone Mills, a few hundred metres further north, became the cloth finishing works. Sitting on the banks of the River Tone, the mills originally used water wheels on the river for power generation, the housing for which are still in place. Later with the introduction of steam and then electric power, the water was used as part of the cloth finishing process, and was managed more carefully with the introduction of a reservoir and sluice gates. Within the reservoir, the water was treated before its use. The finishing works and dye factory were both on this site. The former had a boiler house attached, while the latter had an engine house added.
