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St Ann’s Mill was constructed before 1771 (when it first appears on Jefferys' map) and operated as a "traditional" fulling and scribbling mill serving family weavers working under the domestic system. It passed to James Graham through his marriage to Anne Moore in 1781, but Graham did little to change its function. Graham was the Recorder of Appleby, MP for Cockermouth 1802-5, for Wigton Burghs 1805-6, for Cockermouth again 1807-12 and for Carlisle 1812-25. His family held land and property in Carlisle and London, in addition to the Kirkstall valley.

James Graham from Kirkstall was a national figure who was made a baronet in 1808. He was an important member of the select committee that inquired into the woollen industry in 1806. His evidence to the committee makes it clear that he favoured the domestic system for social reasons and that his construction of Burley Mills around 1798 as a purpose-built factory for Benjamin Gott was not intended to disturb the arrangements for his existing tenants. The legislation that followed the select committee’s report allowed the mechanisation and concentration of the woollen trade, and paved the way for numerous technological improvements during the early part of the 19th century. St Ann’s Mill played a part in this, and some of the evidence is still visible today