Bleachfields carried out various stages in the final processing of woven cloth, to raise it to a condition ready for sale. The cloth bleached in Mearns was high quality linen, cotton or silk. Up to the 1790’s the process involved repeated stages, including boiling in chemicals, washing in a network of canals, exposing the cloth to the sun in fields, wringing, calendering (pressing), drying and packing for sale. Bleachfields are also closely related to printfields, which carried out most of the same stages, with the addition of printing and dyeing.

Netherplace opened around 1795, originally as a bleachfield. It combined later with the Tofts works, specialising in bleaching, dying and printing. Tofts works was demolished in 1930. By 1861, Netherplace employed 400 people. The works pond dates from 1850 - 1860. It can still be seen, often with swans, today.