Piccadilly Mill, also known as Bank Top Mill [1] or Drinkwater's Mill, owned by Peter Drinkwater, was the first cotton mill in Manchester, England, [2] to be directly powered by a steam engine, [3] and the 10th such mill in the world. [1] Construction of the four-storey mill on Auburn Street started in 1789 [3] and its 8 hp Boulton and Watt engine was installed and working by 1 May 1790. [4] Initially the engine drove only the preparatory equipment and spinning was done manually. [5] The mill-wright was Thomas Lowe, who had worked for William Fairbairn and helped with the planning two of Arkwright's earliest factories. [6]
During the early 1790s the mill employed around 500 workers. [4] Robert Owen was employed as the manager in 1792. [5]
Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, 4.1 miles (6.6 km) east of Manchester city centre and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689.
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
The Hat Works is a museum in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, which opened in 2000. Before that, smaller displays of hatting equipment were exhibited in Stockport Museum and in the former Battersby hat factory.
Trencherfield Mill is a cotton spinning mill standing next to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It was built in 1907. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. The mill was driven by a 2,500 hp triple-expansion four-cylinder engine built by J & E Wood of Bolton in 1907. The two halves of the engine were called Rina and Helen. They drove a 26-foot flywheel with 54 ropes at 68 rpm. The engine was stopped in 1968. The mill is now part of the Wigan Pier redevelopment area and is used for other purposes.
Murrays' Mills is a complex of former cotton mills on land between Jersey Street and the Rochdale Canal in the district of Ancoats, Manchester, England. The mills were built for brothers Adam and George Murray.
Regent Mill, Failsworth is a Grade II listed former cotton spinning mill in Failsworth, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It was built by the Regent Mill Co Ltd. in 1905, and purchased by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1930. It was taken over by the Courtaulds Group in 1964. On ceasing textile production it was occupied by Pifco Ltd, and then by Salton Europe Ltd who now occupy this site. It was driven by an 1800 hp twin tandem compound engine by Buckley & Taylor. It became a ring mill with 60,000 spindles in 1915, all provided by Platt Brothers.
Ace Mill is a cotton spinning mill in Chadderton in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester. It was built as Gorse No. 2 Mill, in 1914 and cotton was first spun in 1919 by the Ace Mill Ltd, who renamed the mill. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production ended in 1967.
Fox Mill was a cotton spinning mill in Hollinwood, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964.
Royton Ring Mill was a cotton mill in Royton, Greater Manchester, England. It was built in 1908 and extended in 1912. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1935 and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production finished in 1966. It was extended again in 1969 and used for other purposes. It has now been demolished, the street has been renamed and houses have replaced it.
Textile Mill, Chadderton was a cotton spinning mill in Chadderton, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It was built in 1882 by Potts, Pickup & Dixon for the Textile Mill Co. Ltd, and closed in 1927. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the late 1940s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964 and used for cotton waste sorting. Half of the building was destroyed by fire on 11 July 1950, but the remaining section continued to be used for cotton waste sorting by W. H. Holt and Son until 1988.
Orme Mill, Waterhead is a cotton spinning mill in Waterhead, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It was built in 1908. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and production finished in 1960. The mill was passed on to Ferranti in 1964, and is now in multiple usage.
Laurel Mill was a cotton spinning mill in the Mills Hill/Middleton Junction area of Chadderton, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England.
Junction Mill, Middleton Junction is a cotton spinning mill at Middleton junction, Chadderton in Greater Manchester alongside the Rochdale Canal.
Empress Mill, Ince was a single storey shed mill alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, spinning cotton in Ince, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It was acquired by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1930, and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production ceased in 1975. It was the last mill in Ince to close, despite the intervention of Member of Parliament Michael McGuire, and a debate in the House of Commons on 20 March 1975.
McConnel & Kennedy Mills are a group of cotton mills on Redhill Street in Ancoats, Manchester, England. With the adjoining Murrays' Mills, they form a nationally important group.
Royal Mill, which is located on the corner of Redhill Street and Henry Street, Ancoats, in Manchester, England, is an early-20th-century cotton mill, one of the last of "an internationally important group of cotton-spinning mills" sited in East Manchester. Royal Mill was constructed in 1912 on part of the site of the earlier McConnel & Kennedy mills, established in 1798. It was originally called New Old Mill and was renamed following a royal visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1942. A plaque commemorates the occasion. The Ancoats mills collectively comprise "the best and most-complete surviving examples of early large-scale factories concentrated in one area".
Old Mill, completed in 1798 as part of Murrays' Mills, is the oldest surviving cotton mill in Manchester, England. Sited on the Rochdale Canal in Ancoats, it was powered by a Boulton and Watt steam engine, and its narrow six-storey brick structure "came to typify the Manchester cotton mill". Old Mill was designated a Grade II* listed building on 19 June 1988.
Peter Drinkwater was an English cotton manufacturer and merchant.
George Augustus Lee was a British industrialist. His cotton mill in Salford was an early iron-framed building, and he pioneered the use of steam power and gas lighting in industry.