ABC Wednesday: Guidebridge Mill

Today's post for ABC Wednesday is G for Guidebridge Mill.

This building, on South Street in Guide Bridge, is Guidebridge (or Guide Bridge) Mill Number 2. It was built by the Guide Bridge Spinning Company in 1884, alongside Mill No 1. It was the largest mill in Ashton, although boundary changes mean that it is now in Audenshaw. Mill Number 1 was built in 1876 but was demolished around 1938. Mill Number 2 is no longer used for cotton manufacturing.

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"Guidebridge Mill" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "G" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below. The highest-ranking photos will be considered for the Photo of the Year at the end of 2012!

Mill Chimney

You can't help but look up towards the sky as you pass the subject of today's Sky Watch image, the Junction Mill Chimney in Ashton.

Junction Mill itself has now gone and has been replaced with blocks of apartments overlooking the canal. However, the unusual octagonal chimney has been retained as a reminder of Ashton's industrial past.

The chimney is 210 feet high and was built in 1867. Instead of being round in profile, it has eight flat sides and is topped with a crenellated crown.

This photo was taken from the same spot as this photo of the Ashton Canal which appeared here a couple of days ago, but looking in the opposite direction.

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Please leave a comment below and please rate this photo using the 5 star system below.

Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Monochrome Moment: Tudno Mill

After a little holiday break, the photo blog returns with another "Monochrome Moment".

Today's photo shows the Tudno Mill, in Smith Street, off Manchester Road in Ashton. This was built in 1894 as Hill's Bakery. It is now Hill's biscuit factory, as can be detected by the nostrils of those passing through the area!

The building's clean lines and angles make it appear particularly dramatic in black and white.

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"Tudno Mill" is my contribution to "Monochrome Weekend". Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

In The Pink

Today's Sky Watch image shows a patch of sky framed by trees that still have bare branches and by cherry blossom trees that are in full flower.

Sorry - I should have brought you this photo a few weeks back but I didn't have time to post it then. I hope you enjoy the reminder of this lovely short-lived moment!

This corner of Mossley, off Hanover Street, is always a good spot to see the cherry blossom. There was only a brief window of opportunity this year as the strong winds quickly parted the blossoms from their branches.

The chimney of Woodend Mill is visible just right of centre.

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See Google Street View of this location.

Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Sky Watch: Woodend Mill

Woodend Mill sits alongside the River Tame in Mossley with its tall stone chimney pointing towards the glow of the evening sky.

At one time there were more than 40 mills in Mossley. Woodend Mill is one of those remaining and its chimney is the only mill chimney remaining in Mossley. The interior of the mill is split up now and occupied by small businesses and by art and music enterprises.

As most of Mossley is situated in a steep-sided valley, it is in the shade of the hill while the low evening sun still illuminates the hills on the far side of the valley, with the clouds also taking on a slightly golden glow.

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See Google Street View of this location.

Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Harper Mill

"H" is for "Harper Mill" and today's photo shows the rear view of this former cotton mill in Ashton.

Cotton was one of the main industries in Ashton, with many spinning and weaving mills around the town. The first mill here on Mossley Road was built in 1855 and was unusual at that time for not being built near the canal. After a serious fire, the building was re-built and enlarged in 1873. It was then occupied by the Harper Twist Company and, by 1900, had over 40,000 mule spindles in use.

The mill ceased cotton production in 1920 and was used for other industrial purposes until seriously damaged by another fire. However, much of the shell of the building remained in good shape so the mill was developed into apartments.

Previously this blog has shown views of this building from Mossley Road and from the railway line.

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See Birds Eye View of this location.

"Harper Mill" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "H" posts from around the world please follow this link.
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Escape Ladders

"E" is for "Escape Ladders" and today's photo shows the fire escape ladders at the back of Oxford Mills in Ashton's West End.

The Oxford Mills complex was built around 1845 by Thomas Mason, the father of philanthropist and MP for Ashton Hugh Mason.

These mills, like others in the area, were built alongside the Ashton Canal to enable the easy delivery of coal and raw cotton to the mills and the easy dispatch of cotton cloth.

In the days before the present awareness of Health and Safety issues, the mills were built without fire escapes other than the normal internal staircases, and these external escape ladders were added later. The ladder on the right is accessed through doorways in the bricked-up loading doors, which had enabled goods to be hoisted in and out of the upper floors of the building. Fire was a particular danger in cotton mills as the air was full of combustible cotton dust.

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"Escape Ladders" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "E" posts from around the world please follow this link.
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Sky Watch: Bailey Mill

Bailey Mill makes an interesting outline against the sky, with its assortmentof shapes and its gables and chimney leading the eye upwards.

This former woollen mill is in the village of Delph, in Saddleworth, about 7 miles from Ashton. In contrast with the red-brick cotton mills of Ashton, the woollen mills of Saddleworth are nearly all constructed of stone.

The collection of buildings were added to over the years but the mill finally closed in in the 1990s. No future for the building has been decided but Delph is now a popular residential village so it is possible that the mill could be converted into apartments.

The mill was conveniently situated alongside the railway sidings close to Delph Station, at the end of the so-called "Delph Donkey" branch line.

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Sky Watch is a regular weekly feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Egret Mill

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"E" is for "Egret Mill" and today's photo shows the frontage of the former Egret Mill on Old Street, Ashton.

Egret Mill was built on the corner of Old Street and Bentinck Street in Ashton. It was opened in 1823 as Lees Mill, a five-storey spinning mill. It was later bought by the Egret Mill Company, who added weaving sheds to the site.

In 1881 the original spinning mill was destroyed by fire and the weaving sheds were then extended over the site. However, the mill ceased cotton cloth manufacturing in 1887.

The part of the building seen in the photo accommodated the mill offices. Behind that there are just two bays surviving of the weaving shed. There is nothing left of the rest of the mill.

This part of Old Street is being re-developed as part of the St Petersfield scheme. In the background, further along the street, can be seen The Witchwood pub and The Armoury.

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"Egret Mill" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "E" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Monochrome Moment: Egret Mill

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Egret Mill was built on the corner of Old Street and Bentinck Street in Ashton. It was opened in 1823 as Lees Mill, a five-storey spinning mill. It was later bought by the Egret Mill Company, who added weaving sheds to the site.

In 1881 the original spinning mill was destroyed by fire and the weaving sheds were then extended over the site. However, the mill ceased cotton cloth manufacturing in 1887.

The area is being re-developed as part of the St Petersfield scheme and now all that remains of the mill is a small two-bay portion of weaving shed and this building facing onto Old Street, which probably accommodated the mill offices.


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"Egret Mill" is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Oxford Mills

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This is a view of Oxford Mills, a complex of former cotton mills in Ashton's West End, seen from the Ashton Canal.

The mills were built around 1845 by Thomas Mason, the father of philanthropist and MP Hugh Mason.

The mills, like others in the area, were built alongside the canal to enable the easy delivery of coal and raw cotton to the mills and the easy dispatch of cotton cloth.

"Oxford Mills" is my contribution to this week's "My World" feature. Please check out the other blogs participating in this week's My World.


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Harper Mill

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"H" is for "Harper Mill" which is one of Ashton's former cotton spinning mills and dates from 1855.

There were more than 80 cotton mills in Ashton but now only a dozen or so remain, and these have all been converted to other uses.

Harper Mill has been converted into stylish modern apartments, complemented by an adjoining modern block to make best use of the site.

We saw a photo of Harper Mill from the other side last January and we saw the largest mill built in Ashton only a few days ago.

See Birds Eye View of this location.

"Harper Mill" is a contribution to ABC Wednesday. For more "H" posts from around the world please follow this link.

Sorry this week's ABC entry is a little late coming but Blogger wasn't working when I tried earlier!

Cotton Mill

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This week's Monochrome Moment shows Guide Bridge Mill, alongside the Ashton Canal on the town's western boundary.

In fact, the mill shown was Guide Bridge No. 2 Mill. Built in 1884, this five storey cotton spinning mill was the largest in Ashton. It had more than 150,000 spindles all powered by a Musgrave steam engine with a 32 foot diameter flywheeel.

Guide Bridge No 1 Mill, built in 1876, was demolished around 1938 but No. 2 Mill still stands although is used for other purposes than the manufacture of cotton cloth. It is one of just over a dozen mills that survive out of over 80 that once operated in Ashton as part of its thriving cotton industry.

This is actually a sepiafied version of a recent photo but a photo taken a hundred years ago at this spot would not have looked so different except that you would have seen No 1 Mill in the background to the right and you might have caught a horse-drawn narrow boat pulling away from the wharf at the side of the mill or a train crossing the bridge behind the tree!

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This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Monochrome Moment: Ryecroft Mill

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The bulk of Ryecroft Mill dominates the view along Hamilton Street in Ashton's West End.

Ryecroft Mill was built in 1837 as a cotton spinning mill. It was the second of a complex of four mills built close together in the area. It now produces Weetabix and other foods.

The neat terraced houses are typical of many such rows built in Ashton to house the mill workers.

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This image is a contribution to Monochrome Weekend. Please follow the link to visit other sites taking part.

Mossley on Monday: Mill Girl

This sculpture of a mill girl stands outside the George Lawton Hall in Top Mossley. A variety of public sculptures have been commissioned by Tameside Council and have been positioned throughout the borough. Many of them have appeared on this blog. As Mossley was famous for its mills it was decided that the character to be depicted would be a mill girl, with baskets full of cotton bobbins. The George Lawton Hall stands on the site of the former Albion Mill.

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Sky Watch: Oakwood Mill

Oakwood Mill is on the edge of the village of Millbrook, between Stalybridge and Mossley, and about 4 miles from Ashton.

The mill, which is part of a conservation area, is a Grade II Listed Building but is becoming increasingly dilapidated.

There are hopes that the mill buildings can be preserved and converted for residential use.

In the background on the right is the spire of St James' Church, Millbrook. In the centre of the photo the green dome of St Raphael's Church is just visible, while on the left the houses of the Churchfields development can be seen.

The steep moorland rises up beyond, with the earthworks of Buckton Castle on top of the hill to the left of the chimney. This hill was seen from a different angle in last week's Sky watch.

The chimney draws the eyes up towards the soft clouds that are not quite succeeding in blocking out the blue winter sky.

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Sky Watch is the regular Friday feature on this photo blog. It links with websites all over the world with the general theme each week of looking upwards. Please take the opportunity to visit some of these other sites. I hope some new visitors have found their way here today, watching the skies!

Mossley on Monday: Squire's Mill

Tucked away behind Ivy Bank Cottages off Micklehurst Road in Mossley is the remaining part of Squires Mill. Its location is due to the mill originally being water powered and so built alongside the fast-flowing Micklehurst Brook.

It was built around 1816 as a woollen mill, although it was later used for cotton spinning. Like most of Mossley's mills, it was built of stone rather than brick. It was called Squire's Mill because the first occupant was Squire Andrew, who was not a squire, but a member of a prominent local family with a penchant for unusual names.

The neighbouring mill, a short distance upstream, was called Doctor's Mill, after Doctor Andrew, who was likewise not a doctor!

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Stalybridge Saturday: Dreary View

The view from Platform 2 of Stalybridge Station on a wet weekend is not the most welcoming or inspiring. The platform overlooks an area of industrial muddle that has seen better days.

However, Longlands Mill, on the right of the photo, is now being refurbished into smart apartments, which should help to improve the first impressions of visitors alighting from their trains.

In the centre of the picture you can see the splendid former Market Hall and beyond that the majestic bulk of the Pennine moors.

See Google Aerial View of this location.

Harper Mill

Harper Mill, off Mossley Road in Ashton, was built in 1855 for the Lees brothers on land next to existing workshops. Most of the building was destroyed in a fire in 1871 and it was re-built over the next two years, larger than before.

It was then home to the Harper Twist Company until the 1920s after which it was used for the "preparation and spinning of cotton-type fibres" by M. Pickles & Sons.

In 1999 fire again destroyed much of the building but about half of the empty shell was retained and the interior re-built as apartments with new extensions replacing the demolished part. In 2005 it was named Ashton Civic Society's "Building of the Year".

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Circles

December's Theme Day is on the topic of Circles.

Ashton being a mill town, where better to look for circles than in the yard of one of the old cotton mills? The circles here form part of the decorative iron work at Oxford Mills in Ashton's West End. The brackets on the left appear to have once supported a canopy over the loading doors.

The first part of the mill complex was built in 1845 by Thomas Mason. The building on the left of the photo was added in 1851, with a bridge section linking the two.

Thomas retired in 1860 and the business was taken on by his youngest son, Hugh, who showed great benevolence to his workforce, keeping them employed throughout the "Cotton Famine" of the 1860s and building good houses and other facilities for his employees.

Most of the buildings are still standing and in use, but no longer spinning cotton.

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Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in the December theme day