P h o t o B l o g

Saturday 6 March 2010

Cotton Mill


(Click photo for larger version. Press Back button to return here.)

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!

See Birds Eye View of this location.

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

7 comments:

  1. That building has history behind it. I hope they'll convert it to other uses rather than pull it down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi it a great photo it looks as if it was taken years ago with the coulouring of the picture

    ReplyDelete
  3. I lived next to this mill for a few months.
    On South St, The little bit that was Audenshaw!
    Within a few months I had relocated to Los Angeles

    ReplyDelete
  4. Much older black and white photo of this mill taken from slightly different angle - on Tameside Archives. This looks so pristine and newly built. What a contrast from years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joyce in Canada18 March 2010 at 19:34

    I think some of you will remember that this was where I worked from 1941 to January 1947 before I came to Canada. It was known as Northern Aircraft Ltd. in 1941 and then became Cornercroft(Northern)Ltd. making parts for Aircraft during the War when Coventry was bombed out. Post-War production in 1945 was when they changed over to manufacturing sets of Pots and Pans and also was the first place to make plastic sets of egg cups - four to a set, one each shade of yellow, green, red and blue!
    I worked as Secretary to Mr. Gascoigne first when he was the Buyer and then as the Sales Manager in 1945. Great old days!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Joyce in Canada18 March 2010 at 19:39

    My Aunt and Uncle lived at 3 Pelham St. in those days - you turned right at the bottom of South St. Our offices were just beyond the main door as you went in the tower end. For an old mill they were quite posh! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for the information. i like it so much.

    ReplyDelete

If you are not able to sign in with a Blogger/Google etc account, then please click on "Name/URL" and type in your name or nickname.

If you have no URL you can leave that part blank.

Please do not post as "Anonymous".

If you are a spammer, please note: Most spam messages are filtered out automatically. The few that get through are deleted. Please don't bother.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 
Add to Technorati Favorites