IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Mornington Road, BOLTON, BL1 4EU

Was home to the museum of the Northern Mill Engine Society.

No. 3 to the right and No. 4 to the left. Nos. 3 & 4 engine houses are adjoining. No. 3 has the escaping steam and to its left are the tall arched windows of No. 4. Fred Dibnah dropped the chimney.

This was the NMES's first museum in the engine room of Atlas No. 3 Mill, Bolton. Closed in 1991 and subsequently demolished. All the engines were relocated a couple of hundred yards to the No. 4 Cotton Store and are now back in steam.

The Northern Mill Engine Society was given space in Atlas Mills at Bolton and erected an excellent museum in No. 3 Mill engine house and had a store in No. 4 Mill engine house. Having finished the one engine house it started to erect engines in No. 4. Under dust sheet in the background is a largely erected Robey cross compound. The beam and cylinder in the foreground belong to a McNaughted beam engine from Cellarsclough Mill, Marsden. The dark semi-circle at the back shows the location of the original engine's flywheel. Shortly after this picture was taken the whole collection from both engine houses was moved a short distance to the old cotton store. Morrisons paid for this move. The Society then re-erected all the engines and finally had the new (but not quite finished) museum back in steam in 2007. A major achievement for a few volunteers who have had little support from official bodies.

To the right are Nos. 3 & 4 mills, No. 3 closest. The steam is escaping from No. 3 Mill engine house where the Northern Mill Engine Society was holding an open day.

The supermarket and its filling station and car park occupy most of the site of the former Atlas Mills, of which only a warehouse now remains, housing the Bolton Steam Museum.

This was in the days when the Northern Mill Engine Society occupied the engine houses of Numbers 3 & 4 Mill and stored various items in the yard between. As I recall it, this was a motor driven compressor (or vacuum pump) by a foreign builder and no longer exists as it was really outwith the collecting policy. The mills have been demolished and a Morrisons supermarket occupies the land. The Society is relocated in the old Cotton Store and the museum is nearing completion and is better than ever.

Atlas No. 3 Mill, Mornington Road, Bolton. I believe this was the first public open day. This magnificent achievement was dismantled to make way for a supermarket and a bigger and better museum is arising in a nearby building. The NMES is now (2008) 42 years old and I've been a member (very largely inactive) since about 1976. Looking at a picture like this, you wonder what has become of all the people in it.

Heading north west approaching junction with Mornington Road.