IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Cotton Lodge Close, BOLTON, BL3 2GR

Looking down to Bee Hive Mills, where most of the residents would probably have lived. Note the remains of painted adverts on both the nearer and bottom gable walls.

Bolton seems to have made a point of ensuring that all its back streets were formally named.

I think there can be no doubt that this office building belongs to Bee Hive Mills!

Etched glass windows in the former office block http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3106351 display the firm's monogram and bee hive symbol.

A pair of large former cotton spinning mills now used by Home Delivery Network. A more recent looking office block is seen in the foreground. One chimney has been severely truncated and the other and one of the engine houses have been demolished. There was sleet in the air making for horrible photographs.

The view from the west with the 'new' office building in the foreground. This was built some time around 1920, and gives an idea of how relatively few administrative staff would have been needed even for a mill of this size. See also http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3105639

Archetypal mill town landscape. You have to look hard to spot the features - satellite dishes, a section of concrete fencing, a discarded fridge - that confirm that this is a 21st century view.

When built these were claimed to be the largest cotton spinning mills in the world. No. 1 mill was built in 1895 and the first tower marks its far extent. No. 2 mill of 1902 extends beyond to the second tower. In the second half of 2019 the site was cleared for a new housing development. The buildings had originally been listed but that did not prevent their ultimate loss. I am glad that I did take some photographs before it was too late.

This is one end of a pair of large cotton spinning mills that were then operated as a distribution centre by Home Delivery Network. This is the 1895 built No. 1 mill with the office block/entrance lodge on the right. There was an excellent view of the site across the railway from a United Utilities site and the security guard there let me in one August Saturday. When I had finished he suggested I go back and do it again from the top of the multistorey car park. I was very grateful. I could not repeat that again because both Bee Hive Mills and the United Utilites site have been demolished.

Bolton locomotive shed didn't quite last to the end of steam traction but was one of the last 6 steam sheds. Closure came on 1st July 1968, so 6 weeks before the end. Here LMS 8F 2-8-0 48692 (l) & LMS 5MT 4-6-0 44947 (r) await their next duties. In the background is Bee Hive Mill No. 1.