IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Lower Chatham Street, MANCHESTER, M1 5SS

Chorlton is less well known than Ancoats but contains a very important collection of early cotton mills. Cambridge Mill is also known as (I think) Chorlton Old Mill, originally built 1795 but rebuilt since. In the 1860s an entire complex of mills in this area was taken over by Charles Macintosh for the production of rubberised cloth. This mill is now apartments.

One of the Grade II-listed former mills on Cambridge Street. Now converted to residential apartments.

Left to right, The Macintosh factory, Chorlton New Mill, Chorlton Old Mill, Marsland's Mill.

Marsland's is the nearer, and was used for cotton spinning. Built 1795 and rebuilt 1813. Grade II listed. The more monumental Chorlton is roughly contemporary, built for Robert Owen in 1795, and extended in 1803 (out of shot). Owen sold it before moving to New Lanark. Grade II listed. The far chimney belongs to this: Image Part of a good cluster of former mills a little way west of Oxford Road and south of Whitworth Street. Pevsner comments that they "include important examples of early C19 fireproof construction" and several of them produced Macintosh's patented waterproof fabric. Most have been converted to flats.

Built for the Birley family in three phases, 1813-15, 1818 and 1845. It is an early example of fireproof construction. The chimney arrived in 1853. Grade II listed. See also Image It is, of course, now flats, but I was taken aback to find that it also houses the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. Burgess was a local boy.

Chorlton is less well known than Ancoats but contains a very important collection of early cotton mills. Cambridge Mill is also known as (I think) Chorlton Old Mill, originally built 1795 but rebuilt since. Chorlton New Mill, with chimney, has blocks dating from 1814, 1818 and 1845. In the 1860s an entire complex of mills in this area was taken over by Charles Macintosh for the production of rubberised cloth.

A former cotton mill dating from 1820. On the left is a truncated chimney. Grade II listed. One of a good cluster of former mills a little way west of Oxford Road and south of Whitworth Street. Pevsner comments that they "include important examples of early C19 fireproof construction" and several of them produced Macintosh's patented waterproof fabric. Most have been converted to flats, although I think this one is an exception.

Built 1820 with warehouse at right angle, built in 1823. The mill has wooden floors (not fireproof) but the warehouse has iron columns. This one has not been converted or "tarted up" yet. Truncated chimney on the left. See A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Greater Manchester by R McNeil and M Nevell, 2000.

The corner block with the two arched openings for a former double beam engine house is the block of 1845. The block leading to the chimney is the original 1814 mill. This is believed to be the oldest surviving example of fireproof mill construction in Greater Manchester. The complex is well documented and well described in M Williams with D A Farnie, Cotton Mills in Greater Manchester, 1992. This was in association with RCHM(E) and is suitably erudite. Returning to the mill, the opening up of the engine room arches is welcome but the roof garden and chimney balcony are dubious.

Chorlton New Mill, built for Hugh Birley in 1814, is probably the earliest surviving example of a fire proof mill* in Manchester. It, together with its attached chimney, is a Grade II listed building (English Heritage ID:387963 http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-387963-chorlton-new-mill-and-attached-chimney- British Listed Buildings) During the mid-nineteenth century, this area, then known as “Little Ireland”, was one of Manchester’s worst slums; today, like many of Manchester’s old industrial buildings, these fireproof mill buildings have been converted into apartment blocks (http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/tours/tour7/area7page9.html Manchester History Net). * Early mills and factories were usually built with timber, making them vulnerable to fire and limiting their size. In 1796, Charles Bage built the first 'fireproof' factory, which only used cast iron, brick and stone. This design reduced the fire risk and formed a strong structure that could accommodate large, powered machinery. (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/energyhall/page110.asp Science Museum)