Arkwright Mill, Rochdale

Arkwright

Location within Greater Manchester
Cotton
Spinning (ring and doubling mill)
Location	Rochdale
Serving canal	Rochdale Canal
Serving railway	Manchester and Leeds Railway
Further ownership	Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s) Courtaulds (1964)
Coordinates	53°37′33″N 2°08′20″W / 53.6257°N 2.1388°W / 53.6257; -2.1388
Construction
Built	1885
Equipment
Date	1885
Manufacturer	Howard & Bullough
Cotton count	Average to 16s
Mule Frames	49000 spindles (1891)
References
[1]

Arkwright Mill, Rochdale is a cotton spinning mill in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. It was built in 1885 by the Arkwright Cotton Spinning Co. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964.

Location

Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England.^[2] It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) north-northwest of Oldham, and 9.8 miles (15.8 km) north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. Rochdale is served by the Rochdale Canal. A rail service was provided by Manchester and Leeds Railway from 1839. It was amalgamated into the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1847, and lines ran to Bury, Burnley, Oldham, Manchester and Leeds. Arkwright Mill was built in Wardleworth on flat land adjacent to Dale Mill and the River Roch, 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of the town head.

History

Rochdale rose to prominence during the 19th century as a major mill town and centre for textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the first ever industrialised towns.^[3] The Rochdale Canal—one of the major navigable broad canals of the United Kingdom, which opened between 1798 and 1804—was a highway of commerce during this time. It was used for the haulage of cotton, wool and coal to and from the area.^[3] Rochdale's early industry was the production of woollen flannel, and the cotton industry grew up alongside it. Water-powered cotton spinning mills were built on the Roch in the 1780s and 1790s, but as late as 1818 there were only seven cotton mills in Rochdale itself. By the 1840s, however, cotton had overtaken wool in importance, although the wool industry enjoyed a resurgence during the Lancashire Cotton Famine of the 1860s.^[3]

In 1882, Rochdale the home of industrial co-operatives, embraced the joint stock limited company and new mills were financed and built.^[4] Its ownership model was slightly different from that of Oldham, and more shares remained in the hands of the operatives. The Rochdale Limiteds were some of the first to adopt ring spinning.

Arkwright Mill was built in 1885 by the Arkwright Cotton Spinning Co and used both ring frames and spinning mules.

The industry peaked in 1912 when it produced 8 billion yards of cloth. The Great War of 1914–1918 halted the supply of raw cotton, and the British government encouraged its colonies to build mills to spin and weave cotton. The war over, Lancashire never regained its markets. The independent mills were struggling. The Bank of England set up the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1929 to attempt to rationalise and save the industry.^[5] Arkwright Mill, Rochdale was one of 104 mills bought by the LCC, and one of the 53 mills that survived through to 1950.

Equipment

The mule frames and ring frames were provided by Howard & Bullough, and initially there were 49,000 mule spindles and 26,000 ring spindles, spinning 16s. They had 300/408 mule twist, 208/368 ring twist, 228/428 weft.^[6]

Usage

Owners

• Arkwright Cotton Spinning Co (1885
• Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s–1964)
• Courtaulds (1964–

See also

• Textile manufacturing
• Cotton Mill

Lancashire cotton Architects Stott Sidney Stott (later Sir Philip) Edward Potts Potts, Pickup & Dixon F.W. Dixon & Son Bradshaw Gass & Hope Engine makers Daniel Adamson Ashton Frost Ashworth & Parker Bateman & Sherratt Boulton & Watt Browett, Lindley & Co Buckley & Taylor Carels Frères Earnshaw & Holt Fairbairn W & J Galloway & Sons Benjamin Goodfellow Hick, Hargreaves & Co Benjamin Hick and Sons John Musgrave & Sons J & W McNaught Petrie of Rochdale William Roberts & Co of Nelson George Saxon Scott & Hodgson Urmson & Thompson Yates of Blackburn Yates & Thom Willans & Robinson J & E Wood Woolstenhulmes & Rye Machinery makers Brooks & Doxey Butterworth & Dickinson Curtis, Parr & Walton Dobson & Barlow John Hetherington & Sons Joseph Hibbert John Pilling and Sons Harling & Todd Howard & Bullough Geo. Hattersley Asa Lees Mather & Platt Parr, Curtis & Madely British Northrop Loom Co Pemberton & Co Platt Brothers Taylor, Lang & Co Textile Machinery Makers Tweedales & Smalley T. Wildman & Sons Ancillary firms Oldham Limiteds Fine Spinners and Doublers Lancashire Cotton Corporation Combined Egyptian Mills Ltd Courtaulds Bagley & Wright Industrial processes Textile manufacturing Cotton-spinning machinery Dref Friction Spinning Dandy loom Magnetic ring spinning Open end spinning Ring spinning Spinning frame Spinning jenny Spinning mule Steaming Water frame Roberts Loom Lancashire Loom Associations Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union Amalgamated Weavers' Association Burnley, Nelson, Rossendale and District Textile Workers' Union Northern Textile and Allied Workers' Union National Union of Textile and Allied Workers United Textile Factory Workers' Association Employment practices More looms Kissing the shuttle Mule spinners' cancer Piece-rate list Lists of mills LCC mills Bolton Bury Cheshire Derbyshire Lancashire Manchester Oldham Preston Rochdale Salford Stockport Tameside Wigan Yorkshire Museums Bancroft Shed Helmshore Mills Queen Street Mill Weavers' Triangle Quarry Bank Mill, Styal

Lancashire Cotton Corporation Bury Pilot Mill, Bury Wilton Mill, Radcliffe Bolton Ainsworth Mill, Breightmet Bolton Union Mill, Bolton Century Mill, Farnworth Lancashire Coppull Mill Imperial Mill, Blackburn Mavis Mill Manchester and Salford Brunswick Mill, Ancoats May Mill, Pemberton Monton Mill, Eccles Oldham Ace Mill, Hollinwood Blackridings Mill, Oldham Dawn Mill, Shaw Fox Mill, Hollinwood Hawk Mill, Shaw Heron Mill, Hollinwood Junction Mill, Middleton Junction Kent Mill, Chadderton Laurel Mill, Middleton Junction Magnet Mill, Chadderton Majestic Mill, Waterhead Manor Mill, Chadderton Newby Mill, Shaw Orme Mill, Waterhead Regent Mill, Failsworth Royd Mill, Oldham Royton Ring Mill, Royton Rutland Mill, Shaw Textile Mill, Chadderton Trent Mill, Shaw Rochdale Arkwright Mill, Rochdale Harp Mill, Castleton Malta Mill, Middleton Mars Mill, Castleton Stockport Elder Mill, Romiley Kingston Mill, Stockport Palmer Mills, Stockport Vernon Mill, Stockport Welkin Mill, Lower Bredbury Tameside Atlas Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Cedar Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Rock Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Saxon Mill, Droylsden Stalybridge Mill, Stalybridge Texas Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Tudor Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Waterside Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne Wigan Empress Mill, Ince May Mill, Pemberton Trencherfield Mill West Yorkshire Foxsons Mill, Staincliffe Mons Mill, Todmorden

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Dunkerley, Philip (2009). "Dunkerley-Tuson Family Website, The Regent Cotton Mill, Failsworth". Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2009. 

• LCC (1951). The mills and organisation of the Lancashire Cotton Corporation Limited. Blackfriars House, Manchester: Lancashire Cotton Corporation Limited. 

• Williams, Mike; Farnie (1992). Cotton Mills of Greater Manchester. Carnegie Publishing. ISBN 0-948789-89-1. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Textile mills in Greater Manchester.

• www.cottontown.org
• www.spinningtheweb.org.uk