Pilot Mill, Bury

Pilot

Location within Greater Manchester
Cotton
Spinning (ring mill)
Location	Alfred Street, Bury
Serving railway	East Lancashire Railway
Further ownership	Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s) Courtaulds (1964)
Coordinates	53°35′06″N 2°17′06″W / 53.585°N 2.285°W / 53.585; -2.285
Power
Date	1906
Engine maker	J & E Wood
Engine type	triple-expansion four-cylinder engine
rpm	66 ½ rpm.
Flywheel diameter	24ft
Transmission type	Ropes
No. of ropes	46
References
[1]

Pilot Mill, Bury is a four-storey cotton spinning mill in Bury, Greater Manchester. It was built in 1905. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production finished, it survived and as of 2010 it was in use by Antler Luggage. The Mill is currently occupied by Baum Trading Ltd and Metzuyan Ltd (an online fashion clothing and accessories company)they have opened a retail outlet with an on site cafe. www.pilotmill.co.uk

Location

Bury is a town in Greater Manchester, England.^[2] It lies on the River Irwell, 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east of Bolton, 5.9 miles (9.5 km) west-southwest of Rochdale, and 7.9 miles (12.7 km) north-northwest of the city of Manchester. Bury is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, of which Bury is the largest settlement and administrative centre. Bury has a total population of 60,718. Historically a part of Lancashire, Bury emerged during the Industrial Revolution as a mill town centred on textile manufacture.

Pilot mill is on Alfred Street, close to the centre of the town adjacent to the River Roch and the railway and junction 2 of the M66.

History

Probate evidence from the 17th century and the remains of 18th century weavers' cottages in Elton, on the west side of Bury, indicate that domestic textile production was an important factor of the local economy at a time when Bury's textile industry was dominated by woollens and based upon the domestic production of yarn and cloth as well as water-powered fulling mills.^[3][4] Development was swift in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The establishment of Brooksbottom Mill, in Summerseat north of the town, as a calico printing works in 1773 by the family of Sir Robert Peel marked the beginning of the cotton industry in Bury. By the early 19th century cotton was the predominant textile industry with the River Roch and River Irwell providing power for spinning mills and processing water for the finishing trades. Development was further promoted when the town was linked to the national canal network by the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal, fully opened in 1808. The canal is provided with water from Elton Reservoir, fed by aqueducts from a weir on the River Irwell, north of what is now the Burrs Country Park. The Burrs is also the site of another mill developed by the Peel family, first founded in 1790. The remains are displayed for the public. There were seven cotton mills in Bury by 1818 and the population grew from 9,152 in 1801 to 58,029 in 1901.

Following this, railways opened, linking the town from Bury Bolton Street railway station to Manchester, Radcliffe, Rawtenstall and Accrington and from the old Knowsley Street railway station to the neighbouring mill towns of Bolton, Heywood and Rochdale. As well as the many cotton mills other industries which thrived included paper–making, calico printing and some light engineering. The town expanded to incorporate the former townships of Elton, Walmersley and Heap and rows of terraced housing encircled the town centre by the turn of the 19th century. Districts such as Freetown, Fishpool and Pimhole were transformed from farmers' fields to rows of terraced housing, beside the factories and mills.

Pilot Mill is one of the classic late 19th-century spinning mills that were such a feature of other Lancashire towns.

The industry peaked in 1912 when it produced 8 billion yards of cloth. The Great War of 1914–18 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] Pilot Mill, Bury was one of 104 mills bought by the LCC, and one of the 53 mills that survived through to 1950. After cotton, it lost its chimney and the decorative top to the water tower.^[4][6]

Architecture

Pilot Mill was a late mill. It had an ornate pyramidal water tower, and its name was displayed on the western side.^[1]

Power

Driven by 2000 hp triple-expansion four-cylinder engine by J & E Wood, 1906. 23 ½"HP, 36 ½"IP, two 40"LP X 5 ft stroke. 200psi, 66 ½ rpm. 24 ft flywheel, 46 ropes. ^[7]

Usage

Owners

• Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s–1964)
• Courtaulds (1964–
• Occupied by Antler, a luggage manufacturer 2008
• David Weidenbaum and Nandas Varsani.

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

• Ashmore, Owen (1982), The industrial archaeology of North-west England, Manchester University Press, ISBN 0-7190-0820-4 
• Dunkerley, Philip (2009), Dunkerley-Tuson Family Website, The Regent Cotton Mill, Failsworth, retrieved 9 January 2009 
• LCC (1951), The mills and organisation of the Lancashire Cotton Corporation Limited, Lancashire Cotton Corporation 
• Roberts, A. S. (1921), "Arthur Robert's Engine List", Arthur Roberts Black Book (One guy from Barlick-Book Transcription) 
• McNeil, Robina; Nevell, M. (2000), A guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Greater Manchester, Association for Industrial Archaeology, ISBN 978-0-9528930-3-5 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Textile mills in Bury.

• www.pilotmill.co.uk
• www.cottontown.org
• www.spinningtheweb.org.uk
• Flood risk assessment with plans of the mill