Wilton Mill, Radcliffe

Wilton
Cotton

Location within Greater Manchester
Spinning (ring mill)
Location	Radcliffe
Further ownership	Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s) Courtaulds (1964)
Coordinates	53°33′41″N 2°19′06″W / 53.5614°N 2.3183°W / 53.5614; -2.3183
Power
Date	1907
Engine maker	Galloway
Engine type	triple-expansion four-cylinder engine
Valve Gear	Corliss valves
rpm	63
Flywheel diameter	26ft
Transmission type	rope
No. of ropes	37
References
^[1]

Wilton Mill, Radcliffe was a cotton spinning mill in Radcliffe, Bury, Greater Manchester. It was built in 1907 and was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production finished, it was used by the East Lancashire Paper Company but has now been demolished leaving an empty site next to the railways and the River Irwell.

Location

Radcliffe is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England.^[2] It lies on undulating ground in the Irwell Valley, along the course of the River Irwell, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of Bury and 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north-northwest of Manchester. Radcliffe is contiguous with the town of Whitefield to the south. The Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal served and bisected the town.

Wilton Mill can be seen north of the river, east of the railway viaduct.

The town had significant rail connections: the opening of the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway (later known as the East Lancashire Railway (ELR)) in 1846^[3] brought the town a direct connection to Manchester and Bury and Liverpool and Bury Railway (L&BR) opened on 28 November 1848, with a station to the north of the town, on 18 July 1872 the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR), which had amalgamated with the ELR some years previously, gained an Act of Parliament to construct a railway between Manchester and Bury, via Whitefield and Prestwich.The underlying coal measures throughout the town were a valuable source of fuel. Radcliffe already had an established textile industry before the arrival of steam power.

Wilton mill was on Rectory Lane, in the centre of the town adjacent to the River Irwell and the railways.

History

Blessed with coal, and good communications, Radcliffe was at one time home to around 60 textile mills and 15 spinning mills, along with 18 bleachworks of which the Bealey family were prominent owners.^[4] However, the textile industry was not the town's major employer; other industries such as mining and paper making were also important sources of employment.^[5] The Wilton Mill was a late mill, built in 1907. It had four storeys, it was 36x10 bays with a six bay engine house.^[6]

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.^[7] Wilton Mill, Radcliffe was one of 104 mills bought by the LCC, and one of the 53 mills that survived through to 1950. After Cotton it was used by the East Lancashire Paper Company.^[6] It was demolished in the early 21st century, its site remains derelict and is clearly visible on satellite images.

Architecture

The Wilton Mill was a late mill. It was built as a mule mill, but was converted by the LCC to rings. It had four storeys, it was 36x10 bays with a six bay engine house. The chimney was detached, round on a square plinth. It had an ornate domed water tower, and its name was displayed on a pediment above the rope race.^[6]

Power

Driven by a 1500 hp triple-expansion four-cylinder engine built by W & J Galloway & Sons, of Manchester in 1908. It had a 26 ft flywheel, 37 ropes operating at 63 rpm. The cylinders, 23"HP, 36"IP, two 40"LP had a 5 ft stroke. With Corliss valves on all cylinders it was steamed at 160psi. ^[8]

Equipment

Mules then rings.

Usage

Owners

Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s–1964)
Courtaulds (1964–
East Lancashire Paper Company

Lancashire cotton

Architects	David Bellhouse Bradshaw Gass & Hope F.W. Dixon & Son Edward Potts Potts, Pickup & Dixon Stott Sidney Stott (later Sir Philip)

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

Mill owners	Elkanah Armitage Henry Ashworth Hugh Birley Hugh Hornby Birley Joseph Brotherton James Burton Peter Drinkwater Nathaniel Eckersley John Fielden William Gray Richard Howarth William Houldsworth John Kennedy Charles Macintosh Hugh Mason Samuel Oldknow Robert Peel John Rylands

Limited companies	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 Lancashire boiler

Associations	Amalgamated Association of Beamers, Twisters and Drawers (Hand and Machine) Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union Amalgamated Weavers' Association Burnley, Nelson, Rossendale and District Textile Workers' Union General Union of Loom Overlookers North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association Northern Textile and Allied Workers' Union National Union of Textile and Allied Workers The Textile Institute 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 (borough) Preston Rochdale Salford Stockport Tameside Wigan Yorkshire

Museums	Bancroft Shed Helmshore Mills Queen Street Mill Weavers' Triangle Quarry Bank Mill, Styal

Pioneers	Richard Arkwright Samuel Crompton James Hargreaves Thomas Highs John Kay (flying shuttle) John Kay (spinning frame) Robert Owen

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

↑ LCC 1951
↑ Greater Manchester Gazetteer, Greater Manchester County Record Office, Places names - O to R, archived from the original on 18 July 2011, retrieved 9 July 2007
↑ Wells 1995, p. 4.
↑ Sunderland 1995, p. 67.
↑ Sunderland 1995, p. 68.
1 2 3 Ashmore 1982, p. 121
↑ Dunkerley
↑ Roberts 1921

Bibliography

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. Blackfriars House, Manchester: Lancashire Cotton Corporation Limited.
Roberts, A S (1921), "Arthur Robert's Engine List", Arthur Roberts Black Book., One guy from Barlick-Book Transcription, retrieved 11 January 2009
Sunderland, Frank (1995), The Book of Radcliffe, Bury Library Local Studies: Baron Birch, ISBN 0-86023-561-0
Wells, Jeffrey (1995), An Illustrated Historical Survey of the Railways in and Around Bury, Challenger Publications, ISBN 1-899624-29-5
Ashmore, Owen (1982). The industrial archaeology of North-west England. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0820-4. Retrieved 25 June 2009.

External links

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