of Bradford Road, Ancoats, Manchester.
1840 Built in Bradford Road alongside the Ashton Canal, this building was constructed by David Bellhouse. Its seven storeys had 35 loading bays facing directly onto the canal as well as front warehousing facilities. The Brunswick Mill was one of the largest in Britain at that time and by the 1850s held some 276 carding machines, and 77,000 mule spindles.[1]
1885 'At one of our largest spinning mills (the Brunswick), where up to a short time back 47 spinners were employed, they have commenced to replace their old mules by new ones of a more modern make ( Parr, Curtis, and Co's.) There were previously nine pair in each room; in future there will be only six, so that when they have gone through with the changes, there will only be 32 spinners.'[2]
The 2010 photograph shows the 'back' wall of the mill, 100 yards long, which faced south east and was immediately adjacent to the canal towpath. Behind this were two seven-storey wings, and these were linked by a four storey building which faced Bradford Road and had an arched opening in the centre which gave entry to a courtyard.
Referring to the 1848 O.S. map, on the other side of the canal was an extensive 'brick field', beyond which were Holt Town Mills. Immediately south west was the slightly smaller Bradford Road Mill, and beyond that was Beswick Street, which crossed the canal by Harbottles Bridge.
In the late 19thC the mill was taken over by Henry Bannerman and Sons.
The mill was gradually converted from mule to ring spinning, and the heavy machinery required the floors to be strengthened. The Hodgkinson-type cast iron floor beams were strengthened by adding trussed wrought iron tie rods. [3]
A 1930 illustration shows that much of the mill was seven storeys high, with just three storeys for the Bradford Road frontage [4]
Goad's Insurance Plans for Manchester, Sheet 213 dated 1928 (updated 1943) shows that the mill was largely occupied by Lancashire Cotton Corporation as a spinning mill, although part of the mill, in the Bradford Road wing, was used as a shirt factory by Henry Bannerman and Sons. The plan shows a 100 ft high octagonal chimney at the S.W. corner. Across the canal was P. McGrory’s Star Cooperage, and north east of that was the works of the Washington Chemical Co, which produced liquefied CO2. South west of McGrory’s cooperage was the Wellington Mill of Bazley Brothers, with its 150 ft tall square chimney.
A 1960 photograph shows a view along the Ashton Canal towards Beswick Bridge, with Brunswick Mill in the right foreground, and India Mills beyond that [5]
The 2010 photograph was taken from Pollard Street. The 1891 O.S. map shows that the land in the foreground opposite the mill was occupied by three businesses: Wellington Mill, the Star Boiler Works ( Edward Heaton and Son), and an engineering works. The 1922 map shows that the engineering works had been repalced by a carbonic acid works.
2021 The impressive mill buildings still exist.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ [1] www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/mills.html
- ↑ Cotton Factory Times - Friday 06 February 1885
- ↑ 'Cotton Mills in Greater Manchester' by Mike Williams with D. A. Farnie, Carnegie Publishing Ltd, 1992, p.129
- ↑ [2] Manchester Local Image Collection. Click on thumbnails to enlarge
- ↑ [3] Manchester Local Image Collection, Ref. m53870