Saxon Mill, Droylsden

Saxon
Cotton

Location within Greater Manchester
Spinning (ring mill)
Location	Droylsden
Serving canal	Hollinwood Branch Canal
Serving railway	Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Owner	Saxon Mill Co. Ltd
Further ownership	Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s) Courtaulds (1964)
Coordinates	53°29′07″N 2°08′39″W / 53.4853°N 2.1443°W / 53.4853; -2.1443
Construction
Built	1906
Employees	250
Demolished	1995
Power
Date	1907
Engine maker	Daniel Adamson, George Saxon
Engine type	cross compound
Valve Gear	Corliss valves
rpm	65 ½ rpm
Flywheel diameter	24ft
Transmission type	rope
No. of ropes	36
Boiler configuration
Boilers	Twin Lancashire, coal fired
Pressure	160psi
References
^[1]

Saxon Mill, Droylsden was a cotton spinning mill in Droylsden, Tameside, Greater Manchester.^[2] It was built in the 1907, taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. Production finished in the 1960s, the engine was scrapped in 1967, and the mill demolished in 1995.

Location

Droylsden is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is situated 4.1 miles (6.6 km) to the east of Manchester city centre, and 2.2 miles (3.5 km) west-southwest of Ashton-under-Lyne. Historically a part of Lancashire, Droylsden grew as a mill town around the cotton mills established in the mid-19th century, and the Ashton and Peak Forest canals. Saxon Mill was built on Medlock Street, adjacent to the Hollinwood Branch Canal in 1906.^[3]

History

Saxon mill was built in 1906, for the Saxon Mill Co. Ltd, a company formed by the Ashton Syndicate who were responsible for Minerva Mill, Ashton-under-Lyne etc. In 1908 it had 80,000 spindles which rose to 82,000 in 1920, when it was recapitalised.^[4] The industry had peaked in 1912 when it produced 8 billion yards of cloth. The Great War of 1914–18 had 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] Saxon Mill, Droylsden was one of 104 mills bought by the LCC, and one of the 53 mills that survived through to 1950. It was switched to rayon production. In 1953 it employed 250 people.^[4] It was the last mill in the country to produce cop weft.^[6]

Architecture

This was a large four-storey building on a low basement, 18 bays long and 14 bays wide, built of Accrington brick with some yellow sandstone detailing. The shallow buttresses between the windows were embellished at third-floor level. It had a flat roof, tanked to collect water to supplement the water tower. The top three floors were used for spinning frames, the ground floor for preparation machines, and the basement to condition the cotton. The mill was constructed as a grid of cast iron I-beams. The transverse beams were supported on cast iron columns, supporting the longitudinal beams that in turn supported shallow brick vaults. They ran the entire length of the mill, making a fireproof ceiling and floor.^[7]

Power

It was driven by a 1500 hp cross compound engine by Daniel Adamson built in 1907. It had a 24-foot flywheel with 36 ropes, which operated at 65 ½ rpm. New Cylinders by George Saxon, were fitted in 1915. Its cylinders, 27"HP, 56"LP, had a 5-foot stroke. It was steamed at 160psi. Corliss valves were used on both cylinders. It had a Whitehead governor. The air pump was driven from the LP tail rod, which had a single support guide.^[8] Steam was provided by two Lancashire boilers 9.2 metres by 2.4 metres in diameter. Water was preheated by an economiser.^[9]

Usage

Owners

Saxon Mill Co Ltd
Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s–1964)
Courtaulds (1964–
Priory Furniture Ltd

Notable events/media

In the mid-1920s the flywheel became detached from its bearings and rolled at great speed out of the engine house and across the road, demolishing two houses as it went.

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 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 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 (borough) 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

↑ LCC 1951
↑ "Droylsden - A Brief History by Bill McDonald". www.civilwarsoldiers.com. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
↑ UMAU 1995, p. 1
1 2 UMAU 1995, p. 2
↑ Dunkerley 2009
↑ catgate
↑ UMAU 1995, p. 3
↑ Roberts 1921
↑ UMAU 1995, p. 4

Bibliography

Dunkerley, Philip (2009). "Dunkerley-Tuson Family Website, The Regent Cotton Mill, Failsworth". Retrieved 2009-01-09.
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 2009-01-11
UMAU (1995). "Archaeological Report on Saxon mill before its demolition". Retrieved 8 February 2010.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Textile mills in Tameside.

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