Saxon Mill, Droylsden

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]

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]

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]

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.

• • • This is not true - the original flywheel was still in place when the mill was closed ***

• Textile manufacturing
• Cotton Mill

• Dunkerley, Philip (2009). "Dunkerley-Tuson Family Website, The Regent Cotton Mill, Failsworth". Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. 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, archived from the original on 23 July 2011, retrieved 11 January 2009
• UMAU (1995). "Archaeological Report on Saxon mill before its demolition". Retrieved 8 February 2010.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Textile mills in Tameside.

• www.cottontown.org
• www.spinningtheweb.org.uk
• Archaeological Report on Saxon mill before its demolition