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Settle an argument please


haggis

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We ate in the Big Lock pub in Middlewich tonight and we couldn't remember eating there before although we must have moored here as I knew about the dog walking field across the canal. I mentioned the yarn factory which used to be a bit along from the lock (you could see the machines through the windows) and Iain said that that had been on the approach to Atherstone top lock not Middlewich. We have been boating down here for the best part of 40 years and the waitress we asked said she couldn't remember but she is only 20! 

Can anyone remember a yarn factory beside the canal and where was it? 

Haggis 

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Maybe so Fustian mills 

 

Quote

 

"In general few cotton mills were built in Cheshire after the cotton famine of 1861–5, but a notable exception was Congleton. Between 1860 and 1950 fustian cutting was the town’s dominant industry, and many firms took over the empty silk‐spinning and throwing mills (Nevell & George 2014, 28). The fustian process involved cutting through the loops of various types of fabric, usually cotton, with a razor‐sharp blade to create the distinctive ‘high pile’ required to produce velvet, moleskin and corduroy. Small‐scale factory production started in the mid‐nineteenth century with the introduction of larger cutting machines, although the hand‐cutting of fustian cloth (also known as velvet) continued until full mech ‐anisation of the industry in the mid‐twentieth century. Over ten fustian mills were built in Congleton between the 1870s and the 1900s (Calladine & Fricker 1993, 102–5). These were typically long, narrow structures of two or three storeys with wooden beams and floors such as Meadow and Riverside mills. Fustian factories were also built in the late nineteenth century in Middlewich, Sandbach, Warrington, Wilmslow and Winsford, but all have now gone except for single examples at the two last‐named towns (Nevell & George 2014, 28, 35)"

 

From   

The industrial archaeology of Cheshire : an overview Saford uni.

Edited by Boater Sam
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Thank you boater Sam and Mike 55. Looks like I might not have imagined a mill in Middlewich. I can remember seeing through dirty windows the thread going up and down. The machines seemed to work through the night. 

Haggis 

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1 hour ago, matty40s said:

The last remaining Atherstone hat factory is still there with many smashed windows, the site has been sold but it's not known whether the structure has to remain.  

Yes, and although smashed, I am fairly sure the windows are too high to see machines inside....

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I remember the textile factory at Middlewich. It was where the houses are now. Towpath side set back a bit  just  below Big Lock. Was it weaving or spinning of some  kind? At a guess it closed maybe 15 years ago?Single storey IIRC, not like a Lancashire cotton mill, so probably a weaving shed. Not an old building either.

Bill

 

Edited by billh
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There was definitely a factory on the site to the north of Big Lock. As billh says, it was where the new houses are now behind the water points.

I have an idea it was a silk factory.  In the 19th century there were several small silk and fustian works; whether this had anything to do with the abundant salt in the vicinity I don't know.

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22 hours ago, matty40s said:

The last remaining Atherstone hat factory is still there with many smashed windows, the site has been sold but it's not known whether the structure has to remain.  

I believe planning permission has been approved for a retirement home and the listed parts (road frontage and lean to bit at other end) and some of the newer central  (30's?) structure will remain maybe with a courtyard canalside.

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Your friend in such debates is often found at the National Library of Scotland's collection of old OS Maps which is readily searchable.

 

The oldest one in this case is https://maps.nls.uk/view/102341080 which shows that several salt works were in the vicinity, plus the inevitable brewery, but alongside the lock was a 'milk condensing factory'.

 

If you look through the subsequent editions you can see the sequence in which they were replaced by housing or other developments.

Edited by Mike Todd
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6 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

Your friend in such debates is often found at the National Library of Scotland's collection of old OS Maps which is readily searchable.

 

The oldest one in this case is https://maps.nls.uk/view/102341080 which shows that several salt works were in the vicinity, plus the inevitable brewery, but alongside the lock was a 'milk condensing factory'.

 

If you look through the subsequent editions you can see the sequence in which they were replaced by housing or other developments.

I had diner in the Milk Condensing factory last week. I had Beef cheek and it was lovely.  This is also handy for pinpointing places https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/?#zoom=17&lat=53.1042&lon=-2.2776&layers=161&right=BingSat

 

Edited by ditchcrawler
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There is a photo in the pub showing the pub building (before the it was a pub) and the milk factory which looked to be next door. The building I remembered was beyond that and that had been confirmed. I think I won that argument which was a change ?

Haggis 

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