Murrays' Mills is a complex of former
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
s on land between Jersey Street and the
Rochdale Canal
The Rochdale Canal is in Northern England, between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. Its name refers to the town of Rochdale through which it passes.
The Rochdale is a broad canal beca ...
in the district of
Ancoats
Ancoats is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is located next to the Northern Quarter, the northern part of Manchester city centre.
Historically in Lancashire, Ancoats became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution and has ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England. The mills were built for brothers Adam and George Murray.
The first mill on the site,
Old Mill Old Mill may refer to:
Animations
*''The Old Mill'', a 1937 Academy Award-winning ''Silly Symphonies'' cartoon produced by Walt Disney
*'' The Old Mill Pond'', a 1936 Academy Award nominated short film directed by Hugh Harman
Places
Canada
* Old ...
, was begun in 1797,
and is the world's oldest surviving urban steam-powered cotton spinning factory.
After Old Mill opened, the company continued to expand and prosper, and by 1806 the complex was the largest in the world, employing about 1,000 people at its peak: Decker Mill was opened in 1802, New Mill in 1804, Little Mill in 1822, and Doubling and Fireproof Mill in 1842. The main complex formed a quadrangle surrounding a private canal basin linked under the road to the Rochdale Canal, which opened in 1804. The canal basin was used to deliver raw cotton and coal and to transport spun cotton away from the complex.
In 1898, A & G Murray became part of the
Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association Limited (FCSDA). The mill complex began to decline in the early 20th century as the canal basin was filled in and Little Mill burnt down. The mill was replaced with the earliest mill in Greater Manchester that was built to use mains electricity.
The mill complex continued producing cotton until the 1950s. The mills were later leased out to other companies and in some cases allowed to fall into disrepair. Between 2000 and 2003,
Urban Splash
Urban Splash was founded in 1993 by Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE and Creative Director Jonathan Falkingham MBE; the company has spent more than two decades working with architects and designers to restore old buildings and create new, sustainable c ...
redeveloped Fireproof and Doubling Mill into offices, winning a
RIBA
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
Award. The rest of the complex underwent a £17M regeneration between 2004 and 2006 and are proposed to be used as flats and a hotel.
History
Foundation and establishment
![MurraysMillsOldDeckerMill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/MurraysMillsOldDeckerMill.jpg)
After migrating from Scotland in the 1780s, the Murrays established themselves as manufacturers of textile machinery before moving into
spinning
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
fine yarn. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the main market for Murrays' fine spun yarn was the
muslin
Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured.
Muslin of uncommonly delicate handsp ...
-weaving industry in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
;
along with McConnel & Kennedy, A & G Murray dominated the Scottish market.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 68–9.] In 1790, Adam Murray leased land in Ancoats; in partnership with his brother George, began construction of his first mill – which was complete by about 1798.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 64.] The mill was probably designed to house equipment produced by the Murray brothers themselves.
[Williams and Farnie p. 53] First known as Union Mill, from its position on Union Street, the Old Mill was a purpose-built steam-powered spinning mill.
Construction took approximately a year and
millwright
A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites.
The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...
Thomas Lowe – who had worked on
Richard Arkwright
Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as t ...
's first two factories – planned the building.
It is eight
storey
A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US).
T ...
s high and probably the first cotton-spinning factory to have been built that high.
The first phase of the mill, an area of by , was built of 400,000 locally made bricks.
The machinery was powered by a 12
horse power
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...
(hp),
£620
Boulton and Watt
Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the Engli ...
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 65.]
Construction of the Murrays' second mill, Decker Mill, had begun by 1801 to the east of Old Mill.
It was the same height as Old Mill and doubled the size of the complex.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 68.] Decker Mill was completed in time to exploit the economic boom in the cotton trade that followed the
brief peace in the
war with France from 1802–1803.
During its construction, the steam engine was replaced a more powerful 40 hp Boulton and Watt engine.
![MurraysMillsCanalEntrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/MurraysMillsCanalEntrance.jpg)
After the completion of the Ancoats section of the Rochdale Canal in 1804, raw materials no longer had to be moved by cart.
Coal and cotton could be moved directly into the complex and there was a readily available supply of water for the steam engines from the private basin on the canal.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 71.] The entrance tunnel to the basin was set 90° to the canal,
with a short arm on the opposite side;
and as the canal is only wide, it posed navigation problems for canal boats, which could be in length.
It is possible that cargo was transferred to smaller vessels for the journey between the canal and the complex basin.
[
]
Construction of New Mill was probably completed in 1804.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 72.] It measured by and as with the older mills, it was eight storeys high.
It was fitted with a 45 hp steam engines from Boulton and Watt.
All three mills were steam-power cotton-spinning factories.
The complex was further extended with the addition of two four-storey blocks on Murray Street and Bengal Street by 1806.
[Williams and Farnie (1992) p. 159–162] These were mainly used as warehouses and offices. An entrance archway in the Murray Street block provided the only access to a central courtyard where the mills had their entrances. This meant that access to all parts of the site could be controlled.
By 1806, the Murrays' Mills was the largest mill complex in Manchester and the world.
With 84,000
mule spindles the complex was huge compared to others at the time, most of which had less than 10,000 spindles.
The status of the complex was reflected in the amount of ornamentation on the Murray Street and Bengal Street blocks compared to other mills. The Murray Street block had a symmetrical arrangement of arched doorways and windows. This pattern was in turn mirrored on the Bengal Street block, which had an arrangement of false doorways.
[Williams and Farnie p. 56–58.]
A & G Murray prospered during the early 19th century, and in 1809 the firm was valued at £20,456: 13% more than their nearest rival, McConnel & Kennedy, and more than double the firm in third place.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 74.] The company was "one of the largest cotton-spinning firms in Manchester, and probably the country".
By 1815, it employed 1,215 people.
Expansion
![Murrays Mill quadrangle interior 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Murrays_Mill_quadrangle_interior_2008.jpg)
During the early to mid-19th century there were several periods of depression and prosperity in the cotton trade. In this period, A & G Murray would have been less affected by these changes due to the size of the firm.
[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 77.] In 1817, engineers
William Fairbairn
Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet of Ardwick (19 February 1789 – 18 August 1874) was a Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer
Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems ...
and his partner James Lillie updated the complex.
[ The contract, Fairbairn's first as a millwright, involved the replacement of line shafting in the complex, with wrought iron line-shafting designed to work at higher speeds.][Williams and Farnie (1992), p. 70.] Adam Murray died in 1818 and his brother George continued to run the firm. By 1818, the firm had nearly tripled in value since 1809 to £59,000.[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 79]
Additionally, the firm also expanded beyond Bengal Street further along the strip of land between Jersey Street and the Rochdale Canal. Little Mill was built on the corner of Jersey Street and Bengal Street around 1822. It was originally six storeys high, but an additional three storeys were added at an unknown later date. The building covered and just over half of this area would have been occupied by a gasometer
A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressu ...
house which would have supplied the complex with gas used for lighting. The mill was linked to New Mill via a tunnel which may have carried the gas supply. Engineer Joshua Field visited the mill in 1821 and commented "they spin the finest thread". He also noted that the furnace which provided steam to drive the engines had been fitted with a "smoke burner" to "lessen the consumption of fuel", also having the effect of reducing the amount of smoke produced.
Despite the continued expansion, by 1824 competitors McConnel and Kennedy had overtaken the Murrays as Manchester's biggest cotton spinners. In 1833 A & G Murray were employing only 841 people, a reduction in workforce George Murray attributed to "recent improvement in the firm's machinery".[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 83]
In 1842, Doubling Mill and Fireproof Mill were built on the corner of Redhill Street and Bengal Street.[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 81] Doubling Mill is five storeys high with an engine house designed to contain a 40 hp beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newco ...
. Doubling Mill was used for doubling – the process of combining two or more lengths of yarn into a single thread – cotton produced in the company's earlier mills, giving the mill its name.[Williams and Farnie (1992), p. 84] Fireproof Mill, again as its name suggests, was designed to be fireproof by using cast-iron beams and columns rather than timber; it was the first mill in the mill complex to have been built to resist fire. The mill is four storeys high and may have been used as a warehouse. The two new mills were also linked to the original complex by tunnels under Bengal Street. The firm "doubled more or less" in size during the early to mid nineteenth century and expanded into the fine yarn markets around Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, the growth of the firm led to the creation of the Doubling and Fireproof Mills.
In December 1852, the mill complex was valued at £75,000; when George Murray died in 1855, two of his three sons – James and Benjamin – inherited the complex.[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 86] By 1881, A & G Murray had become registered as a limited liability company
A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...
and the running of it was mostly in the hands of manager Herbert Dixon, who had joined the company in 1876, as the Murray family played less of a role. Under Dixon the company modernised and used new technology and was the reason for the firm's continued success. The use of new, more efficient technologies resulted in the further reduction of the workforce so that by 1897, A & G Murray only employed 500 people. In 1887, Fireproof Mill and Doubling Mill were leased by A & G Murray Ltd to C E Bennet.
In September 1898, A & G Murray was "voluntarily wound up and conveyed to the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association Limited (FCSDA)".[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 88] The association had been an idea on the part of Dixon and Scott Lings to form an association of cotton spinners. Thirty-one other cotton spinners also joined the association. The association had the advantage of great size in comparison to the competition, and had the necessary clout to secure raw materials. With Dixon as its Managing Director until 1917, by the 1920s, the FCSDA was the largest and most successful cotton-spinning association in the world with over 60 mills and 30,000 employees.
On 28 January 1908, a fire broke out in Little Mill, caused by some machinery.[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 89] The fire lasted for about 12 hours and caused an estimated £20,000 damage and resulted in 200 employees at the mill losing their jobs. Whilst fighting the fire a fireman was killed when a fire-tender blew over in high winds. The building was replaced by a new building, New Little Mill, five storeys high, four shorter than its predecessor but occupying a larger area of ground. The new mill had concrete floors and was designed to use mains electricity
Mains electricity or utility power, power grid, domestic power, and wall power, or in some parts of Canada as hydro, is a general-purpose alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electrical power that is delivered to h ...
. The building is the earliest mill in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
that was built to use mains electricity.
Decline and later use
An 1891 Ordnance Survey
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map shows that the arm on the Rochdale Canal had been filled in and the complex's canal basin had been retitled as a ''reservoir'', suggesting that the canal had ceased to be used as a way of transporting goods to and from the complex. By 1902, the canal basin had been filled in, however exactly when it was filled in is unknown.[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 91.]
Between 1902 and 1903, Old and Decker Mills were reduced in height by 1 storey to 7 storeys and New Mill was reduced in height by 2 storeys to 6 storeys. The exact reason for this reduction is unknown, however, it is speculated that the structure of the buildings was struggling to cope with the weight of increasingly heavy machinery. This theory is given added weight by the fact that at around the same time the timber beams used to support ceilings were replaced with steel beams to strengthen the building. In 1930 the Bengal Street block was also reduced in height by 2 storeys and buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es were constructed against the south wall of Decker Mill.
By the 1940s Fireproof Mill and Doubling Mill were occupied by a bedding manufacturer. In 1948, the break-up of the main site began with Old Mill and Decker Mill being sold, with the Murray Street block following in 1950, and the Bengal Street block in 1960. Old and Decker Mill were used as a warehouse after 1954 and later used by several clothing manufacturers.
Although some work was done to strengthen the structure in the 1960s, the complex was allowed to fall into disrepair.[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 93.] Also during the 1960s, some sections of the complex began to be left unoccupied and others burned down including an engine block. During this period, parts of the complex were used for light industrial use before they too fell into disuse. In the 1990s, the buildings fell victim to vandalism and arson that threatened to destroy what remained of the site.
Redevelopment
In 2000, Total Architecture appointed Urban Splash
Urban Splash was founded in 1993 by Chairman Tom Bloxham MBE and Creative Director Jonathan Falkingham MBE; the company has spent more than two decades working with architects and designers to restore old buildings and create new, sustainable c ...
to convert Fireproof and Doubling Mill into office space. On completion in 2003, the conversion received a RIBA
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
Award.
The North West Development Agency
The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) was the regional development agency for the North West England region and was a non-departmental public body.NWDA Who We Are/ref> It was abolished on 31 March 2012.
The Agency was responsible for ...
used a compulsory purchase order
A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...
to take control of the main site in 2003. This allowed the Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
to give a £7.164M grant towards the restoration of the complex. Together with an additional grant from the North West Development Agency, a £10M regeneration project took place between 2004 and 2006. The project included repair and strengthening of the structure, the restoration of the canal basin, a new roof and windows, and the reinstatement of two missing floors from the Murray Street block.
On completion of the repairs, there have been further proposals to bring the complex back into use by converting it into flats and a hotel. The conversion, including the replacement of the demolished Bengal Street block, was expected to start in 2007 or 2008 and take three years. However, in July 2008 it emerged that due to the current state of the housing market, developer Inpartnership wanted to amend planning consent for the development, replacing plans for flats in Old and Decker Mills with office space.
Manchester Life Development Corporation – a joint venture between Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...
and Abu Dhabi Group - took over the site in 2013. They employed Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (also known as FCBStudios) is a British architectural design firm, established in 1978, with offices in Bath, London, Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh. The firm is known for its pioneering work in sustainable desig ...
to renovate the existing historic buildings with the aim of turning ‘the first industrial neighbourhood in the world’ into a lively residential neighbourhood.
Wing Mill, which had been destroyed by fire in the 1990s was replaced by a new-build block, and the historic mill buildings were converted into 123 apartments and a townhouse in the former engine house building, set around a courtyard garden.
Working conditions
Like many factories of the nineteenth century, the complex was not without criticism for its working conditions. Although George Murray would not reveal working hours in the complex, it is likely that up until 1825 the workers had a similar work requirement as the 72-hour week demanded of workers at the neighbouring McConnel Kennedy complex. After 1825, the Cotton Mills Regulation Act reduced this to 69 hours – 12 hours per day on Monday to Friday and 9 hours on a Saturday. These hours were worked by all but the youngest employees.
The workers were allowed three breaks per day. In order to stop employees wandering off and taking breaks that they were not entitled to, tunnels were built under the road between the main complex and the later mills on the other side of Bengal Street.[
]
The worst conditions in the mill were experienced by those at the bottom end of the pay-scale. The first stage of unpacking the raw cotton and cleaning out impurities, which was carried out by unskilled workers,[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 75–6.] produced large amounts of dust that was both a health hazard and serious fire risk.[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 66.] A visitor to the complex in 1832 described the dust as "almost suffocating".[Miller and Wild (2007), p. 84–5.]
On the spinning floors, the spinning process required a warm humid environment. George Murray stated that they tried to keep temperatures at around 24 °C (75 °F). Spinners were regarded as craftsmen, and they were paid by the amount they produced. They were also left to recruit, train and pay their own assistants. These assistants were often children, and consisted of "piecers" who rejoined broken threads and mule scavenger
Scavengers were employed in 18th and 19th century in cotton mills, predominantly in the UK and the United States, to clean and recoup the area underneath a spinning mule. The cotton wastage that gathered on the floor was seen as too valuable for ...
s who cleaned the machinery. Child labour was generally considered by mill managers to be an important way of securing a skilled adult work force.
Compared to other trades, wages in cotton mills were relatively high. In 1833, the average earnings of an employee at the complex was 12 shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
(60p) per week, which compared favourably with other mills. However, unlike some other mill owners the Murrays did not give employees credit to buy goods from company-owned stores, or provide housing for employees beyond key workers.
Despite all this, evidence suggests that conditions were better than in some other mills. The complex had opening windows, and an extra room per floor for workers to wash. The third break of the day, in the afternoon, was also a luxury that many workers in other mills did not receive. Furthermore, the Murrays also claimed that, unlike many other mill owners, they did not use pauper children from workhouse
In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...
s, or knowingly employ children under the age of nine, although George Murray conceded that some parents did employ their own children below that age.
Current buildings
See also
* Cottonopolis
Cottonopolis was a 19th-century nickname for Manchester, as it was a metropolis and the centre of the cotton industry.
Background
Early cotton mills powered by water were built in Lancashire and its neighbouring counties. In 1781 Richard Arkw ...
* Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester
There are 236 Grade II* listed buildings in Greater Manchester, England. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural ...
* Royal Mill
* Beehive Mill
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
{{Good article
Textile mills in Manchester
Cotton industry in England
Former textile mills in the United Kingdom
1797 establishments in England
Grade II listed industrial buildings
Grade II* listed industrial buildings
Grade II listed buildings in Manchester
Grade II* listed buildings in Manchester