Brunswick Mill, Ancoats is a former cotton spinning mill on Bradford Road in

Ancoats, Manchester 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 ...

, England. The mill was built around 1840, part of a group of mills built along the Ashton Canal, and at that time it was one of the country's largest mills. It was built round a quadrangle, a seven-storey block facing the canal. It was taken over by the

Lancashire Cotton Corporation The Lancashire Cotton Corporation was a company set up by the Bank of England in 1929, to rescue the Lancashire spinning industry by means of horizontal rationalisation. In merged 105 companies, ending up in 1950 with 53 operating mills. It was ...

in the 1930s and passed to

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtaulds ...

in 1964. Production finished in 1967. It was a seven-storey mill with 35 loading bays facing directly onto the canal, with a smaller three story block of warehouses and offices backing onto Bradford Road. 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. 20 drawing frames, fifty slubbing frames and eighty one roving frames.

Location

Ancoats is an inner city area of Manchester, in

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

, next to the Northern Quarter and the northern part of Manchester's commercial centre.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

a part of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, Ancoats became one of the cradles of the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, and has been called "the world's first industrial suburb". From the late-18th century, Ancoats became a thriving industrial district and from 1798 has been served by the

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and Ashton Canals facilitating the movement of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and finished goods. All Manchester's major railway stations were on the boundaries of Ancoats:

Ancoats railway station Ancoats Station was a goods station operated by the Midland Railway to handle freight traffic in Manchester, England, on land bought in the Ancoats district from the Mosley family, whose adjacent family seat Ancoats Hall was also taken over by ...

on the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

Ducie Street railway station Ducie may refer to: ;People * Earl of Ducie, title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ** Barons Ducie, see Earl of Ducie * Sir Robert Ducie, 1st Baronet (1575-c.1634) * Henry George Francis Reynolds-Moreton, 2nd Earl of Ducie (1802-1853) * Henr ...

and Manchester London Road railway station on the Great Central Railway, Cheshire Lines Committee,

Oldham Road railway station Manchester Oldham Road station opened in 1839 as the terminus station of the Manchester and Leeds Railway (M&LR) in Collyhurst, Manchester. When the M&LR opened in 1844 as its new Manchester passenger station Oldham Road was converted to a goo ...

and Victoria Station on the Manchester and Leeds Railway,

Exchange station A charging station, also known as a charge point or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a piece of equipment that supplies electrical power for charging plug-in electric vehicles (including electric cars, electric trucks, electric b ...

on the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

Background

Surveying for 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 ...

was carried out by

James Brindley James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century. Early life Born i ...

in 1765. The knowledge that its construction would make the transport of raw materials and finished goods more convenient, gave industrialists the confidence to build cotton mills. The first mills were built in Ancoats as early as 1790. In 1792 commissioners were appointed to improve the township of Manchester which included Ancoats. Towards the end of the 18th century steam power was used to power the cotton mills. Murray's Mills were built next to the Rochdale canal on Union Street (now Redhill Street) off

Great Ancoats Street Great Ancoats Street is a street in the inner suburb of Ancoats, Manchester, England. A number of cotton mills built in the early and mid-Victorian period are nearby, some of which have been converted into residential or office buildings, such ...

, by Adam and George Murray in 1798 and were known as Ancoats Mills when they were operated by McConnel & Company Ltd. The streets of Ancoats were laid out during the latter part of the 18th century, with little development taking place other than small houses and shops along

and Oldham Road. The Ashton Canal was linked to the Rochdale Canal at the Piccadilly Basin in 1798. From the opening of the canals, development of mills continued on a much larger scale. Mills in Ancoats included,

Victoria Mill , owner_2 = Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers Association , acquisition_date_2 = 1898 , owner_3 = , acquisition_date_3 = Victoria Mill is a Grade II* listed nineteenth century cotton spinning mil ...

s, Wellington Mill, Brunswick Mill, India Mills, Dolton Mills, Lonsdale Mills, Phoenix Mill, Lloydsfield Mill and Sedgewick Mill, Decker Mill (owned by the Murray brothers), New Mill,

Beehive Mill Beehive Mill is a Grade II* listed former cotton mill in the district of Ancoats, Greater Manchester, England. It is located at (grid reference ) on a site surrounded by Radium Street, Jersey Street, Bengal Street and Naval Street. The building ...

, Little Mill, Paragon Mill, Royal Mill and Pin Mill. The mill structure was classified as a Grade II listed building in June 1994.

Power

*Double beam *Horizontal *Electricity

Equipment

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, 20 drawing frames, fifty slubbing frames and eighty one roving frames.

Owners

*George Bannerman *Lancashire Cotton Corporation (1930s–1964) *Courtaulds *Maryland Securities The building is now used by a variety of businesses.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

www.cottontown.org
* {{Lancashire Cotton Corporation Textile mills in Manchester Former textile mills in the United Kingdom Textile mills owned by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation Buildings and structures completed in 1840 1840 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in Manchester Grade II listed industrial buildings