Ancoats Bridge Mill
in Ardwick, Manchester
1794 Advert: 'TO BE LET, With the Machinery contained therein, A Large commodious COTTON FACTORY, purposely built for Mule Spinning, situate near Ancoatts Bridge, in the Front the High Road leading to Ashton-under-lyne, in the Township of Ardwick, Manchester. The Building is 28 yards long, by 10 wide, five Stories high, with 22 Sash Windows in each Room. The Machinery, which is nearly new, and in complete working Order, consists of One Mule of 216 Spindles, One ditto of 156 ditto. Eighteen do. of 144 ditto, Four ditto of 120 ditto, Three Wheels, or Stretching Frames.
And the whole of the Preparation Machinery by Water.
Also a Building, stuate in Clowes's-street, Salford, 12 yards long by 7 wide.
Like-wise a spacious good CELLAR, 10 yards by 6, to the Front of Hanging-ditch.
Any of the above Premises may seen, and further Particulars known, on Application to James Meredith.'[1]
Green's Map of Manchester & Salford (surveyed 1787 - 1794) shows two groups of buildings either side of the River Medlock immediately adjacent to Ardwick Bridge. The largest group of buildings, on the north bank of the river, is on a plot called 'Ardwick Island', with a weir at the upstream corner of the site. A short distance to the north is Ancoats Hall, and the general impression is of a pleasant rural area, just beginning to see the arrival of factories. Immediately south of the bridge is a tight group of two buildings, and a separate smaller building a short distance south. The latter building conforms in size to the one described in the 1794 advert. The lane itself at this point is called Ancoats Bridge.
The 1849 O.S. map[2] shows a large group of buildings immediately north of the River Medlock, north and west of Ancoats Bridge, identified as Ancoats Bridge Mills. However, there are no buildings at this location on Green's Map, so this is unlikely to be the one referred to in the 1794 advert. Bancks's 1831 map shows the same buildings as on the 1849 map, identified as Taylor and Chatwell's Cotton Mill. This should probably be Taylor and Shatwell, as George Shatwell is listed as a cotton spinner in Baines 1825 Directory, his house being at Ardwick Island.