Ancoats Bridge Mills
of Ancoats, Manchester
Distinct from the earlier Ancoats Bridge Mill in Ardwick, Manchester
1827 Advert: 'EXCELLENT COTTON MACHINERY. TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION
By Mr. JAMES FROST, on Wednesday the 29th and Thursday the 30th days of August, 1827, (free from duty): ALL the Valuable MACHINERY lately worked by Jeremiah Whittenbury, bankrupt, and now standing in Messrs. Taylor and Shatwell's factory, at Ancoats Bridge, Manchester. The Machinery has produced as good quality, and a greater quantity of Yarn, from equal cotton, than any other in the neighbourhood, and consists of one willow, two double scutchers, of very superior make, nineteen carding-engints, ......'[1]
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. There are no buildings at this location on Green's Map of 1787-1794. 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. Adshead's 1851 map identifies the mill as R. Marsland's Ancoats Bridge Cotton Mill. Access was from a street called Ancoats Hollow. The mill was very close to the River Medlock, but most of the site was set back from the river, due solely to the peculiarities of Manchester's boundary lines.
1851 'Another Cotton Mill Destroyed.— We have to record another serious fire, which occurred on Tuesday evening, at the mill of Messrs. Robert Marsland and Co., known as the Ancoats-bridge Mills, which consist of three parallel buildings, on the north side of the River Medlock, the middle and principal building being 120 feet long and 32 broad, and consisting of six storeys and an attic. It was in this larger building that the fire originated. It was discovered about a quarter past six in the evening shortly alter the workpeople had left their employment. An alarm was given immediately in the neighbourhood, and Messrs. Gallimore and Co., whose print-works are on the opposite bank of the river, sent a private fire engine, which was got into play with considerable effect, though some delay occurred owing to the muddy bed of the river rendering it necessary that the water should be ladled into tubs before it could be passed through the engine. The fire brigade, under the direction of Mr. Thomas Rose, arrived on the spot about twenty minutes to seven o'clock. At this time the fire, which had commenced at the north end of the mill, had extended nearly the whole length of the building, and the sixth and seventh storeys were a mass of flames. The firemen succeeded in checking the flames by ten o'clock, and there was a hope that the damage would be confined to the two top storeys of the mill. However the floor and other supports of the top storeys appear to have been so much injured by the fire, that they were no longer capable of sustaining the weight of machinery upon them at the north end, and the floor, extending along nearly one-half the building, falling in, carried down corresponding partions of the fifth, fourth, third, and second storeys to the bottom of the mill, destroying nearly one half of the larger mill, and the two top storeys of the remainder, including the entire roof. The whole of the walls are standing, except a small port. on of the top of the western side. The other buildings upon the premises have not suffered, except from water. The buildings are insured in the North of England to the amount of £2,700; in the West of England for £2,900; in the Guardian, £600 ; and in the Atlas for £600 : total, 6,800. The amount of damage done by the fire is estimated at about £5,000. The origin of the fire is not known. Owing to the sad catastrophe, about 250 hands will be thrown out of employment. - Manchester Courier.'[3]