Brook Street Mills, Manchester
of Brook Street, Manchester.
1891 Directory: Listed. More details
1891 Advertising as Medlock Smallware Ltd, Brook Street Mills, manufacturers of smallwares, cotton balls, upholsterer's webbing and trimmings, rolled tapes, venetian ladder tapes. Established 1803.
1892 J. P. Westhead and Co Ltd's Brook Street Mill: Manufacturing machinery, etc., advertised for sale by auction.[1]
The 36" 1849 O.S. map [2] shows 'Brook Street Mill (Cotton and Woollen Small Wares)' located at the junction of Brook Street and Mount Street. Bounded by Wood Street to the north, and the River Medlock to the east. The Medlock underwent a sharp curve at this point, and there was a semi-circular weir alongside the mill. This was later altered to incorporate Wiswall's tilting weir. A number of photographs, available online, show the tilting weir, with the mill in the background, in 1900, 1938 and, apparently disabled, in 1946 [3] [4] [5]. For more information on the Medlock's tilting weirs, see the entry for the River Medlock. Note: this part of the river is no longer visible, having been culverted. Although the weir was used to serve the mill, the original semi-circular weir/dam pre-dates it. In fact it is shown on Laurent's map of 1793, and had evidently been constructed to provide Garratt Mill (further upstream) with a head and reservoir of water. In 1793 the land later occupied by Brook Street Mills would have had a bucholic aspect, overlooked by Chorlton Hall.