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TOWN ON THE TORRS - Heritage Video |
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Torr Vale Mill
was the last functional textile mill in New Mills, with the
longest period of continuous production of any such mill in
the world.
Significant structures
survive from the original mill of 1790, but most of the buildings
are 19th century, when it operated as an integrated cotton mill
with both spinning and weaving.
Over past decades
it manufactured cotton towelling. After finally ceasing pruduction
in 2000 an ambitious development
plan was soon put forward, but this stalled following
destruction by arson
of a significant wing in August 2001.
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| Dramatic
views of the mill site below are afforded from New Mills town
centre above. While down in the gorge, the mill offers a focus
of interest enfolded by a loop of river with weir, gorge rocks,
huge railway retaining wall, and is viewable from many aspects
off the Millennium Walkway. Grade II* listed, Torr Vale Mill is
an outstanding example of the influence of topography on early
industrial development, retaining a weir with related tunnels
and watercourses. |
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The name
New Mill was being used by the late 1500s for a small
hamlet near a corn mill at the bridge over the Sett
- now bridging from Hyde Bank to the junction of Dyehouse
Lane and High Street.
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| During
the next century the name evolved into New Mills. So it
seems the town owes its name to this medieval mill, first
recorded in 1391 as 'Berde' mill, where local tenants of
the Duchy of Lancaster were obliged to have their corn ground. |
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area between the corn mill and the river Sett was developed
in the late 1700s as a cotton spinning mill, now known as
Salem Mill. It takes its name from the the chemical works
that took over the site in the 1880s. At this period the
corn mill appears to have ceased operation. The building
was finally demolished around 1940. |
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| In
1991 New Mills celebrated its 600th anniversary based on
the origin of the name from this area of the town, though
the earliest known use of the name is in 1565. |
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| Hyde
Bank Mill (or Beard Mill) is built astride the river Sett. An
early woollen and fulling mill was on the site prior to the first
cotton spinning mill being constructed there in 1785. This was
extensively rebuilt after a fire in 1832 with a water-wheel under
the mill, a steam engine being installed in 1856. The oldest part
of the building is the wing seen on the left. Following a period
of use for towel finishing, today it has a variety of uses. |
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Torrs Riverside
Park is
unique to New Mills - a 'park under the town' in the deep sandstone
gorge at the confluence of the rivers Goyt & Sett.
The natural history
of the Torrs gorge dates from its creation during ice ages by
the erosive power of the rivers. Its industrial heritage is
found in the domination of the gorge throughout the 19th century
by several huge cotton mills and their associated weirs and
leats.
In recent decades
the Torrs Riverside Park and its extended recreational areas
have emerged from a period of dereliction and inaccessibility
to become a highlight asset to the town.
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| Union
Road Bridge
is at the heart of New Mills - it being difficult to imagine
the town as functional without it. Prior to its completion
in 1884 all traffic |
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| from Newtown
into New Mills had to go over the Queens Bridge on Church Road,
along Hyde Bank toll road, over the Sett at 'New Mills' bridge
in the oldest part of the town and then ascended steeply up High
Street. Despite this obvious necessity for the Union Road bridge,
the cost of £4400 was such an issue that the project only
passed the New Mills Local Board through the casting vote of the
Chairman. Stone from the rocks of the Torrs was used in the construction.
A large procession marked the opening and was replicated in June
1984 to celebrate the centenary as part of a fortnight of events. |
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New
Mills Heritage and Information Centre
is financed by the Town Council and operates with the help of
volunteers and members of New Mills Local History Society. As
a fully-registered museum the Heritage Centre provides New Mills
people and visitors to the area with a place to learn about the
growth and development of the town. Part of this function is to
collect, exhibit, and preserve documents, material evidence and
other information - safeguarding this inheritance for the benefit
of future generations.
The Heritage Centre Administrator, Dr Derek Brumhead, has a wealth
of knowledge about all aspects of New Mills heritage. |
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Heritage
Centre reconstruction of a coal mine, of which there were over
30 in the New Mills area
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Child
Employment - Peter Southron aged 15 at Mr Boothman's Colliery,
Whaley Bridge - 1841
Where did you work before you came to work here?
- I was a tierer at two shops before I came here; first at Rock
Mill Printworks, and then at Furness.
What age did you begin to work first? - When I was six
years old.
What age were you when you came to the coal pits? - I was
about 12 years old.
What wages did you get at the printworks? - Fourpence a
day when we worked from six to six, but if they worked till ten
at night they used to reckon it half a day more, and we got 6d
or 7d.
What can you get in the pits? - I have six tubs, 1sh 2.5d.
Can you read? - Not so much, I can read a bit.
Do you attend school? - Yes, I go to Furness Sunday School.
Did you work longer hours in the printworks or in the pits?
- In the printworks I worked all night at Furness, but we generally
went at six o'clock and stopped till ten some nights, sometimes
it was six or seven. Here I only worked from six till four or
five o'clock.
Do they beat you here? - No, nothing to speak of, my brother
sometimes thrashes me with his hand, but they used to thrash me
at Furness, but not so much as at Rock Mill, they knocked us three
or four yards at one blow. |
An
Indoor Market has existed at the junction of Market St
and High St for over 150 years. It was first owned by a local
entrepreneur Richard Bennett, originally as an extension alongside
the The Crown Hotel, which he built prior to 1841. By the 1860s
it had been developed into a Market Hall.
In the early 1900's there was a wood-built Picturedrome cinema
on the upper rear floor, but this burned down in the period of
the First World War. The upper floor was rebuilt in its present
form as an extension to the Market Hall. The Crown changed name
to the Bees Knees in the 70s, then back to The Crown, now The
Torrs. |
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The Grade-II-listed
former Manchester & County Bank building and the cottages
alongside on High Street have been sympathetically restored
recently at a cost of £600k, including a grant for
£280k from the Conservation Area Partnership and
High Peak Borough Council.
The project
received a Civic Trust Award for the excellence of the
restoration carried out in natural materials to match
the existing and to preserve the architectural and historic
features, including decorative plaster ceiling and window
surrounds in the bank building.
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'Drunkards
Reform'
The stone plaque on this former town lockup at Dyehouse
Lane tells the story of its owner Thomas Handford, who
gave up drink after a companion fell to the floor dead
while drinking in the Cock Inn:
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| 'A
working man, a teetotaler for ten years, who was formerly
a notorious drinker and a notorious poacher has recently
invested his sober earnings in the purchase of the town
prison, which he has converted into a comfortable dwelling
house. Frequently an inmate of the prison whilst a drunkard
and a poacher, he is now owner of the whole and occupier
of the premises - 1854' |
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