Birtle Dene Mill, near Bury, Greater Manchester.

There is nothing much, if anything, left of Birtle Dene Cotton spinning mill in the lower Cheesden Valley today. But, back in the 19th century it was a thriving manufacturing establishment, even though it was located well away from the towns of Bury and Rochdale, making it difficult to reach for the workers who came from the local towns and villages down in the valley, especially in the Winter months. Some workers were even persuaded to up-sticks and come from other parts of the country to work at Birtle (Bircle) Dene Mill. It was back in 1824 that industrial entrepeneur Mr Thomas Rams-bottom built his spinning mill at Birtle Dene. Thomas and his brother John had earlier built a mill at Harwood Fields in the nearby town of Bury, and, they owned three coal mines in the vicinity of Birtle Dene. To reach the mill one had to walk the two or three miles up Elbut Lane and Birtle Road, and then on up to the mill where the industrial revolution seemed to have arrived at breakneck speed by the early 19th century, and, at which time the Ramsbottom family had 'secured their place in cotton spinning history'. The mill finally closed in 1894-5. OS Grid Ref: SD 83261345. I'm just thinking here - would Birtle Dene Mill have been called Mr Tom's by its workers?

H.D.Clayton says of Birtle Dene Mill: "This was a large establishment, owned by the Ramsbottoms for most of its life, and consisting of a four-storey spinning mill and a weaving shed, lit by their own gas. It was driven by a large waterwheel and auxiliary engine. Lying at the foot of a steep hill, access was difficult down a winding road on which were two rows of cottages with their backs to the hill, so that only front doors could be provided. A windlass was used to haul goods up and down the hillside to the top road and the same procedure was adopted for coal from a nearby pit. When the boiler was installed the mill had a day's holiday, owing to the danger of the boiler falling on the mill as it was lowered down the hillside. When the mill closed towards the end of the 19th century, the boiler was removed and hauled up the hill by a large team of horses."

Sandiford & Ashworth (2000) tell us that: Beyond Deeply Vale the Cheesden Brook wanders across a broad plain flanked on either side by steep hills. Here there are no mills but it is as if the valley chooses to pause before making its final and perhaps most surprising revelation. The stream curves gently round the towering contours of Birtle Edge and the valley gradually opens into a deep gorge, curiously patterned with low embankments and crumbling walls, its thick undergrowth strewn with sturdy masonry and gouged with hollows and enigmatic channels, for it was here in Birtle Dene that the industries of the Cheesden Valley reached their pinnacle. The mill that Thomas Ramsbotttom of Harwood Fields built there in 1824 was far removed, in both style and spirit, from those humble enterprises to the north of the valley.

"Thomas Ramsbottom, however, showed no such caution when he built his mill at Birtle Dene. Here was a cotton mill in its own right, in no way dependent on the putting-out system or the domestic outworker. It was a vertical concern spinning the raw cotton into yarn and weaving the yarn into cloth, with possibly some yarn dyeing capacity and cloth finishing. It was planned and built with the boldness and confidence of a man who clearly had caught the spirit of the Industrial Revolution. Yet when the observer stands at the top of the mill road, a good 340 yards from the valley bottom with a steady and formidable gradient of one in seven, he may ask why Ramsbottom chose such a remote site for such an ambitious mill. There were, of course, the usual facilities of water and coal, but for an enterprise of this scale, comparable with many of the edifices of the growing towns beyond this valley, its situation created intrinsic problems.

"The Observer may also ask how Ramsbottom raised his capital for the project. There is, in fact, evidence that the Ramsbottom family had been involved in textile manu-facture previously at Harwood Fields."

Sandford & Ashworth go on to say: "Perhaps Ramsbottom, for all his ambitions, was still at heart a man of the valley. There is no doubt that he used his resources to the full. Birtle Dene Mill was powered by two, possibly three, water wheels, a small one being provided solely for used in the mechanic's shop when the rest of the mill was closed. The mill also used steam power and Ramsbottom owned three mines situated above the Dene, Bassy Mine, Lower Foot Mine (known as Halfpenny Hole) and Upper Foot Mine (known as Mountain Mine). Access was by narrow tracks running along the hillside to the south of the mill, though there is no evidence of a rail line...... these mines were frequently subjected to flooding and by 1887 they were either unworkable or unable to meet the demands of the large mill. Supplies were then brought up from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways coal yards at Buckley Wells in Bury. The Dene Mill, like several others in the valley, produced its own gas for lighting and the circular depression which once held the gasholder is still in evidence. In later year electricity was introduced.

"To spare the horses the strenuous haul of goods up the steep slope from the mill, the woven cloth consigned to the merchant houses of Manchester was taken up the hillside by means of a windlass and stored in a building before loading. Such consideration for employees was not, however, universal. Three rows of cottages were provided for work-people on the road down to the mill, while others came from Jericho and Fairfield, hamlets some two miles away. Labour was also recruited from the unfortunate inmates of Jericho workhouse and in 1836, following revisions in the administration of the Poor Law, large numbers of people from areas of Suffolk, Norfolk, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire were persuaded to come North to regular work in the new cotton mills."

Sources and References:

Clayton, H.D., A History of Ashworth near Rochdale, Ashworth Hall, Rochdale, 1979.

Sandiford, A.V., & Ashworth, T.E., The Forgotten Valley, Bury and District Local History Society, Reprinted 2000.

Colour photo (above) of Birtle Dene Mill in the Cheesden Valley is by John Westhead on Geograph (Creative Commons).

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2018/01/mills-a-z.html

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