Washwheel Mill (Bleach Works), Cheesden Valley, near Birtle, Greater Manchester.

Fairly Hidden away upon the moors above Elbut Lane, Birtle Road and Deeply Vale Lane in the Cheesden Valley, near Old Birtle, Greater Manchester, are the ruins of a former bleach mill called Lower Washwheel or Lower Wheel. It was built by James Almond (his residence was about half a mile further up the valley at Deeply Vale) sometime in the early 19th century as a cotton spinning mill, but later in the 1880s, the mill was bought by Joseph (James) Shepherd who ran it as a bleach works. The mill at Washwheel survived until the early 1900s, possibly as late as 1930, but as a somewhat scaled-down industrial site by then. In the 1950s some of the mill building remained, but after that these remaining structures had been demolished and the stonework taken away. The former mill's chimney still stands as do the access bridge and stone becks, and the mill lodges are still to be seen and some other industrial remains can just about be made out if you look for them. The site of the former bleach mill can be found at Grid Reference SD 8286114120.

A.V.Sandiford & T.E.Ashworth writing in 1981 tell us that: "In the 1880's the Lower Works at Washwheel was taken over by Joseph Shepherd for the bleaching of cotten waste and there is still evidence of the stone becks used to hold the scouring liquors. These were of some 65 cubic feet and probably held around 400 gallons of solution. Though the Cheesden Brook did not provide power for the mill the water for processing was taken from sluices a short distance up-stream and fed to a lodge on the west bank of the brook. From there it flowed through a twenty inch diameter pipe, over the brook to another lodge on the east bank. Supply to an adjacent third lodge was supplemented by a stream leading from a source on the moors above. i >

Sandiford & Ashworth go on to tell us more about Washwheel Bleach Mill. Heading south from Deeply Vale:"On recrossing the stone bridge and joining the road south we continue down the valley,the overgrown drive which once led to James Almond's house on our immediate right. Ahead on the skyline can be seen a radio transmission mast and to the left a large water tank. These landmarks stand above Birtle Dene and give the direction of our journey. A short distance beyond Almond's house we leave the road and follow a footpath to the right leading to a chimney amid a clump of trees. The chimney was that of Washwheel Mill, the last concern to closein the valley, and on closer inspection it can be seen to have been extended by brickwork, possibly to avoid the effect of down draughts. The corroded remains of the pipe, until recently, linked the lodges across the stream and the remains of the scouring becks can still be found near the base of the chimney. The Lancashire boiler lay parallel to the stream close to the bridge, but was wrenched from its housing and hauled away in a lorry in the middle of the night by some no doubt enthusiastic scrap dealer in the early 1950's. A cavity filled with the undergrowth is the only remaining evidence, but fragments of iron pipe at the end may be the remains of an 'economiser', an invention allowing water being fed to the boiler to be preheated by pipes carrying flue gases from the boiler."

H.D. Clayton writes in 1979:"Wash Wheel. This mill was a bleachworks, driven by steam, and owned by Almonds, the ruins of whose house can be seen in pleasant surroundings a little further up the valley. It was reached by a bridge over the brook from Birtle and had access up the hill in Ashworth Road. The mill closed in the 1930s"

Sources of information:-

Sandiford A.V. & Ashworth T.E., The Forgotten Valley, Bury and District Local History Society, 1981.

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

Copyright © RayS57, 2025.

Around Cheesden Lumb Mills, near Norden, Rochdale.

The evocative ruins of Cheesden Lumb (Lower) Mill, also known as 'Alice O'Shoddy's', 3 miles to the north of Rochdale, at (SD 82381617), are all that remain of the once-thriving woollen mill that began its life way back in 1786. The Industrial Revolution was still to make its mark in the Cheesden Valley, where twenty other mills, including Cheesden Lumb Higher Mill, would eventually be built in the 19th century; Higher Mill (also known as Mr John's) being built in 1845 was a cotton-spinning mill. Cheesden Lumb Higher and Lower mills are located just to the southeast of Cheesden Bar on the (A680) Edenfield-Rochdale Road by walking along the Croston Close Road, which runs alongside the Cheesden Brook for 3 miles towards Birtle. A three-storey section of wall survives at Cheesden Lumb (Lower) Mill and a waterfall still flows out of a rounded-arch at the base of this - the Cheesden Brook actually flowing from beneath the mill. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th the mills of the Cheesden Valley were abandoned, soon to be consumed by nature and ruination, and today only the scant remains of these once mighty industrial buildings survive, though their memory lives on.

A.V.Sandiford & T.E.Ashworth writing in 2000 tell us: "When the mills first came to Cheesden Valley they came not to challenge the cottage weaver but to help him, to provide him with a service and to offer him the facility of developing mechanisation. When Cheesden Lumb Mill was built in 1786 a little below the confluence of the Cheesden and Kilgate Brooks, it was operated by another John Kay as a fulling mill.

"In an advertisement in the Manchester Mercury on the 29th August 1809 offering the mill for sale by auction, reference is made to 'one water wheel, one stock, one perching mill, blueing house and brimstone stove, and woollen carding engines, one billy, one teaser, together with all the tenters thereto belonging.' Here we see the furnishings of a mill equipped to provide a full range of services for the cottage weaver; carding engines to prepare the fleece for the spinning process, a billy, which was an improved form of spinning jenny; and a teaser, a circular drum covered with 'teasels' (a variety of thistle grown in Somerset) over which the cloth would pass to raise the 'nap' and provide a texture suitable for blankets and warm clothing. Here, too, were the blueing houses and the brimstone stove for the bleaching of cloth, and the 'tenters thereto belonging', hooks on which the bleached and washed fabrics would be stretched to dry. The bleaching process adopted at Cheesden Lumb had been in use since Roman times. The cloth would be hung in a room in the centre of which would be placed a pile of sulphur. A piece of hot metal was then placed on the sulphur and the room would soon be filled with the fumes of sulphur dioxide to effect the process. It seems, however, that not only the cloth was subjected to this treatment for it is said that mothers would occasionally place their children amongst the fumes to cure them of whooping cough!"

Sandiford & Ashworth go on to say: "In 1845 John, of the family of Ramsbottoms of Cheesden Pasture, built another mill a short distance to the south of Cheesden Bar Mill and operated it, predictably, for cotton waste spinning. Officially titled Upper Lumb Mill it was more familiarly known as 'Mr John's', and when the father died the business was taken over by his son James. Later he went into partnership with Joshua Hitchon of Longlands Mill but the attraction and convenience of the nearby towns caused the company to buy Moss Mill in Rochdale for 600 pounds and on May 27th, 1884 'Mr. John's' together with it's fifty looms finally ceased operation.

"The building of 'Mr. John's' in 1845 and also of George Parker's mill some eight years later, both directly for the purpose of cotton waste spinning, clearly suggests that by this time the hard waste trade was by no means a 'survival' industry for the upper valley but a flourishing business in its own right. Parker's mill was built in the valley of the Killgate brook, a tributary of the Cheesden Brook, a little to the east of Cheesden Lumb Mill. It was situated within 150 yards of the Rochdale - Edenfield turnpike at a point close to the New Inn. Known locally as 'Plantation Mill' it traded in later years as Carr, Parker and Company but, like Ramsbottom and Hitchons, the company eventually moved out of the valley, to Charles Lane Mill in Grane Road, Haslingden. The valley mill closed in 1891 but the business, now owned by James Rothwell Ltd., of the Vantona Group, is still concerned with the spinning and weaving of cotton waste in the manufacture of raised sheets.

"Cheesden Lumb Mill remained active in wool textiles into the middle years of the nineteenth century. J. H. Howarth writes, '"The mill formerly belonged to John Kay, a woollen manufacturer, who had two sons, John who until lately (c.1900) resided in Rochdale, and James, one time Master at Shuttleworth Church School. "'The mill was taken over following the death of John Kay the elder by John Haworth of Croston Close. He acquired a long lease and enlarged the mill and took out the woollen machinery, substituting 'devils' for breaking up hard waste.'" Other sources suggest that in 1854 the mill was occupied by the devisees of one John Bowker but there is little doubt that by the end of that decade Haworth's 'devils' were busily at work at Cheesden Lumb, expanding further the, perhaps unique, concentration of the cotton waste trade in the upper valley.

"Haworth had one daughter, Alice, who grew to be a very shrewd and confident businesswoman. She married Richard Ashworth who consequently took over the operation of Cheesden Lumb Mill. But Richard was a kindly, practical person who would be the first to admit his lack of business ability and was content to leave the manage-ment of the mill to his wife. This she did with some vigour and when her father died on November 14th, 1875, his age matching the years of the century, she inherited Cheesden Lumb, the mills of the Croston Close Estate 'and all the machinery and goods therein and respectively belonging thereto', together with properties at Rigshaw Close, Sedger Hey, Edenfield and Wardle The list of properties bequeathed to Alice was prefaced in the will, drawn up in 1868, by the commonly used phrase 'if not otherwise disposed of by me in my lifetime'. There may however have been more than a little substance in this phrase for Mrs. Elizabeth Bate, a granddaughter of Alice states that at this period John Haworth perhaps foreseeing the eventual decline of the valley, was giving serious consideration to the sale of the mills. Alice, however, persuaded him against such action, but in the years that followed the death of her father the difficulties of an isolated industrial community surrounded by thriving and prosperous cotton towns must have, at times, presented her with a formidable challenge. The growing difficulty of obtaining useful work is evident in an entry in Worrall's Textile Directory of 1887: Richard Ashworth, Cheesden Lumb Mill, Norden. 750 Spindles. Lampwicks and at Croston Close Mill, Nr. Bury.

"From the flourishing days of the early 1800s when the mill provided all manner of services for the wool textile trade, from the vigorous days of the 1860's when Haworth harnessed the mill to the rapdly expanding cotton waste trade, Cheesden Lumb had come to rely by the end of the 1880's on the manufacture of lampwicks.

"But Alice remained undaunted. From her house on the hill above Croston Close Upper Mill, she briskly traversed the valley and her various properties by pony and trap. When plans for the Ashworth Reservoir were laid in the 1890's she vigorously challenged the decision by the landowner, the Earl of Derby, to close the mills in the reservoir's catchment area. She had more than one stormy encounter with Thomas Statter and his son, agents for Lord Derby, and stoutly refused to surrender her water rights. A legal battle ensued but the requirements of the new reservoir were too much even for Alice and the judgement went against her. She left the valley in 1898 and took up residence at Tor Hey in Greenmount, Bury. She died on June 4th, 1928 and was buried in the Haworth vault in Edenfield Churchyard. The Bury Times for June 9th carried only a brief paid announcement in the Deaths column: ASHWORTH. On June 4th at her residence Tor Hey, Greenmount, Alice, wife of Richard Ashworth, aged 85 years. Richard however survived to reach the grand old age of 95."

Sources & References

Please note the three colour photos of Cheesden Lumb Mill are by courtesy of Mr Stephen Oldfield and are Copyright © Stephen Oldfield, 2021.

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

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

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2017/12/mills-c-e.html

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2016/02/the-lost-mills-of-cheesden-valley.html

https://lancashirepast.com/2020/10/03/cheesden-lumb-mill-near-heywood/

https://cheesden.blogspot.com/

Copyright © RayS57, 2021

Around Deeply Vale Mills & Wind Hill Colliery, Cheesden, Near Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

The Industrial Revolution came to the Cheesden Valley, north of Rochdale, in the late 18th century and flourished in the 19th when fourteen mills were built here, although they were not wholly reliant on the Cheesden Brook itself - the course of which runs in a south-easterly direction from Four Acre mill above Cheesden Pasture mills in the north to Simpson Clough in the south - these mills being for the most part steam-driven. The place-name Cheesden means 'gravel valley', though parts of it are gorge-like. The area soon became an Industrial enclave or Cradle of Industry with thousands of local people from the nearby towns and villages working in the mills, which were at their heyday in the middle of the 19th century; the workers' youngest children being sent to school at Buckhurst school-cum-chapel, just a short distance to the north (after 1840) which was opposite Longlands Mill and its lodge. To the Industrial Archaeologist the mill ruins alongside the Cheesden Brook are like paradise! Deeply Hill, also known as Deeply Vale Upper mill, is located at (SD 8230 1488), while just to the south is Deeply Vale Lower Mill at (SD 8242 1455).

These cotton-spinning mills, paper and print mills, and bleach and dye works, in particular, those at Deeply Vale Upper (formerly known as Deeply Hill) and Deeply Vale Lower, were supplied with coal from Wind Hill Colliery (SD 83105 15220) on the Ashworth Road, 1 mile to the east. Deeply Hill mill became Hardmans in 1867. It closed after 1890. Coal was supplied to Deeply Vale mills by means of a tramway over the Ashworth Road and then crossing the moorland from the colliery at Wind Hill; it eventually reached the mills in wagons (carriers) over a wooden trellis viaduct and overhead rope and pulley system, which would have been very ingenious for its time.

The Cheesden Valley has, in more recent times, been referred to as 'The Forgotten Valley', but maybe not so much forgotten today! However, today not much is left of the mills and workers cottages at Deeply Vale apart from the bare overgrown ruins of these once mighty industrial buildings that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution in the Cheesden Valley. By the end of the 19th century and the early 20th it was the end for the mills in the valley; they were closed and abandoned forever with nature slowly consuming the buildings, which became ghostly ruins. Peace returned to the valley. However, some of the mill workers dwellings continued to be occupied right up until 1960. And equally there is not much left of the former Wind Hill Colliery on the Ashworth Road apart from the square-shaped perimeter earthworks and foundations of coal-working buildings and pit shaft etc.

You can walk south along a country lane (Croston Close Road) from Cheesden Bar (SD 82259 16563) on the A680 (Edenfield Road) for about 4-5 miles passing the now peaceful and solitary ruins of Bridge Mill, Cheesden Lumb mills, Croston Close mills, Longlands mill and its lodge, and the former Buckhurst school and chapel, which is now a private house. Continue walking south-south-east through Deeply Vale with the Cheesden Brook on your left as well as the mill lodges. Here one can see some enormous dressed stones among the overgrown foundations, all that remains of the two former mills; also the Almonds residence. Continue south along the main footpath passing the ruins of Washwheel Mill Lower (Almonds) to Birtle Dene Mill and Kershaw Bridge Mill (Allansons) - ending up at Simpson Clough Mill (SD 85217 12140) which is still in use today. Hooley Bridge is just a little further along on the Bury-Rochdale Old Road.

Sources and related Websites:-

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, 1981.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesden_Valley

Photo of Deeply Hill and Deeply Vale by Bill Boaden: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1875969

Photo: Remains of Deeply Vale print works by Liz Dawson: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/380469

https://www.heywoodhistory.com/2016/02/the-lost-mills-of-cheesden-valley.html

Copyright © RayS57, 2021.