Littleborough from Cleggswood Hill
IINDUSTRY
A number of industrial sites have been used by completely different industries over the years so they do not really correspond to the more simple headings of Textiles, Engineering or Chemicals etc. The main sites are listed below:
Littleborough New Mills,Tyne & Python Mills/Works
Spenwood Works
Paragon works
BRIEF HISTORY OF STUBLEY MILL
The mill and small hamlet of Stubley Mill Fold was situated at the bottom of Stubley Lane and Stubley Mill Road, next to the River Roch as shown in the picture. The Rochdale Observer for 13th September 1950 included details of the hamlet in the late 18th Century. In 1775 Stubley Mill Fold included a Fulling Mill, Corn Mill, house where the miller lived together with stables and other out buildings. The owner undertook repairs with the miller paying for moss, mortar and glass, all lays and taxes etc. The Mill included a water wheel, fulling stamps and tenters. The miller apparently ordered supplies from Yorkshire via the Blackstone Edge Turnpike Road. Whilst Corn Milling ceased, information sources confirm fulling continued through most of the 19th Century with William Law, the Fulling mill from 1845 and remained in charge until around 1873. He was also Fulling Miller at Dearnley Mill and New Mill. After William Law left another family took over but Fulling ceased about 1890.
Subsequently, Stubley Mill turned to the manufacture of Glue when Robert Hardy and his family took over - see picture below. In 1904 the Manchester Courier carried an advert “For Disposal – the Business of GLUE, SIZE, GREASE, etc MANUFACTURERS carried on at Stubley mills, Littleborough”. The Hardy's continued making glue for many year but the mill. now known as Hardy's Glue works until it ceased operations in 1965. Following a fire, the mill was demolished in 1981.
Both Hardy's Glue works and Akzo Chemie and its previous owners were known for the production of obnoxious smells which often covered Liottleborough. with their demise the atmosphere is much sweeter!
NEW MILL, TYNE MILL & PYTHON MILL & TO-DATE
This location in Featherstall, Littleborough sits alongside the main road from Rochdale, part of the Blackstone Edge Turnpike dating from 1734. The earliest mention of New Mill in Littleborough was in 1786 but no more details about who used it is not clear. It is known that Joseph Scofield of Heybrook and Buckley Mills (both in Rochdale) occupied New Mill for Fulling and Cloth Finishing between 1820 and 1907 when the company was recorded as in dispute about polluting the nearby River Roch. It may well be that cleaning up the old mill was too difficult but they moved any remaining activities at New Mill to Pike House Mill around that date. It is possible that there were two mills on the site, both relatively small as between around 1850 and 1870 William Law (see Stubley Mill) also operated at New Mill before he purchased Dearnley Mill.
The buildings at New Mill were demolished in 1907/8 by which time ground works had commenced on the new significantly larger Tyne Mill which would be completely powered by electricity and the mill will be electrically lit at 230 volt 3 phase being built for the Tyne Ring Spinning Mill Cos. Unfortunately, little more than the ground floor was completed before the Company went bankrupt. Another company took over but made little progress. It has been mentioned that Asbestos was worked on the site but few details are currently available. What is known is that Breda Visada took over the site of Tyne Mill and constructed a 3 storey Mill for the production of Rayon Fibres. whether it incorporated anything of the Tyne mill is unclear. Sir Edwin Stockton, Chairman of the British Visada Company formally opened Python Mill on 15th July 1926 or 1927 (date to be confirmed). The Mill was equipped to produce 27,500 lb of artificial silk per week and when in full running it was planned to employ 500 people. Breda Visada was taken over numerous times and in the end was thought to be too small to be efficient and by 1957 all of the Rayon Manufacturing Plant had been removed.
All remained mill buildings remained in 1960 but some may have been demolished before they were taken over by Fothergill and Harvey (Tygadure Division) in 1970. It is possible that they only took over the old boiler house because by 1978 they applied for planning permission for a new building. In 1995 Raydex Cables took over from Tygadure and later still Carlisle Cables. At the time the Cable Factory was demolished in 2018 it included new buildings in front of the old boiler house. After total demolition, the Lidl supermarket was constructed covering most of the site.
Interestingly, two cottages included on the 1851 OS map remain to this date - 2026.