Littleborough from Cleggswood Hill
Finishing Mills in Longden End Clough
from Rakewood Higher to Longden End Mill
Beyond Rakewood l the valley narrows with the M62 Viaduct spanning the valley at possibly its narrowest point. Although Rakewood Lower Mill possibly did some finishing work in the 19th Century it later became known for a Woollen Mill and later a Cotton mill. Thus, including Rakewood Upper Mill here were 4 Fulling Mills with the others 3 being Tunshill Hey, Booth Hollins and Longden End with each mill using the same water via a series of leats. Common ownership was a feature of the mills with the Clegg family operating Booth Hollins and Longden End at different periods.
Rakewood Upper Mill was built around the turn of the 18th Century/start 19th Century. In 1850 the Higher Mill was describesdas “all that MILL or FACTORY ….. called the Higher Mill being in some part 4 storeys and in other parts 3 storeys and measuring inside 64ft 6in by 41ft, also the MECHANICS SHOP and WAREHOUSE…..3 storeys high measuring 24ft 6in by 17ft 4in together with the engine house….. and gashouse…..with gas gasometer and retorts and other apparatus…. Also the steam engine of 15 horse power and 2 steam boilers, mill gearing, shafting, steam pipes, pipes and gas fittings ….. together with a water wheel 27ft high and about 57 inches wide in the buckets with a fall of water thereto. Also the reservoir, iron pipe and cistern…. Also, all those seven COTTAGES or DWELLING-HOUSES and Blacksmith Shop and Hayloft “. The mill may be let into immediate possession. The early steam boiler fed a Beam Engine which helped drive the mill machinery, heat and hot water. Water was obtained from the Longden End brook and coal from local mines. After various owners, John Clegg took over Rakewood Higher Mill during 1868 or early 1869. That was the start of the Clegg Family operating the Higher until the present time. The mill has been extended and modernised over its long history as have its operations. It started as aFulling Mill and later included other finishing processes including Dyeing.
More recently it stopped Fulling and the current owners according to their website - J Clegg & Bros Ltd "are proven expert in the field of Textile Lamination and specialise in the commission and lamination of technical, multi-layer fabrics using continuous hot melt lamination and PU films to create bespoke fabrics but also offer more traditional Textile processing services including fabric Raising, Rolling and Finishing. The mill itself is rather too large for its current workload and the owners improving and updating the building to cater for its future leisure role which will operate at the same time as the textile business.
For the Industries in Longden End Clough including Rakewood Upper Mill see Industrial History Booklet No 9 and below
Tunshill Hey just up the valley from the M62 (pictured in ruins right) dates from around 1832 when a 999 year lease was taken out. Various families worked the mill over the years but none really stayed that long. On February 28th, 1889 the Rochdale Times carried an advert - to be sold at auction “All that stone built FULLING MILL called ‘Tunshill Hey Mill’ …..with the TWO COTTAGE, STABLE and other buildings …… also the steam boiler, steam engine, shafting, drums and hangers, water wheel, 2 scouring machines, squeezer, stocks, wheater, milling machine, percher and brushing barrels, plaiting machine, pierce press and other fixtures and other things …. about the said mill together with the reservoir and water privileges…. The premises consist of about 3,900 sq. yds". It appears nobody was interest and by 1891 it was in ruins as it remains to this day
Booth Hollins (or Lower Booth Hollins (Fulling) Mill (pictured left)
incorporates an 18th Century structure which was probably a combined mill and farm house around 90 ft by 24 ft and was a Woollen Carding Mill known as Lower Booth Hollins mill. An advert from 1832 described the mill as Lower Booth Hollins Mill with farm-house, barn, shippons, 2 cottages ….. also that Woollen Carding mill with the waterfall, water-wheel, reservoir, drums, shafts and other appendages, also the cottage….. the mill is 2 storeys high and measures 24 yds by 15 yds wide. It is supplied by a stream of water which rarely fails and has a fall of 30 ft. The water-wheel is 10 yd in diameter and has recently undergone complete repair“. .The mill became a fulling Mill around 1839 by which time it had gained a Steam Engine and Boiler.. The mill ceased fulling during the 1890s but later re-opened by a Fellmonger. During WW2 the mill was used by the MoD to store High Explosives. The mill remains being used by the local farmer.
Longden End (Fulling) Mill (pictured right)
is the furthest up the valley and sits below the M62. It dates from the late 1840s or 1850. In
1872 the mill was described in a sale. The advert referred to “all that capital Fulling Mil with the water rights, dams and reservoirs thereto belonging, steam engine 10 hp, steam boiler 30 hp and water wheel 11 yds by 4 ft, 2 washing machines, 4 starks, 3 perching barrels, 1 brasher, 1 press, 5 rows of double tenters, 4 rows of single (tenters), 3 new brimstones, also drying stone with 18 lengths of and 4 lengths of tenters inside and all the main and counter shafting throughout the mill which is quite new”. The sites of the exterior tenters are still visible in the landscape. William R Whitworth and Co were at Longden End Mill when in April 1906 it was almost totally destroyed by fire leaving just 3 walls standing. It took some 90 minutes for Littleborough Fire Engine to reach the fire. Very little remains except the mill lodges and the house in the foreground
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