Details
TODMORDEN
92/0/10009 Hollins Mill
16-AUG-02
GV II
Integrated cotton spinning and weaving mill, now mixed uses. 1856-58, extended by 1890. Built by Abraham, William and Peter Ormerod , 'manufacturers from raw cotton to woven fabric for the finisher'
Coursed squared gritstone; ashlar surrounds to openings [typical of Calder valley]. Slate and glazed roofs:- hipped, gabled and with north lights.
The site is defined by the junction of the old and new turnpike roads: Hollins Road and Rochdale Road, and the Rochdale Canal. A culverted stream, Walsden Water, on the south-west side, follows the line of the Rochdale Road.
The buildings include: 4-storey, 18- bay spinning mill, with triple-span roof, stone gutter brackets. Entrance in stair tower projecting from the centre of the front elevation, with ramped parapet and clock. Wide inserted entrances to left and right. Remains of a privy tower serving each floor projects rear centre. Doors and windows have ashlar surrounds with interrupted jambs and continuous sill bands. First floor windows blocked with breeze blocks behind fenestration. A cast-iron plate set into the south-east end wall indicates the position of line shaft to the western shed [see below]. Interior: 2 rows of cast-iron columns with D-sectioned bolting heads, lugs and ribbed top plates; curved compression plates are set between the columns on each floor; timber cross beams. Evidence for the transmission of power from the beam engine house includes: the ashlar foundation of the upright shaft at ground floor, and mountings to support it on upper floors, all on line with the north row of columns. A cast-iron hangar at first floor may have transferred drive across to the second row of columns. Ashlar blocks high on the south-east end wall show the positions of projecting supports on the weaving shed wall the other side which carried a line shaft to power countershafts along the column rows there. The spinning mill contained 30,000 spindles and the weaving shed had 600 looms
The single-storey, 25-bay weaving shed attached to the south-east end of the spinning mill. Trapezoidal in plan, saw-tooth roof with lights facing north-west; privies in the south-east angle. Interior: cast-iron columns with bolting heads, ashlar blocks for line shaft on party wall with spinning mill.
Engine house straddling the rear junction of the two buildings. Tall, 2 bays wide to house a double beam engine, hipped roof. Quoins to free corners, two round-arched windows to each wall, with voussoirs and interrupted jambs. Entrances on north-east side: ground floor door to engine bed, stone steps up to working floor entrance. A later extension from this landing leads to an inserted door to the floor over the boiler house. Ashlar-bound recesses in the side walls indicate the position of the entablature beam which supported the engine. The siting of the engine house allowed efficient transmission of power to both spinning and weaving sheds.
Boiler house: triangular plan, in the angle between the weaving shed and the engine house, with frontage to Hollins Road and floor below road level. Tall ground floor, fireproof vault over. 2 storeys, 4-span roof. Wide doorway to Hollins Road for coal delivery and two later openings; an arched opening in the rear yard wall for boiler access. Interior: 2 rows of tall cylindrical cast-iron columns supporting parallel-sided cast-iron beams and brick vaults . Similar upper floor columns support the gutters and tie-beams of the timber trusses.
Mechanics' workshops and stores: 2 storeys, 6 bays long and 2 bays wide. Windows and doors similar to spinning mill. Interior: traditional construction with inserted ground floor cast-iron columns of more than one type. Ashlar blocks in the south-east wall suggest that power was transmitted for lathes, etc. Fireplace at north-west end. Single storey outbuildings along the canal side have been rebuilt in brick.
Shed at west end of site: built between 1860 and 1888, single storey, trapezoidal plan, 14 bays. Saw-tooth roof and north-west facing lights; two rows of cast-iron columns with D-sectioned bolting faces over lugs. A partitioned room at the north-west end probably housed a heating boiler and power was brought from the spinning mill across the yard, bolt holes in the beams indicate the position of the supports for the line shafts. Probably built to house the preparation processes of unpacking and mixing the cotton, and scutching , the beating process to remove dust and vegetable particles. This use was recorded in 1901; when possible this process was sited away from the main body of the mill as this was a high fire risk process due to sparks from the machinery.
The office and warehouse range built between 1860 and 1888 at the western entrance to the main mill site. 2 storeys, 6 bays. Details as spinning mill. Ground floor office and watch house, blocked doorway next to the site of the quoined archway and another in the side wall. Warehouse: 3 ground-floor entrances, privy entrance at north-east end; one taking -in door to first floor.
History
The Ormerod family were involved in factory and domestic cotton working from the late C18. By 1850 they were entirely factory based, and owned several mills in Todmorden parish: Gorpley [1824-70]; Friths [c1835 - 1838]; Ridgfoot [1844 - c1905]; and Alma [1870's -1905]. By 1896 the firm employed 8,000 people in Ridgfoot, Alma and Hollins mills. In 1905 Hollins Mill was bought by Caleb Hoyle, and continued with the Hoyle name until 1930 when it was bought by W.A.Barker, continuing in cotton spinning and manufacturing until after 1963. It was in multiple occupation but not textiles, by 1986, when the Royal Commission recorded it. By that date both the chimney, which was 75 yards high, and the warehouse range at the front had been demolished. Users in 2001 included: Pockets Leisure; Angus Firth Design; J & F Manufacturing; V.Power Ltd; Lancs and Yorks Flooring Company.
Sources
Reported to be ?the best recorded example of an integrated cotton mill? [RCHM, Yorkshire Textile Mills, p.101 Report no. D35]
Pike, W.T.&Co. 'Views and Reviews' Brighton 1896
Travis, J. Chapters in Todmorden History. 1901
