Cuba Mill & Union Mill are covered in John Simpson’s book ‘A History of Edenfield & District’.
Opposite The Corner Pin, Stubbins Lane
Early 1860s – when it was first built, it formed part of and was known as UNION MILL.
In the 1850s and 1860s a number of co-operative mills were built in the Rossendale Valley. Groups of men joined together to build their own mills. [Simpson page 104] Union Mill was one of these co-operative mills.
The skyline was dominated by the stone Cuba Mill chimney with its massive base. Local wisdom had it that a horse and cart could have been driven around its top. [Around Ramsbottom – RHS & Andrew Todd]
1904 Ramsbottom Spinning & Manufacturing Co – the company which operated at Union Mill went into liquidation. After this the mill was divided and became two separate mills. The weaving shed etc was let to the Star manufacturing Company at Union Mill and the spinning section was sold to a new company – Cuba Mill Ltd at Cuba Mill [Simpson page 105] (See also Union Mill)
CUBA MILL
The two mills had mutual access to machinery and steam power.
1904 Cuba Mill Ltd leased the spinning section of the mill. This was a company set up by John William Shaw and Joseph Richard Thomason of Oldham, cotton yarn salesmen. [Ramsbottom Industrial & Provident Society Collection]
1913 By this time the buildings had been extended and the ring frames were driven by electricity rather than steam.
1924 Cuba Mill Ltd – cotton spinners, Bolton Road North, Stubbins. [Kelly]
1929 Closed during The Cotton Strike. [Simpson page 106]
1930 Sold to Lancashire Cotton Corporation (LCC) [ibid]
1936 Had been empty for some time and a short while later it was bought by Turnbull & Stockdale [ibid]
Soldiers were billeted at the mill during World War 2. [RHS magazine No29 page 16 Winter 2005]
1946 Became the quilting department of Turnbull & Stockdale. Simpson page 106]
1961 Single storey printing shop added [ibid]
1968 Closed by Sandersons (parent company of Turnbulll & Stockdale) [ibid]
1970 after two years on the market it was taken over by the Traditional Leather Upholstery Co and N C Brown Ltd, storage equipment manufacturers. [ibid]
1974 Two separate fires succeeded in gutting the mill, leaving the off