IRWELL BRIDGE MILL
At the south end of Kenyon Street on the bank of the River Irwell.
Built 1860’s.
1864 21st May – GLE 999 year lease.Wild, Briggs & Briggs. – 2,540 sq. yds.
The following is extracted from the RHS magazine No:26 Spring/Summer 2004 by Janet Smith pages 18 & 19]
Built in 1860’s by Messrs Wild and Briggs. It comprised a three storey mill with an office, boiler house, engine power and a chimney. They also had a 202 sq. yd cellar, which must have been a problem during floods that blighted the site until recently.
By 1871, Irwell Bridge Mill had been acquired by the Steads, whose business at that time also included HOPE MILL and they had added a two storey extension. (Lawrence Stead is recorded as being a linen and woollen draper of Ramsbottom in 1850. Lawrence Stead & Brothers Ltd was established in 1854 and they were cotton spinners and manufacturers at GARDEN MILL. This partnership was dissolved in 1870 when all but Lawrence and Henry retired, being replaced by Lawrence Stead & Brother Limited). Lawrence Stead who died in 1891 and Henry Stead who died 1892 were trained under the Grants at Square Works. By 1884, when it had built up further into a large business, Steads included GARDEN, HOPE, RAILWAY and IRWELL BRIDGE MILLS and there was a warehouse at 31 York Street, Manchester. At the founder’s death the business had been expanded to five mills and 2,000 looms by his grandson (also Lawrence) and it employed 1,000 people. As businessmen the Steads ranked in importance with the Peels and Grants of former generations.
The period 1880-1881 was a disastrous time at Irwell Bridge Mills, which at the time is described as a spinning mill and a weaving, winding and warping shed connected with each other by the one storey boiler house. They were twice flooded when the River Irwell overflowed and worse was to follow. In the Bury Times of 3rd August, 1881, a fire was reported to have destroyed the stone built spinning mill, then described as three storeys high, 14 windows in length and six in width. The first alarm had been given at 2.30am. Factory hosepipes failed so a messenger was sent on a railway locomotive to summon the Bury firemen, who arrived about two hours later, too late to save the spinning mill. The reporter continues:
‘The scene at this period was extremely grand, the flames darting through the roof and windows and illuminating the surrounding hills with their lurid glare ....When the fire had burned itself out ...the scene presented by the gutted building was the most melancholy description. Not a vestige of the roof remained and no portion of the flooring stood, the large beams, which supported the upper floors, were burnt through. Only two small portions of the beams which supported the topmost floor were to be seen, but the blackened and charred beams upon the massive iron pillars, on which the floor of the first storey rested, still maintained their position, although they appeared to be burned through. The whole of the machinery was fallen and was mixed in inextricable confusion and the ironwork was twisted in all directions by the intense heat.
The cause of the fire is a matter of conjecture only. It is supposed to have originated in the spontaneous combustion of some cotton.’
The flames did not spread to the weaving shed where work was resumed after repairs to the engine. About fifty people were out of work but there was insurance and rebuilding eventually took place to restore/rebuild it as a two storey building.
There appear to have been only minor alterations to the mill since, including improved WCs in 1905 and the addition of a small office at the front in 1907, both for Messrs The Irwell Bridge Company.
1871 Lawrence Stead & Bros are listed as cotton spinners & manufacturer at GARDEN, HOPE and IRWELL BRIDGE MILL. [Worrall]
1888 the same firm is listed as cotton spinner & manufacturer at GARDEN, HOPE, RAILWAY, NUTTALL LANE and IRWELL BRIDGE MILL. James M. Stead lived at Irwell Mount, John K. Stead lived at Riverside and Lawrence Stead lived at Bank House, Bolton Street, Ramsbottom.
Hume Elliot refers to the Steads: ‘In 1854 the cotton manufacturing firm of Messrs Lawrence Stead & Brother was formed. Their business expanded with marked rapidity. Their mills were kept going all through the terrible time of the cotton famine. And for many years, when fully occupied, their factories found employment for the greater part of a thousand people. The senior partner died in 1891, aged 67 and the junior, Mr Henry Stead after a long illness, twelve months later in June 1892 aged 66. Born within a stone’s throw of old Dundee Chapel, they were trained under the Grants at the Square. And since the works of the Grants were closed thirty years ago, no firm has done so much for Ramsbottom as that of Messrs Steads. The large place which the firm occupied in the industrial well being of the town may be estimated by the distress which has been experienced since, unhappily their factories were closed, a few months after the surviving partner had passed away’.[Elliot page 148/9]
Hume Elliot’s book was published in 1893, soon after the deaths of Lawrence and Henry Stead. On this occasion Hume Elliot, I think, got it wrong. The Stead factories did not close at this time.
1908 Lawrence T. Stead listed in the trade section under cotton spinners & manufacturers at IRWELL BRIDGE MILL
1909 [Kelly] Irwell Mill Co - cotton manufacturers Irwell Bridge Mill
1913 William Peers at Irwell Bridge Mill [Kellys Directory]
1951 There was a full page advertisement in the Ramsbottom Festival 1951 Souvenir Handbook which read:
Lawrence Stead & Bro Ltd – Cotton and Rayon Manufacturers, Irwell Bridge Mill, Ramsbottom – Spun Rayons, Haircords, Limbrics, Slub Cottons, Cambrics, Pillow Cottons, Tailors’ Linings, Book Cloths, Surgical Dresings, Industrial Cloths, Bleaching Cloths, Printers etc – cloth widths up to 42 inches – for Home and Export.
In the same publication, on page 68, there was also an article about the firm:
‘The founder of the firm, Mr Lawrence Stead, grandfather of the present principal, Mr Lawrence Stead of Hey House, Holcombe, was the son of a Huddersfield broad cloth merchant.
He was a native of Ramsbottom and on leaving school, was apprenticed as a block cutter at Messrs Grants Works in The Square. When his father died he took over his business, but soon afterwards, in 1854 commenced with his brothers as cotton manufacturers. A large business was built up and at the time of the death of the founder, the firm was running five of the largest mills in the town. Mr Stead was a member of the Local Board from its formation, resigning when the district was extended and with the exception of the first two years was Chairman for the whole of that period. He was Chairman of the Ramsbottom Gas Company for over 26 years and a Director for 30 years.
The activities of the firm have contributed greatly to the development of the town and for their kindly consideration for all who serve them, they are held in high esteem by their fellow-townsmen as worthy to rate with the Peels and Grants of an earlier generation.’
1952 Joan Barcroft [Memories of a Mill Girl at Irwell Bridge Mill] – I started work at Steads in 1952 after four years at Pembertons mill further down Kenyon Street.........Steads, which had been bought by Robinsons of Chesterfield .......Robinsons had bought another mill, in the Wigan area, I think...........In 1960s the cotton industry was in serious decline .... when Steads did finally close in December 1972.....[ reference]
I think T. Robinson & Co took over Steads and operated at IRWELL BRIDGE MILL from about 1951 until it closed in 1972. Robinsons also operated at HOPE MILL, (another mill previously run by Steads) Bolton Road West, from the early 1900s until 2000.
‘Parker Box Company moved into the Victorian Mill premises by the River Irwell in Ramsbottom in 1971. Parker Box began trading in 1917 and for a large part of its years was based in Bury and run by the Parker family.
In 1992 the owner of the company died following a car accident and the company was merged with a contract packing business, whilst retaining the name, its box making identity and location. The change of ownership resulted in a dramatic uplift in the company fortunes which had been in steady decline. Already the business has over 20 employees and is fast approaching its sales target of £1m.
Parker Box can supply a full range of corrugated cardboard boxes to suit the majority of customer’s requirements. Those sizes and styles which cannot be manufacturers on the company’s premises can be sub-contracted outside. The company is restricted on the maximum size of boxes produced and does not currently have a die cutting facility. About 50% of the boxes produced at present require external printing, involving one or two colour designs. The market for the company’s boxes is extremely diverse and covers many sectors of consumer and industrial goods manufacture and distribution. P.Box does not specialize in supplying any particular market sectors although it only has a minimal involvement in the food industry.
The company’s catchment for direct supply is within an approx. 30 mile radius, beyond which transport costs begin to affect the company’s ability to retain profitability and be competitive in its pricing’. [Self profile of company dated 2000 found in RHS Archives in Civic Hall 2/2009].
2004 Janet Smith writes:
‘Irwell Bridge Mill has been owned and used by The Parker Box Company Ltd for high volume processing and manufacturing of cardboard packaging boxes. It now consists of two large single storey, northern light weaving sheds with a core of two storey office and storage buildings. The attractive front elevation is of coursed natural stone with ashlar stone lintels and cills to the windows and the mill walls along Stead Street and Kenyon Street are random stone. Irwell Bridge |Mill is now one of only three stone built textile related buildings in Ramsbottom, the others being Field Mill, Kenyon Street and Cobden Mill’. [RHS magazine No:26 Spring/Summer 2004 page 20]
2009 IRWELL BRIDGE MILL has been the subject of two planning applications. See Bury MBC Planning website.