Quarry Bank Mill factoryA factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where workers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
in
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, one of the best preserved of the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
and is now a museum of the
cottonCotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft,...
industry. It is a Grade II*
listed building.
The mill was founded by Samuel Greg in 1784 in the village of
StyalStyal is a village, located in Cheshire, England. It is situated on the River Bollin, near to the town of Wilmslow.Styal is a popular commuter village for nearby Manchester. The village is dominated by Quarry Bank Mill and much of its housing consists of the mill's estate. The mill and the...
on the west coast river riverno he toppled over the river rivero and
River BollinThe River Bollin is a major tributary of the River Mersey in the north-west of England.The town of Macclesfield used to dispose all its waste and sewage into the Bollin. The profusion of human sewage in the Bollin was still around in 1850....
. Its original iron
water wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, the development of hydropower. In the Middle Ages, waterwheels were used as tools to power factories throughout different counties. The alternatives were the windmill and human and animal...
was designed by Thomas Hewes and built between 1816 and 1820.
The Hewes wheel finally broke in 1904.
Quarry Bank Mill factoryA factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where workers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
in
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, one of the best preserved of the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
and is now a museum of the
cottonCotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa. The fiber most often is spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft,...
industry. It is a Grade II*
listed building.
The mill was founded by Samuel Greg in 1784 in the village of
StyalStyal is a village, located in Cheshire, England. It is situated on the River Bollin, near to the town of Wilmslow.Styal is a popular commuter village for nearby Manchester. The village is dominated by Quarry Bank Mill and much of its housing consists of the mill's estate. The mill and the...
on the west coast river riverno he toppled over the river rivero and
River BollinThe River Bollin is a major tributary of the River Mersey in the north-west of England.The town of Macclesfield used to dispose all its waste and sewage into the Bollin. The profusion of human sewage in the Bollin was still around in 1850....
. Its original iron
water wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, the development of hydropower. In the Middle Ages, waterwheels were used as tools to power factories throughout different counties. The alternatives were the windmill and human and animal...
was designed by Thomas Hewes and built between 1816 and 1820.
The Hewes wheel finally broke in 1904. After that the
River BollinThe River Bollin is a major tributary of the River Mersey in the north-west of England.The town of Macclesfield used to dispose all its waste and sewage into the Bollin. The profusion of human sewage in the Bollin was still around in 1850....
continued to power the mill, through two water turbines. Today the Mill is home to the most powerful working waterwheel in Europe, an iron
water wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, the development of hydropower. In the Middle Ages, waterwheels were used as tools to power factories throughout different counties. The alternatives were the windmill and human and animal...
which was originally at Glasshouses Mill at Patley Bridge. This wheel was designed by Sir William Fairbairn, the Scottish engineer who had been an apprentice of Thomas Hewes.
The estate surrounding the mill, also developed by Greg, is the most complete and least altered factory colony of the Industrial Revolution. The estate and mill were donated to the
National TrustThe National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
in 1939 by Alexander Carlton Greg and are open to the public. The mill continued in commercial production until 1959.
The factory was founded for the
spinningSpinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibers are twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fiber was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff...
of cotton and by Samuel Greg's retirement in 1832 was the largest such business in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
. The water-powered Georgian mill still produces cotton
calicoCalico has different meanings according to which country the word is used in. Originally calico was a plain-woven textile which originated in the city of Kozhikode, Kerala, India, which was known by Europeans as Calicut, in the 11th century...
. After Samuel Greg died in 1834 his son,
Robert Hyde GregRobert Hyde Greg , was an English industrialist, economist and antiquary.Born in Manchester, the son of Samuel Greg, the creator of Quarry Bank Mill, he was brother to William Rathbone Greg and the junior Samuel Greg. His mother, Hannah, was a descendant of Philip Henry...
took over the business and soon took the decision to introduce
weavingWeaving is the textile art in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads, called the warp and the filling or weft , are interlaced with each other to form a fabric or cloth...
at the mill.
Originally Samuel Greg converted farm buildings in the nearby village of Styal to house the workers for the mill. As the mill increased in size, purpose-built housing in Styal was constructed for the workers. The village is still a thriving community.
Quarry Bank Mill is notable for its use of unpaid child apprentices, a system that continued until 1847, with the last child to be indentured starting work in 1841. Greg employed Peter Holland, father of the Royal Physician
Sir Henry Holland, 1st BaronetSir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet FRS, DCL , was a British physician and travel writer.Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, Holland was the son of the physician Peter Holland and his wife Mary Willets, through whom he was a cousin of the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and nephew of the potter Josiah Wedgwood...
and uncle of
Elizabeth GaskellElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson , often referred to simply as Mrs. Gaskell, was an English novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era. She is perhaps best known for her biography of Charlotte Brontë...
, as mill doctor. Holland was responsible for the health of the children and other workers, and was the first doctor to be employed in such a capacity. The children lived in a separate building near the factory called the Apprentice House. Most children came from
workhouseUnder the Poor Law systems of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland a workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest reference to a workhouse dates to 1652 in Exeter. There is, however, some written...
s. They would work long days with schoolwork and gardening after coming back from the mill. The work could sometimes be dangerous with fingers being lost occasionally. However, most children were happy to work in the mill because life at a workhouse would be worse. Today the Apprentice House is open to the public with timed tours being conducted by costumed interpreters.
The Greg family were Unitarians and built Norcliffe Chapel in Styal village. Their non-conformist religious beliefs provided the Gregs with important business contacts as many of the major
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
Industrialists were Unitarian. Methodist workers at the mill later sought a place of worship, and the Gregs converted a grain store in Styal village into a Chapel for their use.
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