This former cotton-spinning mill was located on the north side of Medlock St, with Saxon St to the east and the Hollinwood Branch Canal to the west. It was bordered to the north by Oakfield Mill (John Broadbent & Sons) and to the south by Albion Mill (Joseph Byrom & Sons). The only reminders of its former existence are the mill reservoir and Saxon St.
This was a large four-storey fireproof mill with a basement, 18-bays long by 14-bays wide, built of Accrington brick with some sandstone detailing and it had a flat roof, tanked to collect water. It was constructed as a grid of cast-iron I-beams. The transverse beams were supported on cast-iron columns, supporting the longitudinal beams that in turn supported shallow brick vaults. These ran the entire length of the mill, making fireproof ceilings and floors. The basement was used to condition cotton and the ground floor contained cotton-preparation machines. The top three floors contained ring-spinning machines. In 1908 the mill had 80,000 spindles that rose to 82,000 by 1920. Supplies of raw cotton and coal for the boilers would have been via the adjacent Hollinwood Branch Canal.
It was built as a replacement for an earlier mill on the site and it opened in 1907 for the Saxon Mill Co Ltd, a member of the Ashton Syndicate, which was a consortium of investors and directors that financed and built major cotton-spinning mills in the Tameside area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local cotton mills financed by the syndicate included:
The architect for the design of these mills was the renowned Sir Philip Sidney Stott, 1st Baronet (1858-1937) of Oldham.
During the 1920s the Lancashire cotton industry began to experience severe depression and, as a consequence, in the early 1930s the Saxon Mill Co Ltd was sold to the Lancashire Cotton Corporation. In 1964 Courtaulds acquired the whole of the equity capital of Lancashire Cotton Corporation, hence Courtaulds were then working Saxon Mill. Courtaulds ended cotton spinning at Saxon Mill in 1967 and it was demolished in 1995 for the site to be developed for housing.
Cotton Mills adjacent to the Hollinwood Branch Canal in Droylsden