Copley Mills Castle Street Mills Bankwood Mill

These cotton-spinning mills were built in the 19th century (1827-1871) and they are located on the south side of Huddersfield Rd about 125 yards to the north east of St Paul’s Church. They are historically significant as they are one of Tameside’s earliest surviving fire-proof mills.

They were worked by James Wilkinson from at least 1832 and there is a record of a company called James Wilkinson, Ltd working the mills in 1891. By 1920 the mills had become disused but in 1930 Robert Hyde Buckley & Sons Ltd began to use them for cotton doubling and they worked them until 1974. In the textile industry, cotton doubling is the process of twisting together two or more single cotton yarns to create a single, multi-ply yarn. The machine used to 'double' spun cotton is known as a 'doubler' or 'doubling machine'. The founder of this company, Robert Hyde Buckley (6 Dec 1812-12 Sep 1867), was born at Dukinfield and he was resident at Saddleworth. The sons in the business were Robert Shaw Buckley, Richard Buckley and James Buckley.

The mills are built with watershot stone, with a graduated-slate hipped roof, and they are of fireproof floor construction supported by cylindrical cast-iron columns. The hipped roof has been partly replaced with a flat roof. They are 4 and 5-storeys high and 11-bays wide against Huddersfield Rd and 4-bays wide at the far end, by 45-bays long. The boiler house, octagonal tapering chimney, and engine house on the south west side date from 1871 and the office wing is on the north-east side.

Copley Mills are listed Grade II, List Entry No. 1162996 and they are in the Copley Conservation Area.

Also known as Cheetham’s Mill or Longlands Mill, this is the oldest surviving cotton-spinning mill in Stalybridge as the complex dates from 1805 when the first mill was built by George Cheetham (1757-1826). It was used to spin yarn for the hosiery industry and it became famous for its high-quality goods. The company was known as George Cheetham & Sons, the sons being, David (1797-1874) and John (1802-1886). John Frederick Cheetham (1835-1916), the son of John Cheetham, was also in the business. The two sons expanded the business in 1831 when they opened Bankwood Mill at the bottom of Park St, formerly Gas St.

Ranges were added to the 1805 mill in 1820/21 and 1827 with later alterations which were all completed before 1850. The surviving 1820/21 range was erected between Castle St and the river Tame, aligned north/south beside Caroline St, and a parallel range was added on the eastern side of this. The two parallel ranges were connected by cross wings fronting Castle St and the river Tame to form a courtyard. An archway in the 1820/21 range has a keystone dated 1820.

The surviving 1820/21 range is 4-storeys high by 24-bays long alongside Caroline St. Beside Castle St it is 4-storeys high by 5 bays with 3 lights (one large round-headed light flanked by smaller lights) in the gabled tympanum, and beside the river Tame it is 3 and 4-storeys high with one round-headed light in the gabled tympanum.

Castle Street Mills closed in 1896 but in the 1920s they were reopened by the Longland Mill Co (Stalybridge) Ltd as spun cotton and spun rayon doublers. Rayon was first introduced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though it was then known as ‘artificial silk’. The name ‘rayon’ was not adopted until 1924 in the United States. The Longland Mill Co (Stalybridge) Ltd went into liquidation in 1961.

The surviving 1820/21 range of Castle Street Mills is listed Grade II, List Entry No. 1338882.