Crest Mill, Rochdale

Two storey ring mill on the bank of the Rochdale Canal and to the north-east of Ensor Mill. The company was registered on 4 April 1906, to erect a cotton spinning mill, and to carry on the business of cotton spinners, manufacturers, doublers, dyers etc.

FORMAL STARTING OF THE CREST MILL CREATING A RECORD - The engine at the Crest Mill, Castleton, was christened on Saturday afternoon by Mrs. Hitchon Hitchon, of Lauriston, in the presence of a large number of ladies and gentlemen. … The chairman, Mr. W. H. Waller presided over the ceremony and pointed out that the Crest Mill had been built and partly equipped in less than a year. On 24 April last year, the first sod was cut. and on the 13th of April this year they had met to witness the naming of the engine, which was really the formal recognition of the starting of the mill. 

Mr. Sidney Stott of Oldham, the architect for, the mill, gave a description of the building. saying that in its arrangement it was almost unique. He knew of only one other mill like it, and that was "the Valley" which was also erected from plans prepared in his office. The mill was so arranged that instead of the cardroom being beneath the spinning room, as was usually the case, the spinning room was underneath the cardroom. The whole of the second storey was occupied by the scotching and cardrooms, and after the cotton had been prepared on the roving frames it was taken down to the ground floor to be spun on the ring frames. From here it was taken to a small room about which he would say nothing beyond that in it the cotton underwent a certain process which enabled the winders to do their work the more easily. The winding and warping room being on the same floor the spinning room, once the cotton came from the cardroom it had not to be lifted again to another floor as was generally the case. After paying a tribute to the builders and other contractors for the excellent manner in which they were carrying out their work, Mr. Stott said that some time ago be volunteered not to prepare plans for or take part in the promotion of any other mills for a number of years if his brother promoters would do the same. He was sorry to say. however, that none of his brother promoters had come forward and said "Yes, we will back you up." Since the day that be made this offer, he had not commenced any further mill, but he could see his competitors still forging ahead, and unless be wished to be left in the lurch he would feel it his duty to take on the erection of three or four mills very soon.

 THE ENGINE AND THE MACHINERY -Mr. Frank Shore, the representative of Messrs. Petrie and Company Limited, Rochdale, the makers of the engine. in describing It, said it was of the Inverted vertical triple expansion type of 1,300 hp, with a four feet stroke, and was capable of running at a speed of 75 revolutions per minute. with 180 lbs boiler pressure. The high-pressure cylinder had double-ported Corliss valves fitted with Petrie and Dowell’s patent automatic, cut off with a range from 0 to three quarters of the stroke. The intermediate and low-pressure cylinders have piston valves of improved type adjustable by hand. With a diameter of 22 feet the fly rope pulley is grooved from 30 ropes of 1 5/8-inch diameter. A two-cylinder barring engine is provided for turning the main engine, through pinion and spur segments attached to the rope pulley and so arranged that on the main engine starting the spur pinion is automatically thrown safely out of gear. The Chairman explained that the Crest was the first mill in the Rockdale district to be filled with Messrs Brooks and Doxey's machinery. He therefore asked the firm's representative to briefly describe the machinery. Mr. J. Cordingley stated that he secured the order for the whole of the machinery for Messrs. Brooks and Doxey on March 29th, 1906. The agreement was signed on April 10th, and on October 31st his firm made the first delivery of machinery. On February 13th of this year, he saw yarn from the Crest Mill on the Manchester Exchange. This, he believed, created a record. Regarding the machinery that is In the card and blowing room, this was from the firm's latest models and was capable of dealing with 70,000 lbs. of cotton per week. There were 96 cards, 24 drawing frames, eight slubbing frames, 15 intermediate frames, 48 roving frames and 144 ring frames. These ring frames which contained several special features, has a total of over 66,000 spindles.

Contractors for the mill: Messrs R. and T. Howarth, Rochdale; engine, Messrs. Petrie and Company Limited. Rochdale; machinery. Messrs Brooks and Doxey. Manchester; shafting. David Bridge and Company. Castleton; electric lighting, Rochdale Electric Company Limited, Shawclough; sprinklers, Messrs George Mills and Company, Radcliffe; glazing Mr J. A. Mills; and woodwork Messrs Ashworth and Woolfenden. [Heywood Advertiser - Friday 19 April 1907 page 6]

Spinning ceased in 1941 under wartime restrictions. For six years a handful of maintenance engineers kept the 72,504 spindles in working order, However the mill failed to re-open in 1947 because of a shortage of operatives. The mill was subsequently sold and the machinery stripped out and exported to Budapest.

Reference    Heywood Advertiser - Friday 19 April 1907 page 6
Reference    Manchester Evening News - Friday 27 June 1947 page 6
Reference    Manchester Evening News - Saturday 27 September 1947 page 1 - machinery exported to Budapest