Togo Mill, 175 Trafford Road, Patricroft, Eccles

The Togo Mill was built by a group of Eccles businessmen, including the Mayor, Joseph Schofield, to provide local employment after the Springfield Mill was destroyed by fire. It was a five-storey mill, using a 1700 hp triple expansion steam engine to drive 115,000 mule spindles. Ownership passed to Barton Bridge Mills Ltd in 1922 and then to Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1933. Spinning had ceased by 1937, when the mill was acquired by the Cooperative Society Bakery. By 1964 it belonged to Thomas Fattorini mail order company and then was sold to John Myers mail order company by 1979. The demolition date is not known but the site has been occupied by Barton Brook Nursing Home since 1991.  [Salford Mills Survey 2018-2019]. 

TOGO MILL, PATRICROFT - On Friday, last week, the Mayor of Eccles cut the first sod as a commencement of work on this new mill, which is designed to spin twist ring yarn from American cotton, and mule yarn from Egyptian cotton, its full equipment being 115,000 spindles. The building, inclusive of boiler house and engine house, will cover an area of 5,400 sq. yds., which will be the extent of basement and of ground floor; the first, second, third, and fourth floors each covering 4,500 sq. yds. A departure is made 'from the ordinary method of using columns of cast-iron internally and bulky brick piers in the outside walls, by the design of a complete steel frame structure, the internal columns being of steel and the outside walls being carried by girders which rest on steel columns running down the centres of the piers. The piers are thus very much reduced in width and depth, and a considerable increase in window space and correspondingly greater access of light is the result. The floors are of concrete boarded over in the ordinary way. The roof is flat and capable of 'forming a reservoir for water. The machinery will be supplied by Messrs. John Hetherington & Sons, of Manchester. Power, provided by a 1,700 hp vertical triple expansion engine, will be transmitted by rope drives. The usual equipment of sprinklers, humidifiers, heating apparatus, and electric lighting will be provided. There will be two hoists, two stairways, and two fire escapes. [Builder 15 July 1905 page 74]

The mill was said to be named after the Japanese Admiral Togo. Togo was the victor in the naval battle of Tsushima Straits (1904), where the Russian fleet was virtually annihilated. This eventually led to the signing of the treaty of Portsmouth (US Portsmouth) as a result of US mediation between Russia and Japan.

Reference    Salford Textile Mills Survey 2018-2019. A research project by Mark Child, Rick McGarry and Salford U3A Local History Group
Reference    Builder 15 July 1905 page 74
Reference    Who’s Who in Architecture 1914