On the 30th July 2024, Tatton Probus member Charles Watson organised a trip to Leigh Spinners Mill for a couple of dozen members and partners. The property, which dominates the Leigh landscape, consists of two 6 storey factory buildings, in between which there is an imposing chimney stack. The whole property was Grade 2 listed in 1990. This is their website: https://www.spinnersmill.co.uk/index.php where you can find out when the mill is open. And more information can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Spinners Information from these sites has been used to provide quite a bit of the information on this web page.
A product of the last generation of cotton mill building, Leigh Spinners was designed by Bolton architects Bradshaw, Gass & Hope for John Horrocks, and was built in two phases.
The east section (the tower of which is now home to nesting Peregrine Falcons), comprising a mill, boiler house and chimney stack, was built in 1913, and the matching west section was completed ten years later. One of the few double mills to be completed, it is also one of the most complete that is still standing in Greater Manchester. Part of the factory is occupied by Leigh Spinners Ltd, still run by the Horrocks family, who have manufactured carpets since 1969, and, since 2012, synthetic turf products for landscaping and sport. During our visit, we were told that a century ago, there were dozens of mills in Leigh, but almost all have now gone. The two large turbine engines (named Mayor and Mayoress) which originally powered the mill, have not been used in anger for decades, although they are still intact.
Because of its size, and the consequent cost of any changes, and because of the Grade 2 listing, which imposes many restrictions on what work can be carried out, maintenance of the structure of the mill was a big problem for the owners. Production of the carpets and artificial turf took place on the lower floors, with the top four no longer being used, and this led to deterioration of the mill’s fabric. This was highlighted in various reports, from English Heritage, and Historic England, and these can be found on the internet if you are interested. As a result of these reports, the Leigh Building Preservation Trust charity was formed to oversee remedial work.
By January 2019, the younger of the two mill buildings had had extensive roof repairs, allowing the charity to advance the restoration of several floors, converting what had been a single vast open area on each floor into a number of smaller units (a process which is still continuing). In October 2020, the charity appointed former MP Jo Platt, as the General Manager for the project, in order to develop existing services and introduce new ideas. Twelve months later, the building was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection into the government’s Culture Recovery Fund.
Sport England funding enabled the conversion of one floor to accommodate a Table Tennis Club, Martial Arts, Cheerleading, Archery and a gym, along with a café and other facilities. Local scout troops regularly use one of the units. Since then, the other floors have been , and are continuing to be,developed, with music studios and arts spaces, including a cinema. There is even what could be the smallest pub in Britain (but sadly we were too early for a pint!). We were told that virtually all the existing units, as well as those that are planned, have been taken – some by charities, but most by local artists/tradespeople, all offering a unique service, with no duplication. Many of these businesses are start-ups. There is also a gallery, where a local photography group were displaying some excellent examples of their members’ work.
Although much work has been carried out to restore the steam engines, we learned on our tour that a lot more money would be needed to get them fully working again. But even if sufficient funds were found, it is unlikely they could be used to generate electricity because a huge amount of steam would be required to get the engines going, and there is no boiler capacity as the boiler house is now used for other purposes.
As well as looking round the various business units and recreation areas recently established in the mill, and the engine room from its former life, we also visited the heritage centre which has lots of exhibits from the last century which would have been very familiar to those who worked there up to 100 years ago (and indeed, many items were familiar to our group, bringing back childhood memories).
All in all, it was an excellent and very interesting visit – I think many of us thought it would be very worthwhile to go back and investigate the retail outlets at a future date (and maybe get a beer in the tiny pub). The trip was rounded off by an excellent late fish and chip lunch in the dining area of the award-winning Green Lane chippy, a few minutes walk from the mill. Thanks to Charles for organising a very successful outing – you’re obviously very good at it Charles, so …..!