Orr Cotton Mills

The work goes on … Mr Macmillan and his party watch a machinist at work in the making-up room. On the far left is Sir Cuthbert Clegg, managing director of shore Mills.

PM’s mill visit not just for the camera

It’s not all that often that high-flying politicians visit Rochdale, except when a general election in in the air.

It was all good fun and a good photo opportunity for the London lensmen following in Mr. Blair’s footsteps.

Years ago, politicians didn’t always visit towns when they felt an election was in the offing.

In 1959, Harold Macmillan had only been in office for two years, with a further three to go, when he visited the Rochdale district on April of that year.

He was given an enthusiastic welcome with hundreds of people lining the road from Whitworth to Littleborough where he spent about two hours at the Shore Mills of E Clegg and Son Ltd.

Accompanied by his wife, Lady Dorothy, the Prime Minister was cordially greeted by Sir Cuthbert Clegg and Lady Clegg and were then introduced to Mr and Mrs Angus Orr, Mr R C Lees-Milnes, Mr G C Orr, and Mr D Bolton, with whom was Mr Tony Leavey, MP for the Heywood and Royton division.

Crofthead Mill, Neilston

This mill was built for cotton spinning on the banks of the Levern by the Orr family after the disastrous fire of 1883 which burned down the original building erected by Stewart, Orr & Co in 1792.

By 1830 Crofthead was the biggest producer of spun cotton in the county and remained with the Orrs until 1914 through a series of alliances i.e. R.F. & J.Alexander of Glasgow (1859), English Sewing Co (1898) when it was taken over by Tootal & Co Ltd.

In its time it attracted thousands of workers to Neilston with good living and working conditions.

The mill, finally owned by the large Coats Viyella thread producers, closed in 1993.

————–

The next mill on the Levern is Orr’s Crofthead Mill, the first of six cotton mills which used the Levern water. Crofthead Mill was built in the 1790s (perhaps by Stewart, Orr and Co.) as a cotton-spinning mill. At first the company had a problem with the supply of water. Because of the number of factories using the water from Waterside to Crofthead, the supply fell badly in summer. The problem was solved by the formation of a consortium of the companies concerned, who agreed to meet the cost of increasing the supply of water by building dams at the Long Loch, the Harelaw and the Commore, and compensating the farmers affected for the loss of land involved. A control point was built at Commore Dam. As all the other firms went out of existence it eventually fell to Crofthead Mills to effect care and maintenance of the dams.

By 1830 Orr’s Crofthead Mill was the biggest producer of spun cotton of the six companies on the river and was continuing to expand. In 1859 Orr and Co. combined with R.F. and J. Alexander and Co., who operated the mill at Duke Street, Glasgow, on the Molendinar Burn. The Neilston mill became known as R.F. and J. Alexander and Co. Ltd of Neilston and Glasgow, and traded worldwide in finished cotton thread products.

Number 1 mill was burned down in 1883, and from then on a series of new mills was built, the last being the spool-turning department, completed just before the end of the century. The spool-turning department became uneconomical and was closed in the early 1960s. This factory, quite a large five-storey building, was demolished in 1968.

In 1898 Alexander’s joined the combine called the English Sewing Cotton Company Ltd; the Duke Street mills were closed in 1906 and the whole business was concentrated at Crofthead. This brought quite an influx of workers from Glasgow, who settled mainly in the new property on Holehouse Estate which had just recently been completed; many, however, continued to travel from Glasgow. At this time the firm was employing between 1250 and 1500 workers. The Orr family maintained an active interest in the business through Mr. Archibald Orr until 1914. The company now operates under the name of Tootal and Co. Ltd.

Orr’s mill benefited greatly from having a railway station and goods yard nearby (Neilston Low Station was just across the main road). The fact that coal could be brought virtually to the doorstep was a major factor when steam power became the in thing. Alas, steam power is now a thing of the past and so too are the Low Station and goods yard. The mills now depend on electricity for light and power.

Spool turning in the wood workshop

Why Cotton in Lancashire?

The cotton industry came about in the northern climates of Scotland, Lancashire, Cheshire, Nova Scotia because of the right amount of humidity in the air. Cotton is a highly flammable product to spin, and couldn’t be spun in the drier southern states or counties, as static could build up too easily. Workers on the spinning floors would have to work in bare feet, or socks originally, and wear or use nothing that could cause a spark. Fires did still happen, hence the disasturous fire at Crofthead in 1883.

The cottage wool industry had already created the skills, and with the trade routes to the New World and Egypt, cotton imports came into demand. Water power was needed, hence the mills were on rivers, then steam power, and then  electric power. 

Tower top from the Bamber Mill, all that is left today.