Macclesfield manufacturing history

 Home to silk with reputedly two hundred mills at one time. Home also to Hovis and now Astra-Zeneca, building on the home of the ICI pharmaceutical division at Alderly Park. Neighbouring Bollington had a number of cotton mills including the Clayton Mill shown in the image. I explore the wider cotton industry in How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World.

The story of Macclesfield offers a different perspective on the Industrial Revolution from the point of view of a medium sized town rather than one of the larger conurbations or cities.

Silk was relatively light to transport and so turnpike roads offered all that was needed. Macclesfield, set on a steep rise of land over looking the east Cheshire plane, was on the major turnpike routes and so offered access to London through which all raw silky then had to be imported and also the largest market for silk thread along with the hosiery towns of the East Midlands. Relevant skills were present through the button trade, there was also water power. So, the conditions were right for large scale silk spinning.

In the book, Silk Town: Industry and Culture in Macclesfield 1750-1835, Gail Malmgreen notes the growing population of the town after 1750 and the way the town attracted silk workers from other towns. Probably the key development was the introduction of machine spinning by John and Thomas Lombe, learnt by John in Italy and developed by both of them resulting in the silk mill in Derby. Macclesfield was one of the first of the other silk producing towns to embrace this development. An early mill was owned by Michael Daintry who employed James Brindley to repair some machinery. Brindley's reputation would grow and it was he who acted as surveyor for a number of canals not least the famous Bridgewater. It was, though, Charles Roe who took the mantle father of modern industry in the town.

Roe created a mill along the lines of the Derby original. He then sold out having other ambitions. This time it was copper using local ore and coal. All went well until the coal reserves depleted leaving not only Roe with the challenge of how to get supplies into the town. The answer was a canal, but the Duke of Bridgewater had other ideas stemming from his 'megalomaniac desire to be the "largest dealer as a carrier in Europe." The Bridgewater canal does not serve Macclesfield. For the Roe family it would result in a move away from the town.

Silk remained and grew in importance. Mills became larger and taller. Water powered, it was found that less power was lost in transmission without long horizontal shafts. In 1800 steam arrived courtesy of Boulton & Watt to replace water and increase further the size of mills and the power available. Power looms followed on the heals of powered spinning although their weight and vibration meant that long single story weaving sheds offered the only practical housing until the introduction of lighter 'throwing' machinery. Also silk being far more fragile than cotton and wool, hand looms continued for fine work until the twentieth century. Silk spinning and weaving was important in neighbouring towns and villages: Congleton, Stockport, Bollington but also smaller Wildboarclough and Gradbach.

Communications were now the key and the Macclesfield canal was completed in 1831 with a railway following in 1869 linking the town to Marple and thence to Manchester.

Alongside spinning and weaving came dyeing and printing. A crucial advantage enjoyed by the town was the clean, soft water provided by the river Bollin. Hollins Steam Laundry was set up by the river to take full advantage and served the local silk community. The laundry building was taken over by M. Adamski and F. Parker who added dyeing and printing. The company, Adamley, continues to manufacture in the town as the last remaining silk printer. It was not only silk.

Hovis flour was first milled in Macclesfield in 1898 and the Hovis Mill still stands by the canal. The business grew too big and moved to Trafford Park in Manchester in 1904.

AstraZeneca's second largest pharmaceutical manufacturing site is in Macclesfield employing 4,000 people. Only a few miles from Macclesfield is Jodrell Bank.

Further reading

Gail Malmgreen, Silk Town: Industry and Culture in Macclesfield 1750-1835 (Hull: Hull University Press, 1985)

The Silk Museum, Park Lane, Macclesfield

www.macclesfieldcanal.org