The second Ellenroad mill. Rebuilt as a ring mill
When it was first built in 1882 at the height of the Victorian Golden Age, the original ‘fireproof’ mill was an imposing red brick building spinning cotton and boasted 99, 756 mule spindles producing the finest grade cotton. In 1916 the mill building burnt down and, rebuilt replacing the slower mules with ring frames, was finally reopened in 1920; a bitter blow for our braves lads coming back from the Great War and only a few short years before the hardships of the great depression.
But Lancashire folk are a hardy breed, having survived the upheaval of the move from cotton spinning as a cottage industry and the American civil war resulting in the Lancashire cotton famine 1861-1865, and the mill stayed open for business until as recently as 1982. In 1985 the mill was demolished leaving just the engine house.