Report - Crimble Mill (Rochdale, 2019)

[Normski99]

Living quite near to the mill, there was a fire in the main mill after to 1950s and a fireman was scaling the mill opposite the main bridge, so standing on the bridge and looking at the mill around floors 5,6,7 there was a firemans boot imprint on the glass as the mill burnt. I've seen it was I was younger and it was well known in the area around 70s and 80s.

 

[Normski99]

Also mutal mill has air raid shelters, i was in them when I was a kid, I can give you information where they are located and can meet up to help. You may need something to get through the concrete they patched over the access points.

 

[slobberchops]

Not managed to get in here yet, not from lack of trying.

Smashing report as always.

Haha, same as me!

 

[Rosary_Boy]

Another one I never wrote up.
It’s been a struggle to remember which room was which but there’s quite a bit of detail in the listing which helped.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1187124

Brief history. The main four storey block started as a cotton mill c1825, then switched to wool processing at the end of the 1800s, with the last inhabitants being Roe Acre Dyeing and Finishing, who left in 2002.
Along the way, the power switched from water (two waterwheels are mentioned) to steam, with engine/boiler houses and chimneys being built then rebuilt.
Warehouses were added at the north and south ends along with sheds on the south-east side, leading to the current arrangement shown below in the aerial view.

There are three reports from 2017:
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/crimble-mill-rochdale-2017.115324/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/crimble-mill-july-2017.111366/
https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/crimble-mill-rochdale-july-2017.109308/

Not much has changed since, although the water tower and a few other sections get an outing in this effort.
The place is basically empty except for piles of rotting fabric from the dyeing business.
The part explored is outlined in red below - the rest still seems to be in use, although I’m not sure if all of it is.

My first attempt didn’t go well - I climbed in only to find that there was no battery in the camera I’d borrowed.
But I had a wander anyway, took some phone pics from the tower and went back a few months later.

As usual, my interest was mainly to see if any water-powered machinery remained.
As shown above, the water came from a weir on the River Roch, going under the building to turn an undershot wheel or wheels.
The weir and overflows are still there but mill pond/reservoir is now mostly overgrown wetland.

Front and rear.

Water was channelled under the building in two tunnels.
The top picture is a small culvert, looking from the river side, which has a sluice at the pond end, and was probably the overflow.
The second one starts as a large iron-lined rectangular opening which curves down under the mill - the picture below is looking back out.
This was presumably to funnel water to the wheel(s) although it’s now been roofed over.
As far as I remember there were remains of a sluice in front of this one as well.
The cavity ends in a wall containing a couple of pipes which are only about 2ft high, too small to bother with.

Interior pictures below are ordered upwards.

Ground. This was actually the last section I did, and I forgot to look for water power remains - but there definitely wasn’t a big wheel kicking around, just a floor where the wheel pit ought to be.
The floors in the main block are supported by three rows of columns - note the flat bolting faces at the top for attaching shafting - not as smart as the ones in Dalton Mills though.

Some workshop-type rooms - a newspaper in here dated from 2002, when the dyeing business stopped.
This bit was originally built as a fireproof warehouse with iron-tied brick arches spanning between iron beams - there are two more similar levels above, pretty empty, so not shown.

First. More flat-sided columns with iron side-pieces on top to transfer the load around around the wooden beams.

Rusty remains of iron sheeting hanging from the ceiling - a fireproofing measure.

A section with soggy offices full of old computers, phones etc - reception was evidently on this floor.

Second, third

[

The metal plate on the wall looks like it may have been a fixing for vertical shafting - there’s at least one more of these on the upper floors.

A bit of shafting left on the top floor of the southern warehouse.

Lift tower.

Fourth. One of the three rows of columns has been removed, maybe to fit in wider machines.

An oiler bottle for bearings I found under the stairs and a collection of dyes.

Attic. Odd lighting because the sun had just come up.

Views from the water tower, with the Mutual Mills complex on the horizon in the top one.
Two of these are set to be turned into apartments so there may be an opportunity for a wander here at some stage.
One of the engine houses is already derelict, although there’s nothing inside except a strip of plain banded tiling.

Crimble mill is listed because of the variety of structural features still discernible (water/steam power, fireproof/non-fireproof construction, early line-shafting) but it’s on the heritage at risk register.
Parts of both warehouse roofs have collapsed - the southern one apparently a couple of months before I last visited - and other areas are getting quite dodgy too.

place looks massive, great photos pal

 

[Ferret]

I stumbled across this place by accident driving around last year, tried to get in twice now. Really nice to see inside and a great report, cheers!

 

[willkay76]

Nice report! I grew up in Heywood and used to hang about round the woods nearby, never ventured inside as there was always security about back then.

 

[dave]

Another great report as usual i really do love a crumbling soggy old mill.