Report - Lightoller No.2 Mill/Haslam Print Works - Chorley - March 2021

[MK83]

History - Lightoller No.2 Mill was built by John Goodair in 1811 and, it was reputedly destroyed by a fire in February 1829 and rebuilt by the Lightoller family. It is the oldest remaining mill in Chorley and one of the oldest remaining examples of a steam powered cotton mill in the country. The grandson of Timothy Lightoller was commander Charles Herbert Lightoller who was the second officer on the Titanic and survived the disaster. The mill was sold to The Haslam printing company in 1949 and became a print works.

Explore - This place is directly next to the supermarket we go to a couple of times a week and is very local to us. We've been wanting to have a look inside for ages and noticed the other day that demolition has been carried out on parts of the site and work has started to turn the mill into apartments. We decided it was now or never. Access is straightforward and there's quite a bit of interesting stuff left over from it's time as a print works. There is also what looks like a mobile network cell in the tower with a server room full of interesting comms gear. There isn't a lot of evidence of the building's original function as a steam powered cotton mill sadly.

Thanks for looking.

 

[MK83]

Cool pictures. Nice to see inside after the fire and recant demo... thanks for the update

Thanks, we have had this on the list for a while tbh but not got round to it even though we drive past it about 3 times a week. Then after the fire and demo thought if we didn't get on it we'd miss it.

 

[Speed]

Good to see its not totally gone. Have they boshed the other bit down and just left it? Wouldnt mind a look but its miles away :

 

[MK83]

Good to see its not totally gone. Have they boshed the other bit down and just left it? Wouldnt mind a look but its miles away :

Yep they've flattened the 2 later wings and left the original mill bit. Apparently their turning it into apartments.