Macclesfield Mills

The Macclesfield Canal runs along the edge of hills close to the Pennines. It is mainly built along a fairly straight line with embankments and cuttings. The only locks are grouped together at Bosley, with 12 in the flight.
Along the northern end there were many textile mills and here are a few of them, no longer textile mills, but having found a new lease of life.

Goyt Mill, once one of several cotton mills in Marple, now houses various workshops and a children's soft play centre.

Clarence Mill, a cotton spinning mill which is now taken up with small manufacturing units and a popular cafe.

Adelphi Mill at Bollington was once a silk mill and is now coverted to offices.

The Hovis mill at Macclesfield, now apartment blocks. It originally produced the wholemeal loaf as a cheap nutritious food for the poor mill workers. It is said the famous loaf gets its name from the Latin "homo-vitalis" meaning strength for man.






 
Picture taken from Wikipedia
Paradise Mill down in the town of Macclesfield, where once raw silk was thrown (twisted), and woven.  It mainly houses small business, with the upper floor showing the processes involved in creating silk materials.
We had a wonderful tour of the top floor of the mill with opportunity to see many of the spooling, warp winders and weaving looms in action. The fascinating process of making the jacquard designs from original design, to punching the card pattern and threading the machine then the weaving itself was so interesting to see. Once again I could take photos inside but not publish them.