Minerva Mill Atlas Mill

This former cotton spinning mill was located at the bottom of Minerva Rd in the Whitelands District of Ashton, and it was in a 90° bend in the river Tame. Its neighbour to the east was Texas Mill at the bottom of Texas St. The mill was built in 1891/92 for the Minerva Spinning Co Ltd and this company was the founder member of the Ashton Syndicate. This syndicate was a consortium of investors responsible for financing the construction of seven large cotton spinning mills in Ashton-under-Lyne during the early 20th century. The primary members of the syndicate, all directors of the Minerva Spinning Co Ltd, were: Edwin Barlow, George Henry (Harry) Coop (1866-1922), Lees Hyde Marland (1863-1925), Samuel Newton, John William Pollitt (1867-1930), and Joseph Boothby Pownall (1864-1911). In 1921 the Ashton Syndicate was re-floated as the Atlas Mills Group (Atlas Mills Ltd). The seven mills in Ashton were: Atlas, Cedar, Curzon (aka Alger), Minerva, Rock, Texas, and Tudor.

The architect for the design of this mill was the renowned Sir Philip Sidney Stott, 1st Baronet (1858-1937) of Oldham and the contractors were E J Smethurst of Oldham. The steam engine was a triple expansion engine built by Daniel Adamson & Co Ltd of Newton Moor Iron Works, Adamson St, off Dewsnap Ln, Dukinfield. The mule frames were provided by John Hetherington & Sons Ltd of Vulcan Works, Pollard St, Ancoats, Manchester. At startup there were 80,868 spindles rising to 93,828 spindles by 1903.

The mill ceased cotton spinning in the 1920s, during the decline of the Lancashire cotton industry, and it was demolished in 1937.

Minerva Spinning Co Advertisement

The company name, ‘Minerva’, refers to the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, victory, and sponsor of trade, arts, and strategy.

In English cotton spinning, two values separated by a slash (6s/44s) indicate that two different yarns have been plied or twisted together (called doubling), where ‘s’ stands for ‘singles’. The higher the number, then the thinner or finer the yarn is.

In this example (6s/44s) indicates that a thick or coarse (6s) single yarn and a thin or fine single (44s) yarn have been plied or twisted together to create a blended yarn having a Resultant Count with a specific texture or strength.

The Resultant Count (R) of this blend is 5.28s, which means that the fabric would be of a thick nature suitable for stockings, garments, cushion covers, towels, table runners, etc.

The value 5.28 (R) is calculated as follows:

1/R = 1/6 + 1/44

∴ 1/R ≃ 0.1667 + 0.0227 ≃ 0.1894

∴ R ≃ 1/0.1894 ≃ 5.28s

For comparison purposes, McConnel & Co Ltd of Ancoats, Manchester, advertised counts from 40s/200s. The Resultant Count (R) of this blend is 33.33s, which is a medium-fine yarn typically soft and versatile.

This former cotton-spinning mill was located on Atlas St in the Waterloo District of Ashton, off the east side of Oldham Rd and it was about 200 yards to the south east of Rock Mill. The mill was built in 1898/1900 by the Ashton Syndicate (the Minerva Spinning Co Ltd was the founding member). The architect for the design of this mill was Sir Philip Sidney Stott and the contractors were J Partington & Sons of Middleton Junction, Middleton/Chadderton.

The mill was built with red engineering bricks, which are dense, high-strength, bricks specifically designed for structural performance. It was 4-storeys, with a basement, and it had yellow-brick decoration. The large windows along its length were in groups of three. A notable feature was the ‘Hotel-de-Ville’ style water tower. The 6-bay engine house, boiler house and chimney were to the north. The chimney featured Stott’s trademark, two rings near the top. The steam engine was built by George Saxon & Co Ltd of Openshaw, Manchester, and the mill operated around 72,928 spindles using mule frames.

In 1921 the mill became part of the Atlas Mills Group (Atlas Mills Ltd), a re-float of the Ashton Syndicate where it was used as the headquarters of Group. In 1929 it became part of the Lancashire Mills Corporation (LCC). In 1964 it was absorbed into Courtaulds Northern Textiles Division following its acquisition of LCC. In 1987 Atlas Mill switched to spinning artificial fibres, such as rayon, but in Sep 1990 production ceased and the mill was closed by Courtaulds. It was the last mill in Ashton to cease spinning. In 1994 the mill was demolished and the site was developed for housing.