Victor Mill Syndicate Oakwood Mill

Victor Mill
This former mill was located on the south-west side of Tame St and it was bordered by the river Tame to the south. It was built of red enginering brick in 1903/04 by the Victor Mill syndicate, who also constructed the adjacent Premier Mill (1906/07) and Ray Mill (1907/08). Premier Mill was next door and Ray Mill was next door but one. Victor Mill was the first mill in Tameside built entirely for ring spinning and it used American and Egyptian cotton.

The Ring-spinning Frame

The invention of the ring-spinning frame is primarily credited to the American inventor John Thorp in Rhode Island in 1828.

Referring to the schematic diagram of a ring-spinning frame, the purpose of the drafting rollers is to thin out the roving into a fine strand of the desired thickness before it is twisted into yarn. To do this, the rollers rotate at progressively higher speeds from the back to the front. This produces a stretching action (the ‘draft’) and in so doing the rollers reduce the weight per unit length of the yarn, thus transforming a bulky roving into a fine strand.

From the rollers, the yarn passes through the guide to the ring, which does not physically twist the yarn. It acts as a guide rail for the tiny C-shaped clip called the ‘traveller’. The traveller is the primary ‘twist imparter’. The spindle carrying the bobbin or cop is directly driven and the traveller is dragged behind it by the yarn. Because of this, the traveller rotates slightly slower than the spindle and this causes the yarn to spin. The spindle typically rotates from 15,000 to 25,000 revolutions per minute.

The architect for the design of this 4-storey, red engineering brick mill was the renowned Sir Philip Sidney Stott of Oldham. A notable feature was the square water tower crowned with a rectangular cupola. When it opened it had 77,000 spindles powered by a 1,500 horse power inverted vertical triple expansion steam engine built by George Saxon & Co Ltd of Openshaw, Manchester.

In 1910/11 the three Stalybridge mill companies merged to form Victor Mill Ltd, employing around 1,500 workers. In 1929 Victor Mill Ltd was acquired by the Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers Association and in 1960 it was taken over by the Courtaulds Northern Textiles Division. In 1982 the mill ceased production and in 1985 it was demolished. The site was then re-developed for industrial use.

Premier Mill
The former Premier Mill, built of red enginering brick in 1906/07 to a design by Sir Philip Sidney Stott, was the second mill to be built by the Victor Mill Syndicate and it was the first mill in Tameside to be designed and powered by electricity from the outset. Its design was unusual for cotton mills in that it was a single-storey building. When it opened it was fully integrated with 21,000 ring spindles and 1,017 looms, all driven by electric motors. It obtained its electricity supply from the Tame Valley Generating Station. The sequence of ownership of Premier Mill was the same as for Victor Mill.

Tame Valley Generating Station

This generating station, aka the SHMD Joint Board Power Station (Stalybridge, Hyde, Mossley and Dukinfield), was first power station in the area and it was primarily built to power the district's newly electrified tramway system. It was located a short distance to the south of the three syndicate mills on Park Rd on the opposite side of the river Tame.

It featured three inverted vertical triple expansion steam engines built by Yates & Thom Ltd, each driving a 500 kW alternator built by Dick, Kerr & Co Ltd. The equipment produced a three-phase output of 6,000V at 40Hz. The high voltage was reduced from 6,000V to 400V by three British Westinghouse transformers made in Trafford Park, Manchester, and housed within Ray Mill itself. Later, British Westinghouse became Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co (Metrovicks).

The power station remained in use until 1932 and the building still stands today, while the adjacent tram depot was demolished. It is currently being used by Beck & Pollitzer Engineering Ltd.

Ray Mill
The former Ray Mill, built of red enginering brick in (1907/08) to a design by Sir Philip Sidney Stott, was the third mill to be built by the Victor Mill Syndicate. It was also fully electrically powered from its start, taking power from the Tame Valley Generating Station. This 5-storey mill was built with red engineering brick and a notable feature was the square water tower crowned by a cupola. It contained 66,528 ring spindles and 9,000 doubling spindles. The sequence of ownership of Premier Mill was the same as for Victor Mill but it survived demolition in 1985 to be put to alternative use. However, on the 17 Mar 2018 a huge devastating fire broke out in the mill and it was so badly damaged that it was subsequently demolished. The building was housing 15 businesses at the time of the fire.

Oakwood Mill located on the north side of Grenville St and it was built in the 1850s but is now derelict. On the south side of Grenville St was Staley Mill and both mills were originally worked by the Staly [sic] Mill Co. Later, both mills were worked by the associated companies, Staley Mill Co Ltd and the Millbrook Spinning Co Ltd but Staley Mill is no longer extant. The fireproof Oakwood Mill was built of millstone grit and it originally had a slate roof. It is 3-storeys high by 13 bays long. The crenellated clock tower is dated 1857 and it is likely that the mill was completed around this time.

The mill specialised in the manufacture of spun yarn with medium counts of twist per inch (TPI). In the manufacture of spun yarn, a medium twist produces optimum smoothness and softness of the woven fabric.

At first, the mill was powered with a beam engine but in 1908 this was replaced by a triple-expansion steam engine built by Yates & Thom Ltd of the Canal Ironworks/Canal Foundry, Manner Sutton St, Blackburn. This was housed in a new engine house with internal white-glazed bricks. New boilers and rope drives were also installed. By 1911 this engine was powering 59,000 mule spindles and 7,000 ring spindles.

Both mill companies went into liquidation in 1935 and the machinery was sold off in 1937. Oakwood Mill then stood vacant until it was repurposed to house Italian Prisoners of War during the World War II. After the war the mill returned to industrial use, including cotton spinning (until 1961) and bleaching and dyeing by the Dukinfield Bleaching Co Ltd. In Feb 2018, the mill suffered a major structural failure when floors collapsed due to heavy ice and rain.

The derelict Oakwood Mill is Grade II listed, List Entry No. 1084302.