Quarry Bank Mill

Quarry Bank Mill

One of earliest landmarks of the Industrial Revolution, Quarry Bank Mill was a weaving and cotton spinning mill built in 1784 for Irish industrialist Samuel Greg. The mill was gradually expanded to its current size from 1809-1820. The mill was restored in 1969.

History

The mill was originally driven by an undershot waterwheel, the most powerful in Europe, but it was later converted to electricity. Quarry Bank Mill is an imposing building, standing 5 stories high with a frontage of 23 bays, with walls of red brick under a Welsh slate roof.

Quarry Bank Mill is an important reminder of our industrial past, with a surviving owner's house, manager's house, and workers' cottages showing what an early industrial complex was like.

Visitors can experience what it was like to be a mill worker, and tour the Apprentice House to see what life was like for the pauper children who were brought to Quarry Bank to work.

Nearby is the 'Secret Garden', the Greg family's private 8-acre retreat. A short walk from the mill brings you to Styal village, built by the Greg's to house workers at the mill. There are also pleasant woodland walks beside the River Bollin.

Taken as a whole, Quarry Bank is one of the most important industrial sites in Britain.