Eagley Mills

Eagley Mills is a complex of former cotton mills in Eagley, Bolton, England. The complex is adjacent to a model village originally built for the millworkers. The surviving mill buildings have since been converted to residential use. Textile mills had existed on the site since the late 18th century, taking advantage of the Eagley Brook which flows through the site to power the machinery. The Chadwick brothers, James and Robert, began to redevelop the site in the 1820s. When James died in 1829 his brother amalgamated the business of Chadwick and Brother with that of J.N. Philips of Manchester, after which the model village was founded with houses, a school, a bowling green, a cricket pitch and a library. A park with a bandstand was created in 1850 where the Eagley Mills Band would play. The mills were converted from water power to steam in 1840. In 1871 the first of the large modern mill buildings was built on the north side of the river. This was to be known as No 3 Twist Mill (and now called Brook Mill). No 2 Twist Mill (now called Valley Mill) was built nearby in 1881 and the third and largest mill, No 1 Spinning Mill, was built in 1894. By then the company operated some 50,000 spindles and employed some 2000 workers. The mills were managed at one point by Arthur Greg, grandson of Samuel Greg, the founder of Quarry Bank Mill in Styal. In 1896 Chadwicks merged into the textile conglomerate of J & P Coats, who finally ceased production at Eagley in 1972, making 600 workers redundant. For the next few decades the buildings were used for a variety of industrial and commercial activities.