A modern building, Unit 1 was constructed in 1978 and in 1987/88 there was a £6 million reinvestment in No.6 Mill and it became known at Howe Bridge Mill DORMA. The damp climate also made the town ideal for cotton spinning. Between 1873 and 1875, mineowners Fletcher Burrows built a small model village at Howe Bridge, comprising cottages, shops, a village club, and a bath house for their employees. One of my daughters and one of my sons worked in the mill in the 1990s until it closed. The site was used briefly to host a travelling fun fair but this in turn caused too much anti-social disruption to local residents.

Signed Bill Partington The only surviving buildings were Nos. The Atherton Botanical Garden Club, a social club formed in 1850. James Pearson Fletcher and Abraham Burrows acted as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Howe Bridge Cotton Spinning Company, along with five other directors. One is the farmstead or village of a man named Aethelhere, an Old English personal name and the suffix tun, meaning an enclosure, farmstead or manor estate;[3][4] another is adre, Saxon for little brook with the suffix tun. 1068474: National Heritage List England no. ( Log Out / 

The fire was caused by friction on the spinning mule of William Pemberton, who was working on the four floor of the mill. Just to add the Howe Bridge Mill No. Although, once the units had moved out of the spaces, the windows were taken out leaving the building deliberately exposed to both the elements and vandals. ( Log Out /  There was a real sense of community among the workers of Howe Bridge Mills and it is something which the company also aimed to inspire. 1 of 2 2 bevans Site Admin. Atherton's last deep coal mine closed in 1966, and the last working cotton mills closed in 1999. Dr. Martin was called in and after examining the lad expressed the opinion no bones were broken. The present church dedicated to St John the Baptist was consecrated in 1879. Coal projects on Atherton Tablelands - Rail Required, http://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/announcements.do?by=asxCode&asxCode=MNM&timeframe=D&period=W, http://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/displayAnnouncement.do?display=pdf&idsId=01307750. Subscribers: bevans, Draffa, Nightfire, QR-INTERAIL, qredge, RTT_Rules. Burrows also arrived at the scene, the latter man “working most assiduously“. The boy’s sister, Ada, who works at the same mill, was greatly shocked at his misfortune, and altogether the scene in the house was a very affecting one. [45], A pseudo-Egyptian obelisk near the south-east corner of the parish church, similar to one in Leigh, was probably built for Robert Vernon Atherton in 1781. Atherton had its share of mining disasters, on 11 February 1850 five men died in a gas explosion caused by a lighted candle at Gibfield[31] and 27 men died at Lovers Lane Colliery after a firedamp explosion caused by blown-out shot on 28 March 1872. By the dawn of the twentieth century, the majority of the population were employed in the towns five mills or numerous collieries.

1068475: National Heritage List England no.

His back and ankles were severely sprained by the fall. It was designed by the architects J.J. Bradshaw & Gass and was described by the Leigh Journal upon its opening as “the handsomest and most substantial erection in Lancashire”. A supermarket chain agreed to purchase the land from Realty Estates as long as the building was demolished first. The Fletcher family had access to the mining rights under Atherton since the eighteenth century and their company controlled the Atherton Collieries with several pits in the area at Howe Bridge, Chanters and Gibfield. Mrs. Brown, on seeing her son, fainted and for a considerable time had to be attended to by the neighbours. Encouraged by the proximity of outcrops of coal, iron was brought from Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Spain. Change ).

It was subsequently sold for residential development as you rightly state. The new engine was christened by Mrs Jackson and Mrs Burrows with a celebration of lemonade, as both women were active supporters of the temperance movement. He later married and had a son. [1] Roman Catholics celebrated mass in a loft behind the Star and Garter public house on Tyldesley Square until Sacred Heart Church opened in Hindsford in 1869. Gen time: 1.4304s | RAM: 11.68kb. [1] Atherton's last deep coal mine closed in 1966, and the last working cotton mills closed in 1999.

4 mill a few years later. His leg was trapped and deeply cut by the machinery and he died half an hour after the accident of exhaustion and blood loss. Along with neighbouring Shakerley, Atherton has been associated with coal mining and nail manufacture since the 14th century, encouraged by its outcrops of coal.

1309438: National Heritage List England no. 3 mill in one of the rooms filled with waste.

In March 1956, No. Alexander Naylor was taxed on his goods in 1332, showing the industry was present for at least 600 years. The first part of the mill was built in 1868 and it was intended to provide employment to the wives and daughters of men employed within Fletcher’s collieries. For about 300 years from the 17th century Atherton was referred to as 'Chowbent', which was frequently shortened to Bent, the town's old nickname. [18] This portion of Atherton was incorporated into Leigh in 1894 and the area became a public park. As early as 1869 John Skelton of Atherton Post Office complained the influx of new people to the area made delivering post difficult and that all houses in the district ought to be numbered. This was No. [1] There are chapels of the Wesleyan, Baptist, Independent Methodist, and Primitive Methodist denominations; a Congregational church at Howe Bridge was opened in 1904. Evidence of a Roman road and Bronze Age settlement have been found in the area. Christopher Saxton's map shows that there was a mediæval deer park in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. © Thomas McGrath and ‘www.ifthosewallscouldtalk.wordpress.com’, [2015-2020]. Three girls in the cotton mixing room, Howe Bridge Mills, c.1918 [22], Atherton, along with neighbouring Shakerley, was associated with coal mining and nail manufacture.

Atherton Collieries A.F.C., formed in 1916. The damage was estimated to cost £40,000 (£3,393,000 in modern terms) and all the machinery and around 90 bales of cotton were lost, although some yarn was saved. . Mantle Mining (ASX:MNM) have been active on projects in queensland and have just made an annoucement to the stock exchange regarding a queensland project. Getting outside he clung to the window sill for a few moments, and then let go of his hold and fell onto the engine shed. Howe Bridge Mills subsequently becoming the company’s headquarters. [20], In 1715, during the Jacobite Uprising the supporters of the Old Pretender were marching on Preston.

Coal projects on Atherton Tablelands - Rail Required; Search thread Image gallery.

[10] The site of Gadbury Brickworks at the Gibfield Colliery site has been excavated, and evidence of Roman and possibly earlier settlements found.[11]. They must be able to come down the kurandah range through the tunnels,also would the 80 ton(coal hoppers) fit the tunnels with lower loads. The coal would only be able to come down the relaid Greenvale line and then on to Abbott Point for export as I am sure Townsville would not want a coal stockpile in the limited area in the Harbour. Dan Lane Spinning and Doubling Mills were built in the 1840s and lasted until the 1950s. National Heritage List England no. It was also duringthis time that Atherton’s traditionalcottage based In the former mill buildings there was an indoor go-karting track, plumbing and bathroom merchants and children’s play area (Cheeky Chimps). 3 & 6 mills (built 1890 & 1919), Unit 1 and the former offices. He accidentally fell from the fifth storey. As industrialisation gathered pace, local weavers felt threatened by the advent of powered looms, and in April 1812 a mob smashed the machines and burnt down a new factory, Westhoughton Mill, in neighbouring Westhoughton. Every August the Howe Bridge Spinning Company hosted a gala and sports day, complete with trophies and medals for winners. This post is going to focus on the Howe Bridge Mills, knocked down in 2014. A number of people were treated for rope burns and women especially seemed to suffer from shock: “Elizabeth Ann Brain, a piecer, living on Water Street, besides cuts received a serious shock to the system. Even in the 1950s there were still trips to Blackpool taking place for the workers. However in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the discovery of coal… She was sliding down a rope from the top room, and had reached the third storey safely, when she fainted and, leaving hold of the rope, she fell to the ground. The first Howe Bridge Mill was a described as a fine building, being four storeys high, 200 feet long and 105 feet in width and supposedly made up of a million bricks. The Chow – also recorded as Chew, Cholle and Chowl – family were tenants of the Athertons living at the valley by Chanters Brook. A variety of nails were made, lath nails, slate nails, thatching nails and sparrowbills. The workers were able to escape down the fire ladder and there was minimal damage. His daughter, Elizabeth, married Robert Gwillym and their son, Robert Vernon Atherton, married Henrietta Maria Legh. The archaeological works at Gadbury found evidence of coal mining believed to date back to the 14th century.

However, on 20 May 1887 disaster struck the Howe Bridge Mills again, when another fire broke out.

However those on the top floor (above the fire) were prevented from using the stairs by smoke, so they took to breaking the windows to use ladders and ropes.

1068470: National Heritage List England no. [26] In 1845 the era of deep mining arrived with the sinking of Fletcher's Lover's Lane pit at Howe Bridge. These pipes led across every floor where there were yet more hoses. Atherton & District Amateur Photographic Society, formed in 1938. [32] On 6 March 1957 eight men died at Chanters Colliery after an explosion of gas.

It pit closed in 1959. She was removed into a house near the mill, and afterwards taken home in  cab where she was attended by Dr. Evans.

The money raised supported the Welfare Association. Today the town is a large retail centre: almost 20% of those employed in the area work in the wholesale and retail trade, although there is still some significant manufacturing industry in the town. A new chapel on the site was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester in 1814. They were considered and eye-sore and to be unsafe. Central Park, a 10-acre public park, was created in 1912. In fact the majority of the damage in this incident was caused by water damage to the machines. St Anne's Church, Hindsford was originally a mission occupying a barn which was replaced in 1901 by a church designed by Austin and Paley on Tyldesley Road. Swimming baths opened in Mayfield Street in 1902 and a swimming club was formed, the baths closed in 2005 and the Atherton & Leigh Amateur Swimming Club moved to the new Leigh Sports Village facility in 2008.[56]. Today, all that remains of these great industries are two mills. I for my sins worked for Realty Estates until my retirement in 2017 and visited the mill many times between 2002 until it’s closure. They controlled the Atherton Collieries with several pits in the area at Howe Bridge, Chanters and Gibfield. [1], Opinions differ as to the derivation of the name. Lord Lilford could not afford the upkeep of another house and Atherton Hall was put up for sale but, after failing to sell, it was demolished in 1824. The New Bent or Chowbent Chapel, the earliest Nonconformist chapel in Atherton, was built in 1721 and opened in 1722. Thomas Blakemore was the first in 1843 and by 1853 there were eight makers of nuts and bolts including James Prestwich and Robert Parker.

Although, unlike the other buildings this new mill was powered by electricity. In summer 2014 No.6, No.