Quarry Bank Mill and Gardens

 In Brief.

Quarry Bank mill, with its associated workers village and apprentice house preserve and provide insights into the cotton industry that drove the industrialisation of Manchester and surrounding towns. The mill is substantial, and provides exhibits and demonstrations that track the transition from cottage industry to industrial production. The owners and workers lived on site, and a visit provides access to kitchen and leisure gardens, as well as to the area housing the worker's cottages.

The mill from the gardens.

What's Here?

Quarry Bank mill, which was in use from the 1780s to the 1960s, is a substantial site, with the mill at the centre. Located on the River Bollin, which still drives a waterwheel, the mill now provides a series of exhibition and demonstration spaces that show how cotton production evolved from a hands-on task at home to a large-scale industrialised process. The mill has working equipment that tracks the process from cotton bale to cloth, as well as demonstrations of spinning at home. The mill also includes a variety of exhibits that contrast the lifestyles of the mill owners and workers, and that recognise the dependence of the industrial revolution in Manchester on slave labour in the Caribbean.

The glasshouses in the upper garden.



In addition to the mill, the site includes a variety of spaces. There are formal gardens and rockeries adjacent to the river that lead to woodland walks downstream, and to the kitchen gardens and cafe in the upper garden.  Thus there is plenty of scope for exploring, including as far as the workers cottages in the adjacent village of Styal. 

Practicalities.

Distance from Manchester Town Hall: 12 miles

Drive Time: 35 minutes.

Price: Gardens: $$

Parking: Included.

Food and Drink: There is a restaurant in the mill and a cafe in the gardens, the latter with pleasant outdoor seating. I had a solid but interesting bread pudding at the cafe.

Retail therapy: There is a garden, a second hand bookshop and a Mill shop.  The latter has diverse collection of mill-related products and souvenirs, as well as assorted foodstuffs and cards.

Child Friendly: There is a play area near the mill, and quite a lot of the exhibits have been designed with young people in mind.

Toilets: Yes - in the mill and in the gardens.

Do it justice in: 3 hours.

Inside-Outside: 60:40

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