NEWCASTLE UNDER LYME JUNCTION CANAL ROUTE

Newcastle-under-Lyme College on the A34
the location of the junction of the coal wharf and terminus of Gresley's canal is lost beneath the college grounds alongside the A34.

The Cotton Mill, Liverpool Road, Cross Heath, Newcastle

1960 - 1969 (c.)
Cross Heath cotton mill was built by Richard Thompson in 1797.
Thompson also built apprentice houses and mill workers' cottages, and generally looked after his staff. The mill continued in textile manufacture until the 1960s.

Royal Doulton took over a newer part of the mill and renamed it Swift House. At a later date the original mill was completely demolished and Swift House built on the site.

"... there was no great rush to built new factories next to the canals. Only four substantial industrial works were built next to the Newcastle canals and even those were built over a long period of time from 1797 to 1825.

The first of these works was the cotton mill built by Richard Thompson, a cotton manufacturer from Burton-on-Trent. Thompson had started out as a superintendent and then become a partner in Peel, Yates & Company's cotton factory in Burton. In the mid 1790s he decided to establish his own concern and bought a site for a new factory on the north side of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

It is not known why he chose Newcastle for this venture but the site next to Gresley's canal was clearly chosen to facilitate the supply of coal from Apedale. The cotton mill was opened in 1797 and the complex included a detached Georgian house for the factory owner and apprentice houses and mill workers' cottages which fronted Liverpool Road.

Machinery to spin cotton was installed powered by a Boulton and Watt steam engine of forty horse power."

Andrew Dobraszczyc's notes (2004)

Swift House, Liverpool Rd, Newcastle under Lyme
At Cross Heath on the northwest outskirts of Newcastle,

this cotton mill building located between Gresley's Canal and the Junction Canal now houses firms dealing in motorbikes and mobile phones.

the original cotton mill building can be clearly seen behind the cladding and extensions

Brampton Sidings

Brampton Sidings at the junction of Hempstalls Lane - opposite Station Walks. The Junction Canal ran close to the Brampton Sidings Industrial Estate.

The Brampton Silk Mill, Newcastle

1950 - 1970 (c.)
Silk throwing came to Newcastle in the early nineteenth century.
At one time about one hundred people worked in the industry in Newcastle, however by the late 1860s only one silk throwster remained in the district.

The Brampton Silk Mill was owned by Bridgett & Co and is here pictured before alterations took place to convert the building into Photopia.

© Borough Museum and Art Gallery, Newcastle under Lyme (Staffordshire Past Tracks)

"....the years 1815 to 1825 were years of prosperity for the silk industry in England.... during this period three mills were built in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The first mill was built on Marsh Parade in 1815.

Ten years later the Staffordshire Advertiser reported on 2 April 1825:

"The Silk trade appears to be making progress in Newcastle and the neighbourhood; a factory of moderate size, is in course of erection in that town"

The "factory of moderate size" was Brampton Silk Mill built between the Newcastle Junction Canal and Hempstalls Lane in 1825. It was constructed at the very end of the boom in the silk industry. ....The mill was closed and advertised for sale in the Staffordshire Advertiser on 15 May 1830.

[the mill was opened and closed a few times ] and by 1877 had been converted into a shoe factory.

In the 1960s the factory building was substantially rebuilt when the top story was removed and the frontage facing Hempstalls Lane was substantially altered. However, when viewed from Croft Road at the back of the works which follows the line of the former Junction Canal, it is still recognisably a silk mill."

Andrew Dobraszczyc's notes (2004)