Report by Pete Smith (Chairman)
The Greater Manchester JEC Region paid a visit to Quarry Bank Mill, a National Trust property just outside of Style Village in Cheshire.
A total of 8 very hot Jaguars joined in on the trip. When we arrived we were allocated our own dedicated parking area, which was coned off for us.
We were rewarded with a full tour of the Mill, which was quite something to seel.
After the tour we had just time for a a brief walk around some of the gardens in the sunshine.
Then we all moved on from Quarry Bank Mill to the Ship Inn in Style Village itself for a lovely pub lunch.
Quarry Bank Mill - National Trust
Quarry Bank Mill (also known as Styal Mill) in Styal, Cheshire, England, is one of the best preserved textile factories of the Industrial Revolution. Built in 1784, the cotton mill is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
Quarry Bank Mill was established by Samuel Greg, and was notable for innovations both in machinery and also in its approach to labour relations, the latter largely as a result of the work of Greg’s wife, Hannah Lightbody. The family took a somewhat paternalistic attitude toward the workers, providing medical care for all and limited education to the children, but all laboured roughly 72 hours per week until 1847 when a new law shortened the hours.
Samuel Greg also built housing for all of his workers, in a large community now known as Styal Estate. Some were conversions of farm houses, or older residences but 42 new cottages, including the Oak Cottages (now Grade II Listed), were built in the 1820s when the mill was being expanded.
The National Trust, which runs the mill and Styal Estate as a museum that is open to the public, calls the site “one of Britain’s greatest industrial heritage sites, home to a complete industrial community”. According to the Council of Europe, the mill with Styal village make up “the most complete and least altered factory colony of the Industrial Revolution. It is of outstanding national and international importance”.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cheshire-greater-manchester/quarry-bank