Welcome to Marple Local History Society website
Quick links:
The Society's Online Archives & for many of the Society's images
Hollins Mill
Disappeared without trace?
The Marple of the 1820's was essentially what it had been for centuries, a collection of small farms and hamlets with a population of approximately 2000. Since before the turn of the 18th century its neighbour, Mellor, had been becoming more and more industrialised with a number of mills appearing, not least Samuel Oldknow's 'Mellor Mill' which was at the time of its completion in 1793 the largest cotton mill in Europe.
It was not until the 1830's that Marple was to get its own 'Palace for King Cotton'.
Hollins Mill
The Hollins Mill was built by Charles Warmsley in 1830 but later, in 1859, it came into the possession of the Carver family who were to have a huge effect on the development of the Marple area. The Carver twins, John and Thomas bought the mill in partnership with Samuel and Edwin Hodgkinson, using a loan of Ł15,000 from their father William Carver, who believed that the family should diversify from their carrying business. It would appear that the Hodgkinsons had experience in the yarn business and indeed for the first six years the business was known as 'S. Hodgkinson Company'. [Read More]
Tom Oldham's Memories: Part 1
Mellor between the wars – a picture of the district
Top Mellor is that part above the Devonshire Arms, consisting mainly of old stone cottages, often spoken of as “the old village”. At the time I am going to talk about Mellor houses were not numbered so the names of the small groups, New House Hill, Sundial, Springbank, Richmond Hill and Moor End, were used for addresses. We lived at Springbank and never considered ourselves to belong to Moor End.
The views from the top of Mellor Church Tower are a good reward for climbing the narrow unlit spiral staircase and these are of Top Mellor. This area grew around the early cotton mills but the mills have long since gone and occupations have completely changed. Here I was born and lived for the first 37 years of my life before we moved a mile or so down towards Marple Bridge. The other views show the old vicarage with its large and attractive garden and the Hollyvale Valley. On a clear night the view from the church looking towards the towns is spectacular.
There is an early illustration of Mellor dated 1585 which shows the church with a steeple. Many churches at that time had wooden steeples built on the top of the masonry towers, Chesterfield, for example. Later in 1640 the steeple has gone. There is a cross on the roof and a flag on the tower.
