Post Boxes on Exchange Street

Exchange Street leads from Wellington Road South into the Bus Station past the sorting office. Across the road by the side of a disabled parking bay is a pair of postboxes (SK1 999) one for stamped mail and one for franked mail only. In the background is the Hat Museum, its chimney flanked by adverts for office space.

A contribution to
Ruby Tuesday;
Our World Tuesday;
signs, signs.

Entrance to Robert Walker (Haulage) Ltd

The entrance off Hall Lane to Robert Walker (Haulage) Ltd which occupies the site of what was once Woodley Hall.

The yellow AA sign "Private works traffic only" is a vintage sign.

A contribution to
signs, signs;
Good Fences.

U is for Unity Mill

Unity mill was constructed in the 1860s for spinning cotton and was formerly known as Trianon Mill. By the 1890s it had converted to a rubber works but later was converted back again to a textile mill. The site has been used for the manufacture of products for the food, animal feed and brewing sector until it closed in December 2003. It occupies an area to the east of Woodley between Pole Acre and the Peak Forest Canal.

A former canal basin behind the mill is thought to have been built to serve the Hall Lane Colliery, established pre 1829. The wharf was later associated with the Mill. Although the canal bank is overgrown the outline of the basin is extant.

The buildings are decaying whilst the owners hold out for a sale or planning permission that might ensure a profitable conversion of the site.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Leemic on Lancashire Hill

Established in 1972, Leemic on the corner of Lancashire Hill and Gordon Street, are a specialised supplier and service provider of Sharp, Samsung & Kyocera digital multifunction printers, copiers and scanning systems.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Meadow Mill from Penny Lane Fields

Meadow Mill was built in the late 1870s for T & J Leigh, cotton and wool spinning. It had 120,000 spindles in 1914. It is grade II listed.

The little building in the foreground is the Grimesbottom Stormwater Overflow.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

Z is for Zantec Workshop

Zantec is an independent, company (established 1990) that specialises in the design, supply, installation and commissioning of industrial catering equipment and ancillary products.

Having relocated to Dialstone Road, their former premises on Bamford Street are currently the home of the Iranian Culture & Art Community (Manchester)

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

U is for Unicorn Brewery

The brewery is named after the Unicorn Inn which was bought by William Robinson in 1838. This stood on what is now the bottom yard in Lower Hillgate. William was joined in 1865 by his younger son Frederic, who started to brew beer for other local hostelries and his first customer was Mrs. Lamb (Bridge Inn, Chestergate). In 1876, shortly after his father's death, he bought his first house the Royal Scot, Marple Bridge (then the Railway Inn). Bottling commenced from a new building in 1908; new offices opened in 1913 and a new brew house in 1929. In 1975 bottling was carried out at Bredbury and now, after fermentation is complete, all the beers are transferred to Bredbury for packaging and distribution from there. It remains a family business.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

The Unicorn and St Mary's

The view down Apsley Street towards Robinson's Unicorn Brewery and the Parish Church of St Mary's in the Marketplace.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.

J is for James Seal and Co

This building on the corner of Market Place and Park Street was originally the premises of James Seal & Co, tobacco products manufacturer, founded in 1860.

A contribution to ABC Wednesday.

Orchard Street

A few moments before I took the photograph from which this image is derived a rat ran across the street from Lower Carr Mill (left) to Churchgate Mill (right).

Behind me is the access to Hopes Carr as shown in the second photograph in my post for Friday 13th.

The first factory built here in 1759 was a silk mill powered by a watermill on Hempshaw Brook. It was bought by Charles Davies in 1781 who added new buildings and moved production over to cotton spinning. By the 1790s it was owned by Thomas Hope who gave his name to the area and built additional mills, a tannery, hat works and workers' houses. Higher Carr Mill was demolished by 1907 but Lower Carr Mill continued to be used for cotton spinning until the 1930s.

A contribution to The Weekend in Black and White.

Ghost sign on Hopes Carr

I came across this ghost sign on the side of a building on Hopes Carr last week.

As yet I haven't had chance to do any research to discover what it was originally.

A contribution to signs, signs.

Fire behind McDonald's

On 20th August 2013 a large fire broke out at a waste recycling plant on Bredbury Industrial Estate. The fire could be seen from miles around and thick acrid smoke spread as far as Leeds. There were, however, no reports of any casualties.

This was the scene four days later; the fire is contained but still burning. The roads are all now open and there is access to all the businesses in the area which are mostly carrying on as normal.

This photograph was taken by the entrance to McDonald's on Whitefield Road.

For a news report see BBC News.

For a real inside view see the Manchester Evening News.

Readers should note that this place is NOT the Bredbury Park Household Recycling Centre although it isn't far away from there.

A contribution to signs, signs.

Vernon Mill

Vernon Mill at Portwood, a listed building is a typical mill of the turn of the twentieth century, it was built before 1917 of red brick and terracotta with a flat roof and demonstrates the changes in architectural form as improved technology allowed larger and better-lit mills to be built.

EXTERIOR: 4 storeys, approx 15x8 bays, 3-bay projection left, Italianate tower in angle with lettered parapet:: 'VERNON', angle pilasters, tiled roof with wrought iron cresting and flag pole; tower at north west corner. Large paired and triple windows with metal frames, pilasters between, moulded sill bands, modillion eaves and parapet.

INTERIOR: Steel frame with cast iron columns, concrete floors; ground floor lateral segmental brick arches supported by tall cast-iron columns, flagstone floor.

West façade has added projecting covered loading bay centre, rope race tower right and lower attached engine house at SW corner with windows (reduced) in round-arched recesses and fine tall window (lower part now workshop entrance) on south side ; arches have imposts and keystones, low segmental gable pediment. Single and two storey preparation and loading warehouse range on the South side of the main block has inserted ground floor entrances, segmental arched windows, upper floor loading door, roof lights, water tower. At the entrance to the mill, the NW corner, the single storey office /reception block has stone detailing, round arched windows of 2 and 3-lights, corner pilasters carried up above parapet height, no finials. Subsidiary features: the main mill entrance detailing includes office railings with bulbous finials on low brick and stone boundary wall; stone gate pier approx. 2.5m high with square base, moulded capstone with domed finial, attached gate with close set rails and curved brace.

Originally a cotton spinning mill, it now houses various industrial units.

A contribution to Skywatch Friday.