McConnel & Kennedy mills
Encyclopedia
McConnel & Kennedy Mills are a group of cotton mill
s on Redhill Street in Ancoats
, Manchester, England. With the adjoining Murrays' Mills
, they form a nationally important group.
(such as Garratt Mill (1760), Holt's Mills, Meredith's Factory (1760, Gaythorn Mill (1788), Wood Mill (1788), Knott Mill (1792) and then the Shooters Brook. Salvin's ran a room and power mill (1780) on the Shooters Brook in Ancoats, and it was here that the partnership of Sandford, McConnel and Kennedy took room. Salvin's Factory failed to get enough power from Shooters Brook, so improved the head of water with a Savery
type steam-powered pump. In 1793 John Kennedy
directly connected a spinning mule to a steam engine. On 2 March the partnership was terminated and 1795, McConnel and Kennedy moved out, to other premises in Derby Street. Kennedy was still manufacturing and selling spinning mules until 1801. The next phase of mills were powered by Boulton and Watt
double-acting beam engine
s. Though flowing water was no longer required—a considerable amount of water was needed for the engines condensor—but that could easily be provided by a mill lodge
, a canal or a brook. The first Boulton and Watt engine in Manchester had been bought by Drinkwater's Mill, Piccadilly in 1789, and installed by the Birmingham company's prizefighting engineer Isaac Perrins
.
James McConnel
, served an apprenticeship with William Cannan in Chowbent, and moved to Manchester in 1788 to work for Alexander Egelsom a weft and twist dealer with a cotton spinning establishment on Newton Street, Ancoats.The Murrays probably used the same building. In 1791 he joined the partnership with Sandford and Kennedy. By 1797 McConnel and Kennedy built their mill with steam powered spinning mule
s. This was Old Mill, and it was powered by a 16 hp Boulton and Watt in an external engine and boiler house. The mill had a cupola on the roof. It had 7 storeys and was 16 bays long by 4 bays deep.
The next development came between 1801 and 1803. Long Mill was eight storeys high, 30 bays by 4 bays, the 45 hp Boulton and Watt was placed in a internal engine house to the south of the mill. The boilers were external. A tunnel and a bridge connected it with Old Mill. The Green Dragon public house on the corner of the plot, was left untouched. In 1809, a gas making plant was added to the site, and this became one of the first gas-lit mills. There were six gasometers. 1500 burners fed by a 19mm pipe.
Colonel Sedgewick sold adjacent land to McConnel & Kennedy in 1817. The land was cleared, and the four blocks of the Sedgewick Mill were erected between 1818 and 1820. The largest, facing Redhill Street (Union Street), was 8 storeys by 17 bays. They were of fireproof construction, the main drive shaft ran in a tunnel beneath the ground floor from the internal engine house containing a 54 hp Boulton and Watt. This beam engine had a 24 feet (7.3 m) flywheel. Sir William Fairbairn and James Lillie, designed and installed the shafting, which was unusual as the wings of the mill were offset at 15 degrees to the right angle. The main shaft powered a vertical shaft in each bay that ran to each floor, and there to a shaft. This now was the largest employer in Manchester. John Kennedy retired in 1826, and the firm traded under the name of McConnel & McConnel Co.
Alexis de Tocqueville
, described Redhill Street Mill in 1835 as "... a place where some 1500 workers, labouring 69 hours a week, with an average wage of 11 shillings, and where three-quarters of the workers are women and children". During the Cotton Famine
, the company had obtained rights to Heilmann's combing machine
. As the century progressed, bigger and bigger machinery was used. Fairbairn and Lillie were employed to modify the structure of each of these mills in the mid 1860s. This involved replacing each of the old cast iron columns with new ones—each floor used a different technique.
Sedgewick New Mill, was an unusually narrow 5 storey L shaped mill, designed for doubling
sewing thread by A. H. Stott. This was Stott's second commission and neither party were satisfied with the result. McConnel became part of the Fine Spinners' and Doublers' Association Limited in 1898. The Paragon Mill and the New Old Mill were built in the Edwardian Baroque style by H. S. Porter using Accrington brick
and terracotta. It had cast iron
columns supporting by transverse steel
beams and reinforced concrete
floors. Initially they were built as 5 storey, though eventually 6 storey, 9 bay mills. The machines were electrically driven and a new substation was built in 1915. At the same time, Sedgewick New Mill and Long Mill were virtually rebuilt in order to take heavier equipment (usually this meant ring spinning
frames).
, it was extended, and cut Cotton Street with a new entrance arch claiming Royal Mill had been first built in 1797.
Cotton mill
A cotton mill is a factory that houses spinning and weaving machinery. Typically built between 1775 and 1930, mills spun cotton which was an important product during the Industrial Revolution....
s on Redhill Street in Ancoats
Ancoats
Ancoats is an inner city area of Manchester, in North West England, next to the Northern Quarter and the northern part of Manchester's commercial centre....
, Manchester, England. With the adjoining Murrays' Mills
Murrays' Mills
Murrays' Mills is a complex of former cotton mills on land between Jersey Street and the Rochdale Canal in the district of Ancoats, Manchester, England . The mills were built for brothers Adam and George Murray. A & G Murray was consistently one of the largest cotton-spinning firms in Manchester...
, they form a nationally important group.
The Mills
- Old Mill 1797
- Long Mill 1801
- Sedgewick Mill, 1818–1820
- Sedgewick New Mill 1912
- Royal Mill (New Old Mill 1912) renamed 1942
- Paragon Mill 1912, 8 storeys. World's tallest cast iron structure when built.
History
The first phase of mills in Manchester were water-powered, taking their power from the River MedlockRiver Medlock
The River Medlock is a river of Greater Manchester in North West England. It rises near Oldham and flows, south and west, for ten miles to join the River Irwell in the extreme southwest of Manchester city centre.-Source:...
(such as Garratt Mill (1760), Holt's Mills, Meredith's Factory (1760, Gaythorn Mill (1788), Wood Mill (1788), Knott Mill (1792) and then the Shooters Brook. Salvin's ran a room and power mill (1780) on the Shooters Brook in Ancoats, and it was here that the partnership of Sandford, McConnel and Kennedy took room. Salvin's Factory failed to get enough power from Shooters Brook, so improved the head of water with a Savery
Savery
Savery is a surname, and may refer to:* Henry Savery , Australian novelist* Jan Savery , Flemish painter* Joe Savery , baseball pitcher* Nigel Savery , geneticist...
type steam-powered pump. In 1793 John Kennedy
John Kennedy (manufacturer)
John Kennedy was a Scottish-born textile industrialist in Manchester.John Kennedy was born in 1769 in Knocknalling, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. In 1784 he moved to Chowbent, near Leigh in Lancashire, to be apprenticed to William Cannan, the son of a neighbour of the Kennedys...
directly connected a spinning mule to a steam engine. On 2 March the partnership was terminated and 1795, McConnel and Kennedy moved out, to other premises in Derby Street. Kennedy was still manufacturing and selling spinning mules until 1801. The next phase of mills were powered by Boulton and Watt
Boulton and Watt
The firm of Boulton & Watt was initially a partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt.-The engine partnership:The partnership was formed in 1775 to exploit Watt's patent for a steam engine with a separate condenser. This made much more efficient use of its fuel than the older Newcomen engine...
double-acting beam engine
Beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
s. Though flowing water was no longer required—a considerable amount of water was needed for the engines condensor—but that could easily be provided by a mill lodge
Mill lodge
In northern England, a mill lodge is a small reservoir of water for the use of a factory....
, a canal or a brook. The first Boulton and Watt engine in Manchester had been bought by Drinkwater's Mill, Piccadilly in 1789, and installed by the Birmingham company's prizefighting engineer Isaac Perrins
Isaac Perrins
Isaac Perrins was an English bareknuckle prizefighter and 18th-century engineer. A man reputed to possess prodigious strength but a mild manner, he fought and lost one of the most notorious boxing matches of the era, a physically mismatched contest against the English Champion Tom Johnson...
.
James McConnel
James McConnell (disambiguation)
James McConnell may refer to:* James McConnell, 19th century engineer of the London and North Western Railway* James V. McConnell , American biologist...
, served an apprenticeship with William Cannan in Chowbent, and moved to Manchester in 1788 to work for Alexander Egelsom a weft and twist dealer with a cotton spinning establishment on Newton Street, Ancoats.The Murrays probably used the same building. In 1791 he joined the partnership with Sandford and Kennedy. By 1797 McConnel and Kennedy built their mill with steam powered spinning mule
Spinning mule
The spinning mule was a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres in the mills of Lancashire and elsewhere from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. Mules were worked in pairs by a minder, with the help of two boys: the little piecer and the big or side piecer...
s. This was Old Mill, and it was powered by a 16 hp Boulton and Watt in an external engine and boiler house. The mill had a cupola on the roof. It had 7 storeys and was 16 bays long by 4 bays deep.
The next development came between 1801 and 1803. Long Mill was eight storeys high, 30 bays by 4 bays, the 45 hp Boulton and Watt was placed in a internal engine house to the south of the mill. The boilers were external. A tunnel and a bridge connected it with Old Mill. The Green Dragon public house on the corner of the plot, was left untouched. In 1809, a gas making plant was added to the site, and this became one of the first gas-lit mills. There were six gasometers. 1500 burners fed by a 19mm pipe.
Colonel Sedgewick sold adjacent land to McConnel & Kennedy in 1817. The land was cleared, and the four blocks of the Sedgewick Mill were erected between 1818 and 1820. The largest, facing Redhill Street (Union Street), was 8 storeys by 17 bays. They were of fireproof construction, the main drive shaft ran in a tunnel beneath the ground floor from the internal engine house containing a 54 hp Boulton and Watt. This beam engine had a 24 feet (7.3 m) flywheel. Sir William Fairbairn and James Lillie, designed and installed the shafting, which was unusual as the wings of the mill were offset at 15 degrees to the right angle. The main shaft powered a vertical shaft in each bay that ran to each floor, and there to a shaft. This now was the largest employer in Manchester. John Kennedy retired in 1826, and the firm traded under the name of McConnel & McConnel Co.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
, described Redhill Street Mill in 1835 as "... a place where some 1500 workers, labouring 69 hours a week, with an average wage of 11 shillings, and where three-quarters of the workers are women and children". During the Cotton Famine
Cotton famine
The Lancashire Cotton Famine, also known as The Cotton Famine or the Cotton Panic , was a depression in the textile industry of North West England, brought about by the interruption of baled cotton imports caused by the American Civil War. The boom years of 1859 and 1860 had produced more woven...
, the company had obtained rights to Heilmann's combing machine
Combing
Combing is a method for preparing carded fibre for spinning. It separates out the short fibres by means of a rotating ring of steel pins. The fibres in the 'top' it produces, have been straightened and lie parallel to each other...
. As the century progressed, bigger and bigger machinery was used. Fairbairn and Lillie were employed to modify the structure of each of these mills in the mid 1860s. This involved replacing each of the old cast iron columns with new ones—each floor used a different technique.
Sedgewick New Mill, was an unusually narrow 5 storey L shaped mill, designed for doubling
Doubling
Doubling may refer to:*in math:**multiplication by 2**doubling the cube, a geometric problem**doubling time, the period of time required for a quantity to double in size or value**doubling map**period-doubling bifurcation***in music:...
sewing thread by A. H. Stott. This was Stott's second commission and neither party were satisfied with the result. McConnel became part of the Fine Spinners' and Doublers' Association Limited in 1898. The Paragon Mill and the New Old Mill were built in the Edwardian Baroque style by H. S. Porter using Accrington brick
Accrington brick
Accrington bricks, or NORIs were a type of iron hard engineering brick, produced in Huncoat, Accrington, Lancashire, England from 1887 to 2008...
and terracotta. It had cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
columns supporting by transverse steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
beams and reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
floors. Initially they were built as 5 storey, though eventually 6 storey, 9 bay mills. The machines were electrically driven and a new substation was built in 1915. At the same time, Sedgewick New Mill and Long Mill were virtually rebuilt in order to take heavier equipment (usually this meant ring spinning
Ring spinning
Ring spinning is a method of spinning fibres, such as cotton, flax or wool, to make a yarn. The ring frame developed from the throstle frame, which in its turn was a descendant of Arkwright's water frame. Ring spinning is a continuous process, unlike mule spinning which uses an intermittent action...
frames).
Royal Visit
The mills were visited by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1942. New Old Mill was renamed Royal MillRoyal Mill
Royal Mill, which is located on the corner of Redhill Street and Henry Street, Ancoats, in Manchester, England, is an early twentieth century cotton mill, one of the last of "an internationally important group of cotton-spinning mills" sited in East Manchester. Royal Mill was constructed in 1912...
, it was extended, and cut Cotton Street with a new entrance arch claiming Royal Mill had been first built in 1797.