Before the first arrival of cotton in the area, the inhabitants were skilled in the production of textiles .The families of the farming communities of the area often produced woollen yarn and cloth for their own use. The younger children did the carding of the raw wool and the older girls and women–the spinsters-spun the carded wool into yarn and the older boys and men worked the handlooms and wove the cloth. Any fabric surplus to their own requirements for family clothing could be sold to neighbours or at the markets in the area. c. 1640 Oliver Dearnley of Blackshaw appears as 'clothier' 1700-20 more families become 'clothiers'.
This ‘domestic system’ was later extended by entrepreneurs, 'putters out', who made a business of being go-betweens amongst the workers, buying in wool or spun yarn and taking it to where it could be worked in the next stage of the production, paying the workers and making a profit in the process, ultimately taking the finished cloth to the merchants in Manchester or elsewhere.

Although this article follows the role the streams played in the growth of the textile industry and ultimately the growth of Glossop, the earliest mills were not on streams or actually powered by water. They were simply buildings where yarn could be spun or cloth woven more efficiently by putting the workers together in larger accommodation. Before 1775 the only water powered mill was the manorial corn mill on Shelf Brook. Later as technological advances produced larger machines which could spin many bobbins simultaneously or weave bigger pieces of cloth this work was water powered.
As has been said earlier, the first mills were concerned with woollen cloth production and there was a fulling mill at Bridge End on the Glossop Brook close to the bridge on Victoria Street. Some early mills produced a mixed linen/cotton fabric called ‘fustian’ but after 1770 the first all-cotton had begun to be made in the valley.

In 1782 John Newton, described as a labourer of Whitfield obtained a licence to build a mill –probably the first purpose built cotton mill-at Cross Cliffe, close to where Shelf Brook and Hurst Brook meet Glossop Brook.
In 1784 Wm.Sheppard built what is usually referred to as ‘Rolfe’s mill’ on Johnson’s Croft close to Blackshaw Clough where it passed through ‘Old’ Glossop on Brookside [now Wesley Street]. This venture was half way between the domestic system and the later larger factories and employed at least 10 workers in 1792 but seems to have been still concerned with hand operated machines.
Inventions such as Kay’s ‘Flying Shuttle’ [1733] for the loom and the spinning machines of Hargreaves [Spinning Jenny-1764-70], Arkwright [Water powered frame for spinning] and Crompton’s ‘Mule’ spinning machine[1772-9] and Cartwrights water powered loom [1785] must eventually have come to the valley and the textile manufacturers needed to utilise this new technology to make a profit. For this larger premises were needed.

The Glossop dale valley was ideal for the siting of mills as there was a high annual rainfall [60 inches per year on hills and 40 inches+ in the valleys], to fill the streams which were soon being dammed and goyts or leats and mill ponds being created to impound and divert the water to create power or for the various processes involved in textile production. The damp atmosphere was also ideal as it kept the threads fibres supple and cling together so that it would not break so easily during the production process. 5 mills were built throughout Glossopdale between 1782-84, by 1800 there were 16, and by 1820, over 30.

In 1784 Shepley mill was built on the Warth by John Shepley and Warth Mill by Joseph Hallam in Warth Meadow, and Thread Mill further east by in 1789 by Benjamin Goodison, all on the Shelf Brook at Mossy Lee. In 1791 James Starkie built Hawkeshead mill on Blackshaw Clough nearby.
During the early years of the industry there was plenty of ‘boom and bust’. Mills were built which remained empty for years, mill owners went bankrupt and mills changed names as leases changed hands. Some cotton manufacturers prospered and sought larger premises. Rolfe’s mill was converted into cottages as early as 1807. Similar things were happening on the Etherow and its other tributaries in Padfield, Hadfield and Charlesworth and Chisworth.
Old Water mill had 13 cottages built next to it and Barracks mill was built next to them and then new Water Mill.

After 1815 the hub of the textile industry was to be found on Shelf Brook to the east of Glossop village. John Wood leased at least four of the mills and many homes were built for the workers who were brought to the area around the mills but in his search to expand his manufacturing capability he bought Bridge End mill in 1819 and by 1820-24 moved further down the stream to the area known as Howardtown where the New Town Hall was built in 1837-8 and where the market moved in 1844 and the railway arrived in 1847.
Even more workers had to be imported into the area as there were not enough skilled locals and the town of Glossop began to grow.
Soon the very large mill complexes began to spread alongside the Glossop Brook, at Shepley Mill and Wren Nest.

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Page last updated: 7 December 2009.