Mellor Mill was built by Samuel Oldknow in 1790-92 and was burnt out in 1892. It was the largest cotton mill of its time and the template for the architecturally impressive mills that spread through the region. Following Oldknow's diversion of the River Goyt, it was the final flowering of water power, with large stone-built tunnels for water and drive shafts. The site now looks like wild woodland until you walk in and find the deep holes of the wheelpits and cellars. In 2009, excavations at the south end of the mill, in the car park near the millpond, uncovered mill walls, steps down to a cellar with two blocks for mounting machinery and bits of a singeing frame (for removing projecting hairs from a cotton yarn to make it smooth). Subsequently walls at the north end of the mill have been uncovered. In 2011, a grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology enabled 120 tons of debris to be cleared from the Wellington wheelpit under the centre of the mill and open it for public view. Volunteers have continued to clear the cobbled area in front of the mill, a stable for visitor's horses under the central projection and the 100-metre tunnel for the drive shaft from the Waterloo wheel.
BBC news report on the Wellington Wheelpit (below)prior to official opening.
Chris Mann's youtube coverage of the Opening
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More , much more, on the Mellor Archaeological site