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Thorp Mill, Royton

Buildings and structures demolished in the 19th centuryCotton millsDemolished buildings and structures in Greater ManchesterDemolished manufacturing buildings and structuresFormer textile mills in the United Kingdom
Greater Manchester building and structure stubsIndustrial Revolution in EnglandTextile mills completed in the 18th centuryTextile mills in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
Infant River Irk geograph.org.uk 84948
Infant River Irk geograph.org.uk 84948

Thorp Mill, Royton was built by Ralph Taylor at Thorp Clough in 1764. This is reputed to be the first cotton mill in Lancashire to be powered by water. Ralph Taylor bought three existing cottages which he converted into a mill. This was a carding mill, and was powered by a water wheel driven from Thorp Clough, a tributary of the River Irk. The mill closed in 1788 when the mill and contents were advertised for sale by the then owner James Taylor. It was advertised again in 1792, and the buildings reverted to cottages, and were subsequently demolished. The mill is marked by a blue plaque. Thorp itself is higher up the clough and is the oldest hamlet in Royton, Lancashire. The construction of more mills followed, which initiated a process of urbanisation and socioeconomic transformation in the region; the population moved away from farming, adopting employment in the factory system. The introduction of which led to a tenfold increase of Royton's population in less than a century; from 260 in 1714 to 2,719 in 1810. The introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, and by the mid-19th century Royton had emerged as a mill town.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Thorp Mill, Royton (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Thorp Mill, Royton
Mill Lane,

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Latitude Longitude
N 53.566 ° E -2.1358 °
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Mill Lane

Mill Lane
OL2 5TF
England, United Kingdom
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Infant River Irk geograph.org.uk 84948
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Royton
Royton

Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is 1.7 miles (2.7 km) northwest of Oldham, 3.2 miles (5.1 km) southeast of Rochdale and 7.6 miles (12.2 km) northeast of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, Royton and its surroundings have provided evidence of ancient British, Roman and Viking activity in the area. During the Middle Ages, Royton formed a small township centred on Royton Hall, a manor house owned by a long succession of dignitaries which included the Byrons and Radcliffes. A settlement expanded outwards from the hall which, by as late as 1780, "contained only a few straggling and mean-built cottages". Farming was the main industry of this rural area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom woollen weaving in the domestic system. Royton has the distinction of being the first town where a powered cotton mill was built; at Thorp in 1764, and is one of the first localities in the world to have adopted the factory system. The introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, and by the mid-19th century Royton had emerged as a mill town. At its zenith, there were 40 cotton mills—some of the largest in the United Kingdom—employing 80% of the local population. Imports of foreign cotton goods began the decline in Royton's textile industry during the mid-20th century, and its last mill closed in 2002. Today, fewer than a dozen mills are still standing, the majority of which are used for light engineering or as distribution centres. Despite an economic depression brought about by the demise of cotton spinning, Royton's population has continued to grow as a result of intensive housing redevelopment which has modernised its former Edwardian districts.