Having looked at the remains of Frosholme Mill around Christmas I went back shortly afterwards to see if there was any evidence of its water-powered past.
All the mills in the Calder valley were originally powered by water wheels, which is why the factories were built there in the first place.
The chimneys so characteristic of this region only appeared later when efficient steam engines were developed, presumably burning coal from local mines.
The plan was to revisit the mill from below, along a culverted stretch of the Calder from which it originally got its power.
I didn’t realise it at the time but the stretch up to Frosholme Mill has been reported before, nicknamed ‘Kia-Ora’ because everything is coated in orange gunk.
See https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/kia-ora-todmorden-feb-2013.78770/ for more and better pictures of this bit.
The orange stuff is ochre (iron oxides) and is common in this part of the world, leaching out of old mine workings up on the moors.
When it turned out there was nothing much to see under Frostholme MilI I carried on up the valley to look under Portsmouth Mill, another former cotton mill.
But nothing interesting here either, either below or inside the building, so I finally headed up the stream to look for source of the orangeness, ending up at the site of a disused colliery, just over the border in Lancashire.
Gotta have a map - the red lines are culverted sections, F and P are Frostholme and Portsmouth Mills.
The tunnelly bits aren’t particularly long, about 1.6 km in total, interspersed with a few open sections.
Pictures are ordered uphill, starting on the right on the map - some of the longer underground stretches were were a bit misty, and a few pics are phone.
This junction is somewhere near Frostholme Mill.
Going right leads to some watery steps.
Beyond these the stream (Redwater Clough) runs through another short culvert to the site of Pudsey Mill, now demolished.
Google street view shows the mill as derelict in 2009, but like other mills in this area nobody seems to have explored it before it went.
The only signs of water power were the remains of a sluice and a reservoir with an outlet pipe, out of shot to the right of the girders.
Back at the junction heading left soon leads to a short open section next to Frostholme Mill.
The doorway opens into a little room at the base of the chimney, but no signs of a wheel or wheel pit in this area, just an old sluice mechanism.
Carrying on there are two rather dull bits - I walked round the second one to give my back a rest.
Then it’s into a rendered section like a waterslide.
Left at the junction is a grilled box where Tower Clough joins.
Going right leads to another open section…
…then another short culvert which I walked around before entering the little tunnel that goes under the road and Portsmouth Mill.
It’s quite confined in here, mostly a 4 ft wiggly stonework pipe, with a short section of 3 ft RCP under the road.
We eventually emerge into an orange-stained tank, with Beaters Clough coming down the hill behind.
All the mills in the Calder valley were originally powered by water wheels, which is why the factories were built there in the first place.
The chimneys so characteristic of this region only appeared later when efficient steam engines were developed, presumably burning coal from local mines.
The plan was to revisit the mill from below, along a culverted stretch of the Calder from which it originally got its power.
I didn’t realise it at the time but the stretch up to Frosholme Mill has been reported before, nicknamed ‘Kia-Ora’ because everything is coated in orange gunk.
See https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/kia-ora-todmorden-feb-2013.78770/ for more and better pictures of this bit.
The orange stuff is ochre (iron oxides) and is common in this part of the world, leaching out of old mine workings up on the moors.
When it turned out there was nothing much to see under Frostholme MilI I carried on up the valley to look under Portsmouth Mill, another former cotton mill.
But nothing interesting here either, either below or inside the building, so I finally headed up the stream to look for source of the orangeness, ending up at the site of a disused colliery, just over the border in Lancashire.
Gotta have a map - the red lines are culverted sections, F and P are Frostholme and Portsmouth Mills.
The tunnelly bits aren’t particularly long, about 1.6 km in total, interspersed with a few open sections.
Pictures are ordered uphill, starting on the right on the map - some of the longer underground stretches were were a bit misty, and a few pics are phone.
This junction is somewhere near Frostholme Mill.
Going right leads to some watery steps.
Beyond these the stream (Redwater Clough) runs through another short culvert to the site of Pudsey Mill, now demolished.
Google street view shows the mill as derelict in 2009, but like other mills in this area nobody seems to have explored it before it went.
The only signs of water power were the remains of a sluice and a reservoir with an outlet pipe, out of shot to the right of the girders.
Back at the junction heading left soon leads to a short open section next to Frostholme Mill.
The doorway opens into a little room at the base of the chimney, but no signs of a wheel or wheel pit in this area, just an old sluice mechanism.
Carrying on there are two rather dull bits - I walked round the second one to give my back a rest.
Then it’s into a rendered section like a waterslide.
Left at the junction is a grilled box where Tower Clough joins.
Going right leads to another open section…
…then another short culvert which I walked around before entering the little tunnel that goes under the road and Portsmouth Mill.
It’s quite confined in here, mostly a 4 ft wiggly stonework pipe, with a short section of 3 ft RCP under the road.
We eventually emerge into an orange-stained tank, with Beaters Clough coming down the hill behind.
Last edited:
