History
Eckersley mills in Wigan was once a sprawling 6 mill operation that housed over 236,000 spindles at its peak. Western mill no 3 is the building I’ve explored here .
This former cotton mill opened around 1900 spinning a huge amount of cotton over its time before the sad closure of the mills in the 1970’s.
Its chimney stack still remains, as does the engine house and the former mess hall now operates as a popular roller rink.
More recently this mill was used as a paintball space and go cart track though since the closure of these businesses the mill has stood empty. Since the last report from @albino-jay in 2019 the mills seem to have been cleared out of most of the paraphernalia which was a shame, but a nice explore nether the less.
Explore
Entry wasn‘t too hard so after getting an early start to avoid the influx of parents with their little darlings that would soon be arriving to the next door roller rink. We spent a nice couple of hours wandering the large floors.
The mill bottom left in the picture below was the one explored.
Who said there was no health and safety back then?
The former mess hall, top right. Now a roller rink
The engine house was sadly inaccessible at the time of the visit
Engine house from above, love a nice bit of tiling!
Door where the bales would be hoisted through…..yes it did open.
Eckersley mills in Wigan was once a sprawling 6 mill operation that housed over 236,000 spindles at its peak. Western mill no 3 is the building I’ve explored here .
This former cotton mill opened around 1900 spinning a huge amount of cotton over its time before the sad closure of the mills in the 1970’s.
Its chimney stack still remains, as does the engine house and the former mess hall now operates as a popular roller rink.
More recently this mill was used as a paintball space and go cart track though since the closure of these businesses the mill has stood empty. Since the last report from @albino-jay in 2019 the mills seem to have been cleared out of most of the paraphernalia which was a shame, but a nice explore nether the less.
Explore
Entry wasn‘t too hard so after getting an early start to avoid the influx of parents with their little darlings that would soon be arriving to the next door roller rink. We spent a nice couple of hours wandering the large floors.
The mill bottom left in the picture below was the one explored.
Who said there was no health and safety back then?
The former mess hall, top right. Now a roller rink
The engine house was sadly inaccessible at the time of the visit
Engine house from above, love a nice bit of tiling!
Door where the bales would be hoisted through…..yes it did open.
