Bollen [Bollin] Mills, Wilmslow - Does anyone know where in Wilmslow?

[NickT]

Please help if you can.

Jonathan Roylance of Wilmslow, miller. Property: Bollen [Bollin] Mills, with the Drying Kiln and the Mill House, with appurtenances; for fourteen years.

Above details of a lease for a mill in or near Wilmslow.  I come from the area but have no idea where this mill may have been.  Does anyone know and is there anything left of the original buildings?

Thanks, Nick.

[hanes teulu]

From the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 13 March 1830

"To be let for a term of years.... COTTON FACTORY, called the Bollin Mill, situate in the Township of Bollington, in the county of Chester.....

2 miles from Macclesfield, about 1 mile from the Manchester and London Turnpike Road and within half a mile of the Macclesfield Canal, ....."

Possibility?

regards 

[kimhulme]

Hi Nick,
Glad to be able to help.
I've looked on Cheshire's e-mapping  site and located Bollin Hall and the leet to it from quite a way back up the Bollin, just before a weir.
You will see (if you do as I have - brill  e-site - lots of info) that the hall, and presumably the mill. was on the site of the current Polar Ford, between the railway viaduct and the newish roundabout on the bypass.
For the benefit of others, the e-mapping facility allows for a currnt OS map on one side of the screen  and a choice of previous maps (1910, 1875) on the other half. As one is scrolled the other moves in unison.
Further info might? be obtainable from Ray Acton who is coming to the North Cheshire FHS meeting on August 21 at Hazel Grove  to give a talk about Victorian life in Wilmslow. It's on NCFHS website. I will send you a PM with his email address.
KimH

[hanes teulu]

Slater's Manchester, Salford & Suburban Directory 1911 Pt 4

It mentions a Bollin Walk, off Manchester Road, Wilmslow. Nearby streets listed are Wareham Street and Ladyfield St.
Listed is "Kitchen Wm, Miller, Bollin Mill"

Appears to have been on the corner of Bollin Walk and Manchester Rd?

The Mill in Bollington may have been in George St - there was a Silk Throwster's Mill there in 1911 (Kelly's Directory 1911)

regards

[kimhulme]

I would imagine that our Welsh friend is not conversant with this neck of the woods. First of all the initial inquiry mentions a drying kiln. They don't have them in cotton mills but do, in corn mills.  Since my previous comment I have been on the ' picturecheshire' site and selected ' corn mill' and a picture of the sluice gate is given as being on the Bollin.  I was along that river earlier this year. I don't recall seeing the sluice gate but the evidence is pretty convincing that what I've stated is correct, eh?
KimH

[millymcb]

Hi all

I know the area a little bit and my first thought (having lived in Bollington) is that I have never heard Bollington being described as Wimslow.   Sometimes "near Macclesfied" or "in "Parish of Prestbury" - but Wimslow is generally considered to be "somewhere else".

There are/were a number of mills in Bollington - the main ones being Clarence, Adelphi, Upper and Lower Mills. I don't remember a Bollin Mill but there may have been one once (or I just didn't see it).

Bollington gets its name from the River Bollin - which runs through Macclesfield and Wilmslow.  So - The Bollin Mill could quite conceivably be in or near Wilmslow and does not have to be in Bollington..

Although - hanes teulu's posting about the Bollin Mill does refer to Bollington rather than Wilmslow. It could be the one you are after - or could there have been two with the same name?

Not sure if you are aware of it - but there is a wonderful history centre in Bollington which is well worth a look. 
http://happy-valley.org.uk/discover/discover.htm  which has lots of photos of the area at
http://bollingtonphotos.co.uk/
 
They are also very helpful if you email them - and may be able to tell you where Bollin Mill is/was
 

Milly
 

[Ray T]

Simple!

Bollin Mill wasn't actually on the River Bollin but some distance away. If you search for Wilmslow on "Old Maps" and look at the 1882 1:10560 map you'll find its name written across the southern abutment of the railway viaduct.

Unfortunately its site is now occupied by a Ford garage and the Alderley Edge by-pass. Progress!

Ray

[Birtle]

SK9 1BN on old-maps pretty well hits the spot (just north of Bollin Walk), though on the equivalent 1874 1:2500 it's called 'Wilmslow Mill (Corn)'; 1898 just 'Corn Mill'. See also Cheshire e-maps: Bollin Fee plot 1572.
Further east of the mill is the railway viaduct, and beyond that Bollin Hall.
Postscript. I've ferreted a bit further. Seems this was a 19th-cent mill (though possibly on the site of a medieval corn mill). Does that fit in with the Roylance lease??
 

[Ray T]

...oops. The wording I pointed out isn't actually Bollin Mill. Looking again at the map - after Birtle's post - I think it actually says "Bollin Hall". My excuse is that "Hall" is absorbed in a blob of ink and could say either but I think it says "Hall".

Whether Wilmslow Mill and Bollin Mill are one and the same, I am unsure.