Updated
July 26, 2009 8:38 PM
Timeline
1836 Old Robin Hood Mill, James Arrowsmith and
Son
1848 Mill No1 built
1862 Old Mill (Lever St) destroyed by fire damage
£16,000
1881 No1 Mill destroyed by fire damage £30,000
messrs Peter Cook and Sons
1882 Old Mill (Lever St) dismantled and site subsequently
incorporated into Robin Hood Mills as Mill No2
1884 Peter Cook Ltd also at Moorlands Mill
1902 July 31st Shortly after five o'clock on Wednesday
afternoon, a serious smash occurred at Messrs P. Crook and Sons,
Robin Hood Mill No. 2, Lever St. which will throw about 150 people
out of employment for several weeks.
The accident, which was of an extraordinary nature,
occurred in the engine house, the powerful beam engine which drives
the mill in question suddenly snapping in the centre, the front
portion crashing through the engine house window, carrying everything
with it, including the shafting, high pressure cylinder, etc., and
completely wrecking the front of the building.
The engine has been at work for considerably over 20 years, and
only a few minutes before the accident was working apparently as
smoothly as ever. The smash came with alarming suddenness, but fortunately
no personal injuries were sustained.
The effect of the shock was felt in the mill, the
machinery coming to a sudden standstill, thus causing considerable
consternation amongst the employees. The damage, which is covered
by insurance, will probably amount to nearly £1,000.
1950 Mill No1 Woodeaves Co Ltd + Bowater's Paper
Bags
1956 March 29 The latest acquisition of the Woodeaves
Co. Ltd., a high-speed warp knitting machine weighing 6 tons. and
capable of producing nylon fabric 168in wide, arrived at the company's
Robin Hood Mill, Lever St Bolton to day.
The machine is claimed to be the fastest warp knitting machine in
the world and it is British. It has 4,700 needles, and it knits
9,000,000 stitches a minute. The needles pass between guides with
a 2,000th of an inch clearance on either side. They pass them 1,000
times a minutes.
1974 Woodeaves closed (Courtalds Group)
1985 Mill No1 Bolton Plastic Components Ltd and
Mill No2 Sundour Fabrics Ltd -Burgess and Ledward Fabrics.
2007 Still in use.
A bomb landed in the mills lodge, you could see the wings on
the back as it was stuck in nose first and it didn't go off,
they called the bomb squaud round and they put sandbags in the
street, and we all had to move out of the houses and spend a
couple of nights in the Air Raid Shelters