I didn't realise until the end that I was smiling all the way through this. SO enjoyable to watch.....

Another brilliant installation mate, enjoyed exploring with you too!

I worked there in the mid 70's in my student holidays when it was a Littlewoods Catalog distribution center - there were many workers from overseas for who English was a new second language - one of my jobs was to invite them for a brew and help them fill in things like holiday requests forms - it had a great canteen run by formidable woman who knew how to cook - things seem so much more personal and human then even though folk struggled

Child labour was used to build the wealth of a few. Clogs, really crap housing, lino floors, badly fitting windows, candles, potty's, cooking on coal, Washing hanging up indoors, the Mangle, washing tongs, with no plumbing or sanitation, black everywhere including in the rain , loads of camaraderie and the odd trip to the beach by train or bus, but an early death. I was around 6 when i first saw an electric light at home, 10 years old before I saw a toilet indoors, previous to that I'd walked to a "communal" toilet which was a hole with a shed placed over it with a full width toilet seat crafted out of wood. The street lighting on the street behind my street was lit by an old man with a long stick. Looking at some of the staff records and old staff photo's from these mills, we can find out what people died from in their records Airborne endotoxins from processing vegetable fibres was just one hazard. A bale opener and a carder would be clouded in dust all day, respiratory disease was high, bronchial asthma and respiratory cancers, could do you in within five years. A constant flick of the wrist or foot for five years would give you Rheumatoid Arthritis. All the boiler workers you would see with rags hanging out of their pockets for wiping their hands on, died from cancers caused by mineral oils, years before they could draw a pension. Hearing would be shot at within a year, so all workers could read lips as the noise was immense, eh! I said the noise was immense. Musculoskeletal disorders like Carpal tunnel, shot tendons and nerves, were as common as a bent back or a hand that you could no longer pick your nose with. The Industry was so bad, migrants from Bangladesh where brought in to die for us, or so it seemed, and the instances of missing fingers and arms rose for a while, as the new Seikh and Muslim conscripts got to grips with the language, our women, and the action of the machines and the speed. Any Bangladeshi who lost a finger or arm would be sacked, as the blood would undoubtedly have ruined some materials. Their arrival rapidly summoned the end of females in the industry. Eventually the whole industry moved to where the base material is grown, and the mills fell empty. I've stood on the top of a 34.8 mtr mill chimney for a split second, that was all the time it took for fear to take over, so I ended up sitting down with one leg in and one out, the smell never forgotten. You really haven't lived until you climb inside a Lancashire boiler with a wire brush to "clean the pipes", which where missing in your video, idle time was rare, so they where usually quite hot. I helped restore an ex Flannel mill some years ago, originals dating back to 1707, now with 1910 Galloway boilers installed and the Pollit and Wigzell engine. It still has steam days so our efforts definitely paid off. Who wears Flannel these days?

Don’t normally comment on your videos but this one was especially good, very informative, loved seeing the old boilers and old photos. The drone shots were amazing and great to see Fred Dibner again. 🙂👍

Brilliant. Videos like this give me a real insight to the Lancashire cotton industry, my grandfather & great-grandfather were mill managers in Accrington, so it's in the blood. One nerdy point - the steam engine you showed was a horizontal steam engine, this is a beam engine en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam_engine I didn't realise they had sprinkler systems, but that certainly explains why the mills had large water tanks on the roofs.

I can not tell you how much I enjoyed your video it brought back so many memories thank you so much .

Another awesome vid, well done Martin. My aunty and many in my dad's family worked in the mills in the 60s-70s and recounted it as the best years of their lives. They loved the comradery and so later at least it wasn't all grim.

Another interesting video Martin.Just shows you when these mills were built 1/150 years ago they were built to last.They should turn it into apartments like the ones in Mcr city centre

I remember being in the pubs around Atherton in the late 70's being confused that all the women were talking to each other without actually making any noise. Obviously they were mill girls from Laburnum or Ena or Victoria Mills who just got used to lip reading because the cacophony of the spinning machinery meant they couldn't actually be heard. While I love those old buildings I can't say that the conditions of the workers that made the wealth for the owners were anything to write home about. Not sure that any of the mills in Atherton even provided housing for workers as they did in other mill towns. I remember waking up as a kid and looking out of my bedroom window to see Victoria Mill on Bolton Road engulfed in flames - probably 1973 or1974 - which of course meant that a few weeks later it turned into our playground :)

Great video cheers! My Mums family were all born in the houses next to that mill. Went there a couple of days ago and all that is left now is the chimney 😢 But I also went to the Nile mill which isnt far away where you walk straight in tothe grounds and even stand inside the chimney as there is an opening at the bottom. Love from London x

The boilers powered a huge Mill Engine. The boiler you saw with the cut away bit was far from complete, looks like the pikeys have nicked the copper boiler tubes, hot gas from the furnace would pass through these, like a big heat exchanger. This raised the steam. Such a sad sight, when you think of all that industry and its infrastructure we've lost.

I don't like heights at the best of time but that was a fantastic video . Pity it will end up same as the rest gone forever part of our history . I loved the part about Fred & the way he dropped chimneys but he did also do some restoration as well . Keep up the great work I shall await the next video . At least no drones where hurt in the making of this one

Brilliant video Martin! The tribute to my hero Fred Dibnah was a nice addition. Just the best!

Excellent! There was 4 boilers the other one missing was outside near chimney base which you can see in the drone clips.

Awesome video Martin,am a big fan of Fred dibnah he was a genius mate.like Fred used to reiterate you only fall off a chimney the once.😂keep up the good work mate.

A very moving video Martin......The children …. Young girls..and boys...No shoes...… I have never visited Manchester , or Halifax where I was born....But my family according to my DNA lived in these parts for hundreds of years.....Is it any wonder that my soul resonates with all of this......Thank you so much ..xx

Hi Martin, really enjoyed this. About 15 years ago I used to have a blog on mills and canals. I've lost it all now. I deliver to alot of mills near Hartford mill. Chadderton mill which was used in Ww2 and still has air raid shelters across from the mill pond which is used by an angling club. Also Manor mill which ( Victoria st ) was sistered with Kent mill next door, now demolished and it's a community school. There is also Nile mill nearby which still has its chimney, boiler and engine house. These were the cathedrals of industry and although they exploited children and were not safe most mill owners built houses for the workers, people who would have not had anything at that time. I've been to the Werneth mills ,Anchor mill, Heron, Devon and others in Manchester, Salford, Bolton and Lancashire up the East Lancs. Give me a shout if you fancy a chat.

I worked in this mill for a short period back in the mid-80s, and I visited it on a number of occasions because it was a blood donation centre, as I recall, for Littlewoods staff, each year. One of the reasons that Littlewoods abandoned it was because of the poor access that it had for motor traffic - there were houses right down the road at the side and only a narrow ginnel through which to take in and allow exit for the umpteen lorries a day that a catalogue company needs to accommodate. Management were always on the lookout for an alternative, and, with the opening of the complex of three mills in Shaw -Lily 1&2 and Newby, and the transformation of Marlborough, in the mid and late 80s, into a hardware distribution centre, the transition was gradually made. Hartford was abandoned for buildings with more space outside them. I was surprised to see no pillar distortion in the shots taken on the top floor. When I went up there over 3 decades ago, from certain positions you could see the pillar line, from one end to the other, warp out of straight, then warp back. It was more than a little disconcerting at the time, and I resolved that if ever invited back there I'd decline the offer. It indicated to me that the top of the building was parting company from its rectangular foundations... you wouldn't get me up those stairs again, I can assure you. However, one of the older Littlewoods managers told me that the basement was the most terrifying place in any mill he'd worked in, because of its lighting system, which was sequential, not simultaneous. In other words, you switched on a light at the entrance to the basement, and the light that came on was about 30 feet away, but all the others stayed off. Now, this was a basement with only floor stock, on pallets, no racking, bulk storage only, no active picking, and it was a huge space, so when only one light was on at any one place and everywhere else was pitch black it was a bit like being stuck on Dartmoor at midnight. There were two cords hanging from the ceiling thirty feet away for the next light. If you only wanted to cross the basement floor from one end to the other you walked to the cords, pulled one to put the next light on, another thirty feet ahead, and the other to turn off the existing illumination (unless you wanted all the lights on). This plunged the area behind you into darkness and the only light then was in front. And so on. In the middle of the floor you were surrounded by darkness with one light and only the option of going forward... for hundreds of feet. The manager in question had been just a bit spooked by this, and he'd driven army tanks using the double-declutching system during National Service. So he wasn't actually a shithouse. I won't say "Happy Days", but I never expected to see inside what Littlewoods referred to as "The Hartford" again, ever, and thanks for that. But I wouldn't return, Martin. It's not likely to stay upright... and I'm amazed that it's still in one piece.

I thought for a moment you might be in the Tame valley area from the thumbnail. My home town of Dukinfield, as well as Ashton and Stalybridge, (I was actually born in St.Marys and lived my early years in Openshaw - that place has changed! All the old terraces gone) had a lot of mills like this build along the river Tame and the Ashton canal. Sadly many have been pulled down. One of my favourites, the Ray mill, in Dukinfield, recently suffered a fire and is to be demolished. It was well known in Dukinfield and had quite a presence with its red brick and domed tower - feels like the end of an era. Probably making way for apartments. Anyway, I am so glad I found you channel Martin. I love your videos and I am fascinated by local history! P.S. I actually came across your site because I frequent a construction and architecture website called SkyScrapperCity. Someone on the Manchester forum linked one of your videos (I think it was the culverted River Irk video with the old cattle bridge). A happy discovery! Thanks.

13:19 there's the other boiler! you found it :D great video, I'm currently binge watching all of your videos.

Another great video mate! You're spot on about having to watch out for the floors. That lift shaft was freaky. Some brilliant views from the top.

Bloody addicted to your videos now. Spent all evening watching them. I would love to come on an adventure exploring.

Absolutely fantastic video!!!!

Come to Ashton Preston and look at Tulketh mill it's still got it's chimney (they've taken the top of the chimney at mo) and part is still in use with Carphone Wearhouse. Higher Walton mill in Preston to is another, such a shame we've lost so many of them . Such history and heritage knocked down

Splendid Martin👍

Love industrial histry and your brilliant video's, keep them coming !

when i see those photos of old mill workers it makes me feel sad ,hope they had happy lives

Fred Dibnah,another lovely memory from my past.I remember watching him on telly in the 70's with my mam.Watching your vids brings tears to my eyes.Another class vid Martin.

Eeeeeh, our Martin! I walked past the mill twice a day, to infant school, to junior school and to secondary school, then home again for my tea. Good show fella, although you need a flat cap and a waistcoat to complete the Dibnah look.

Amazing vidio mate...passed there a lot...funny how many we have and we just pass them every day. It's amazing how they survive so mell

Discovered your channel yesterday, been watching loads, especially enjoyed the drone footage in this, added an extra dimension to the video. Regarding this former Mill, this has to be a real eye sore for the area, too costly to convert to accommodation. Wonder how the late Fred would topple that chimney with littering the pristine football pitch with bricks or putting in a few windows.

One of the things that sticks with me is when I was around 7 or 8 years old you could look out from our front room window and see over the vista of Manchester and its environs (we lived at the top of Yew Tree lane in Dukinfield) and you would not be able to count all the tall mill and factory chimneys, there were so many you would lose count. Now you can only see a handful if that! Its kind of a shame that so many iconic structures have been knocked down.

Cracking video, great aerial recording and music score! Thanks 👍🙂

NEWS 11 hrs ago Government gives green light for Hartford Mill demolition Just noticed the above news article after watching your video. I'm a newbie sub to your channel and thoroughly enjoying the catch up :) As a Shaw Gawbie born and bred I especially loved your little 59 bus at the start. Like many before have said, you deserve to be on TV, proper entertaining! Thank you!

I love your videos Martin. I look forward to your posts each week. Keep up the great work 👍

Once again I enjoyed the video. As a seasoned visitor to many mills in the Oldham area I saw all the different sights you included. I only visited mills which were wholly or partly occupied so Hartford Mill was not on my list. I did, however, visit the nearby Hartford Works and had some really good chats with the owners, Units to Let Ltd. Climbing countless stairs kept me fit!

I’m loving the history- i liked this video 👍

What a great video, and great drone footage from your friend and then set to very appropriate music as well. It's well worth watching the Fred Dibner videos, obviously the demolishing is spectacular, but look how he used to scale these chimneys, absolutely astounding. I wonder if there is anyone around these days to do that. I suppose in December 2021 that it's long gone. Glad you were able to record it for future generation

Its incredible to see this in person let alone give us the views and facts , with your incredible work !! Thanks

Fascinating as all your videos are Martin!

I'm an Manchester (Cheetham Hill) expat who left for Canada as a teenager in '69. Really appreciate these videos and enjoying learning (belatedly) about the city I grew up in! (Was also neat to see the little #59 model bus in your intro which is the bus that my mother used to get to her place of work - a mill in Middleton).

very facinating video and of great interest to me as i was born and raised in a mill town and knew all those mills

Brill, but I was worried for you. Well done. Very interesting. The lift shaft was a sickener!

Just when I thought you couldn't get any higher you bring out the drone - funny effect when hovering over that chimney, it looked like it was swaying. Oh god, that lift shaft!!!! Surely they can't develop it, it's too far gone and if it's grade 2 listed they'll have to reinstate it much like it was back in the day. Thanks Martin, top stuff ☺

I have been binge watching your videos since I discovered your channel about a month ago and I have to say that I am seriously impressed by the quality of your videos. I will now continue to watch the all the ones after this one. I notiiced that the photos you used near the end of the video were take by Lewis Hines in the USA. He was largely responsible for curtailing child labour in the US because of the many photos that he took and published in the early 1900's. He deserves a mention at some point in one of your videos.

They could have done what Yorkshire did with Saltaire Mill But an artist influenced that .Sad that they have left to be wrecked .Brilliant ending and yes I sang along with pride ...( Bet you heard me ) Big like *.. BTW I always wear a hard hat / boots / and a mask ..Greetings , Helena

Wonderful historical, contextual video. I was born & raised in the area & appreciate your video documentation.

great video martin my grandparents where froml wigan and grandma often talked about the cotton mills and how tough it was the music you put to those pictures is truly outstanding certainly bought memories back of my grandma . i am still catching up with all your videos everyone is amazing and captivating

Spectacular to see it all. What a time in history all those children working so hard . Thank God time has changed for the good. The building were very amazingly indeed. Hope they do make it into something truly wonderful .

have to say martin, your local knowledge is immense... these are great videos.. fred dibnah would have been proud.. i loved his stuff too

The sprinkler system was also needed as the dust was so bad it could become combustible, just like flour dust can in industrial bakeries, there used to be hose pipe outlets so that the dust could be dampened down if needed...a fire could be a truly explosive horror to be avoided at all costs....

For the music on the drone footage alone but mainly for the passion, delivery and experience about the subject and the place this stuff has in my own upbringing. Love me a dark satanic mill.

Love this stuff Martin brilliant

Fab! Loved visiting the queen street mill in Burnley where they had the boiler working as well.

Hartford Mill’s architect was F.W Dixon and Sons his mill designs were all fairly similar in contrast but none two water towers were the same design each had different character and shape. The lateral windows in Dixon’s Mills were all the same the footage of Rugby Mill Chimney that Fred dropped was also the same architect as the Hartford. In its heyday it actually had a lead cladded wooden dome atop the tower with a flagpole but was capped off circa 1969. The engine was a 1700hp built by Urmson & Thomson of Guide Bridge.The Chimney was never used when Littlewoods purchased the premises in 1962 so a lot of massive cracks in the stack have now started to appear. I don’t think the tank is at the top anymore I think it was removed when they dismantled the dome.

Fantastic video Martin and that hymn always gives me goosebumps

Lived in Clarkesfield Oldham for many years been in this mill as a child was in better shape floors were good so was roof. Windows were gone but I notice people dump their garbage there. Now reside in Vancouver but still miss my home town. Very good video brings back memories . Still remember one mill in clarkesfield had a moat , was like a great big swimming pool always wanted to swim in it but the locals said there was a pike in it .That mill has since gone and many more.Thanx again.

Lived behind the Mutual Mill in Heywood when we bought our first house in 1978 it was still working when we left in 1985 but only just .Another belter film Martin!👍👍👍👍

As a retired mill lass, I enjoyed that, yes it was bloody hard work, but I loved every second of it.

Brilliant bit of drone footage Martin. Another excellent video.I understood from my mother one of the last cotton mills built was the Elk which is now the big Retail Park on Broadway. My mother's uncle was a master builder and worked on that mill. He worked for I think Jonathan Partington who I believe built a lot of mills over the years.

The hole in the roof looked man made on my little screen? Can u pull something down that’s listed? Thanks Martin for another interesting vid

Thank you Martin for another great video. I reckon that chimney wouldn't be standing if Fred Dibnah was still alive. No steeple jacks left!

Steam engine is the general term. The picture shown is a horizontal double expansion engine. Beam engines are vertical and have a horisontal rocking beam.

Brilliant video Martin. Great footage. Especially with the drone!

When I was a kid in the 1970s I had a very similar set of plastic building girders, I forget the name, but the girders were black, and the set had white sections of roadway for use in the suspension bridge plan.

Great Vid and lovin the Metrol Cammell Weylan model bus too 👌🏻

Anytime Martin. I love your videos, lets me feel as if I am in Manchester!! I have not forgotten my promise to buy the pints!

Loved this since it reminds me so of the many mills in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, really New England in general. Some have been converted to lofts etc,one in my sister's town of Exeter,New Hampshire is gorgeous,not over improved but just right. It is Exeter Mills. Thanks for yet another cool piece.

My mum used to work in a Lancashire cotton mill as a young girl, I would love to know which one but it will be long gone by now. Thanks for the insight into how things were back in the day.

Absolutely fantastic video Martin! Having passed this mill when I've been driving the Rochdale line many times it was brilliant to see inside it 🙂

Another brilliant video.

Top UrbEx stuff there Martin. Respect once again mate.

Loved this video, again. I was wondering what the music was during the drone footage. It gave me actual goosebumps.

Another great little film Martin I live about three miles away from that mill near Alexander park go past the mill on the tram shame it’s in such a mess

Your videos are so interesting. I have a question, back to the very beautiful chimney, there is a rope hanging down from near the top. What is that for?. We love all the neat machinery & the chimneys also. England builds such beautiful buildings with all of the arches & architecture. Thank you so much.

Grate video Martin Victorian engineering at it best keep up the good work.

Great video Martin! Looking forward to the next one👍

That little tribute at 11:54 to the Lancashire cotton mill workers was nice. Be brilliant if you could make a lengthy tribute video of the cotton mill workers. The music was brilliant in the video. I'm from Bolton and I too work in textiles to this day in Adlington, Chorley at Pincroft Dyeing and Printing. It really interests me our Lancashire history.

Really enjoyed this Martin. Thanks for making it.

Very detailed video, I can tell you did your research also it helps to be passionate about the subject which you clearly are. These old red brick former industrial facilities are what gives the Manchester area its unique character and are a part of our industrial heritage, I hope this mill like those at Ancoats gets a new lease of life.

I think you and James should buy a few bricks and demonstrate how they built one of those chimneys 😂. Great video. Love old mills myself. I used to work in one. But sadly now gone. S.A Drivers in Stalybridge.

Another cracking video Martin, well done.

Great explore! Such a shame a new use was never found.

was a pleasure watching that,brillant channel

great video pal, i was here couple weeks back, i have some drone footage also of this place as im only local in oldham

I was fascinated when they were all working

great video martin, all thats left is the chimney, which is due to be demolished 30th sept 2023.

I knew you were in chadderton before you even showed the mill, i watched fred drop a chimney in royton by latics when i was a kid, it was bloody great.

A Sundstrom P3 half face mask on hand would be a really good idea if you’re poking around lift shafts and risers in old mills. A lot of places had AIB ceilings throughout and, although sometimes removed, the removal procedures before 1999 were questionable to say the least so often contamination remains. Edit: 17:30 I rest my case.

Is that the Kenner Beam & Girder set? They also had the Bridge & Highway and the Hydroelectric sets.

I grew up in that mill as a kid,know it like the back of my hand been from the basement right up on top of the water tower you can get in the chimney from the boiler room there's a little door where the fumes would of gone into the chimney in the bottom a fox has made it home in all the soot

Brill martin ! You'v got some nerve mate walking on them rotted floors. That lift shaft shot made me dizzy just looking at it. Great drone shots too! Bet you miss yours 😕. A great vid 👍

Fantastic vid. Have you done a video on swan lane mill bolton please?

Loved the Jerusalem bit!

Great video martin and drone work too Ringway Manchester ;)

It's currently under demolition which is a shame

I remember the 59 to Shaw bus at the beginning from when I would go Oldham baths. Remember the longer alternative, was it the 401 to Derker?

mark, great video, what about a video walking in the steps of the late great fred dibnah. featuring all the places fred worked around bolton and manchester

We thank all who sacrificed and worked to help reach the modern present . There has never been a completed blueprint for how to achieve a perfect civilization . Life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness has been our best guide wherever it exists .