Quarry Bank Mill

Just one cotton machine running is loud, just imagine what it was like with all of them going.

1 Star, yawn2 Stars, OK3 Stars, interesting4 Stars, worth a detour5 Stars, worth a journey
(3 Votes, average 4.33)
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The North-West of England was at the heart of British Cotton Manufacturing. The noise within the mills was horrendous, indeed pioneering research into noise induced deafness examined weavers because the sound was unrelentingly loud. Nowadays, only a small number of machines are used at this museum, even so the sound is deafening:

“Stand among the looms today, feel the heat brush your face and the floorboards shake, and listen to the roar of the flyer frames. There stretch the beams of yarn and the 500 bobbins set out in the creel, each holding up to 12 miles of cotton. A cool, damp stairway leads down to the wheel itself; a giant, a monster, grown mossy and rusted, its colossal spokes still turning, heaving the river. You can get lost in the vastness of it, in the motion of it, in the grumble and groan of its working, feel yourself floored by this rush of the past.” [1]

Location

Quarry Bank Mill and Styal Estate, nr Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 4LA, see website for opening hours and times when machinery is running. Cotton looms can also be heard at the Museum of Science and Industry in nearby Manchester.

Sources and credits

  1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/nov/27/manchester?page=all
  2. SpindlierHades (c) some rights reserved
  3. Sound Matthias Kispert (c) some rights reserved

Author: Trevor Cox

I am a Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford where I carry out research and teaching focussing on architectural acoustics, signal processing and audio perception. I am also an author and radio broadcaster having presented many documentaries on BBC radio and written books for academics and the general public.