Shoe Mill

[pifco]

Many years ago I was walking in Priestley Clough and when I was passing the remains of Shoe Mill (the chimney was still standing then) I came across the late Mike Rothwell and another man and they were digging and trying to uncover the foundations of the old mill. Later when I met Mike in town he told me that they had discovered a good deal of information about Shoe Mill and that they intended to catalogue their findings and draw a diagram of how the mill was built and how it would have looked as a working mill.

Does anyone know if this was ever published either as an article in a magazine or as an booklet solely about Shoe Mill?

[Bob Dobson]

Not to my knowledge, pifco. I've never seen any drawings by Mike. Check the Hyndburn Local History Society's website and email the secretary It may be that the society took possession of Mike's papers when he died. The society re-published one of his books on Accrington's industrial heritage after his passing

[pifco]

Many thanks Bob

[Margaret Pilkington]

My brothers and I played in Priestley Clough.....and we used to go as far as the Five arches
Was Shoe Mill beyond five arches? Because for the life of me I cannot remember it at all(and my memory is good).

[Ryewolf90]

Shoe Mill was on the right going up to Baxenden just before the 5 arches

Found this link

Shoe Mill

I'm pretty sure there's now an info board up there now, opposite Hill St and the site of the signal box.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Well, that is a surprise....I cannot picture it in my head.....and I cannot count how many times we played up at the five arches.
I have not walked in that area for some fifty odd years.
I always said I would walk it again one day just to see how far it was.
When we were children it seemed a long way to us...and Ma did not like us going up there as she thought it was too far from home.

[cashman]

only went that way odd times but never heard of shoe mill.

[pifco]

When we used to go up to 5 arches it was in the 50's and the only part of Shoe Mill that was anything more than a ruin was the chimney which we used to crawl under and look up at the sky through the centre of the chimney which looked even higher than it does in the link that Ryewolf has added.

[Margaret Pilkington]

It would be the late fifties when we played there.
I am really surprised that we did not go there and play inside the chimney

[Ryewolf90]

Originally Posted by pifco

the chimney which we used to crawl under and look up at the sky through the centre of the chimney which looked even higher than it does in the link that Ryewolf has added.

Alas, only the base of the chimney is still there.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Alas, now I am too old to be playing in the base of a chimney

[joaner3]

I used to go there with my brother in the 60s, I remember part of a factory just after the lodges, and before that house, I used to shin across the water on those pipes up to the five arches then we walked from there down manchester road into town.

[landhusweg]

I'm the same as Margaret i.e. played up Priestley Clough in the late forties early fifties as far as the five arches, but for the life in me, can't image the "Shoe Factory", is this old age creeping in?
Are there any old photos around on the internet?
Cheers