Hanging Bridge Mills – History and Background
It was great to see the Mill with blue skies and sun overhead earlier this week after the wet and windy weather of the last few weeks. We’re taking this as a sign that 2024 is set to be a great year ahead!
At Hanging Bridge Mills we’re back to work, warping, weaving, printing, cutting and sewing to innovate and create webbing solutions for our new and existing customers.
Did you know that there is a long history of textile manufacture on this site? In fact, Hanging Bridge Mills is not the first mill to be situated in this exact location. A cotton-spinning mill established by Richard Arkwright in 1781 once stood on these grounds, it was later worked by the Cooper family who also owned another mill in Ashbourne, Coopers Mill which was the home of corset makers, Richard Cooper & Company. Coopers Mill closed in the 1980s and the factory was demolished to make way for a supermarket, bringing 125 years of corset-making in the town to an end.
Back at Hanging Bridge Mills, the former cotton spinning mill, built under the instruction of Arkwright, was pulled down following fire damage and completely rebuilt in 1866, this new structure being the three-storey brick mill building that stands today. The building now forms part of the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) structure of the business, having been acquired by the Bond family of Alrewas as long ago as 1864. The looms were water-powered until 1942 when some machinery was converted to electric motor power. One half of the Bowmer and Bond merger, M. Bond and Co., has origins dating back to 1795 near Yoxall in Staffordshire.
Follow the link below to see further historical images of Hanging Bridge Mills (formerly known as Alrewas Mills to commemorate the move from Alrewas):
https://www.search.staffspasttrack.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=47311&SearchType=2&ThemeID=562
Posted 11th January 2024 by Bowmer Bond
