Sometime during the first couple of decades of the 1800s, William Spencer set up a factory in an area of Edgworth known locally as Old Russia. This would become the Quarlton Vale Print Works, and was a relocation of his business from a site at nearby Higher Russia. Following his death in 1826, his family moved away to Belmont where his sons ran Belmont Print Works. His former partners, Smith and Fairclough, put the Quarlton site up for auction. It stood on 20 acres of land, and as well as the usual buildings and reservoirs associated with a print works, there was also a farm house and nine cottages included in the offer.
Unfortunately, a buyer was not found for Quarlton Vale, and Spencer’s former partners declared bankruptcy in 1831. When it was auctioned for a second time, it was advertised as being powered by water wheel, having modern machinery and was capable of employing 400 people.
Robert Millington bought it, and the Millington family ran it as a bleaching and calico printing works (calico is unbleached cotton fabric). By 1858 they were in difficulty financially, and so sold it on to Robert Walker and Thomas Lever Rushton. Three years later, records show that 224 people were employed at the site. The Walker family had also bought and converted the nearby Old Engine Mill at Edgeworth.
Ordnance Survey six inch 1840-1880s. Published under Creative Commons licence National Museum of Scotland
In the summer of 1872 both of these places were badly damaged by a flood. At Quarlton Vale, water from the lower reservoir overflowed its dam. The site was inundated, with water reaching four foot deep in places. The Machine Room, Calandar Room, Colour Shop, and Making Up Room all suffered extensive damage. Prints, casks of chemicals, bales of cloth and even a cart in the yard were swept away. The Bolton Evening News reported that a young girl named Riley was saved from drowning by an elderly (unnamed) male worker. At Old Engine Mill there was extensive damage inflicted to the machine looms. The cost for repairs at Old Engine was £2000, and at Quarlton Vale was £3000, huge sums of money for the time.
The Walker family weathered this disaster, and after forty years of occupancy sold Quarlton Vale to the Calico Printer’s Association (CPA) in 1902. Ten years later it was no longer in use, and the lower reservoir had been drained. The CPA then sold it on to Thomas Edward Clarke in 1916. He used it for yarn bleaching and dyeing, employing 50 people and renamed it Quarlton Vale Bleach Works.
It remained with his company until 1961. By this time dyers of traditional fabrics were being outcompeted by the factories that had moved into working the new synthetic fibres. At the time the government was encouraging textile companies to merge, as a gradual winding down of the traditional industry. The site was purchased by the Yarn Processing Realisation Company, four years later. Subsequently, as happened with so many Lancashire mill sites, the buildings were split up and used by various small businesses. In the 1990s the buildings were levelled and new houses built over the footprint of the old works.
Visiting Today
Despite the destruction of the buildings, there are still historic remains worth seeing. Quarlton Vale’s large, square chimney is in a fair condition, but at the time of writing is in need of some maintenance. In The Lost Textile Mills of Turton and Edgworth (1774-2000) author Richard Horrocks states that the actual site of the levelled buildings are now occupied by houses. He goes on to write that it is the owners of the houses who are responsible for the upkeep of the chimney. It stands within a fenced enclosure, surrounded by small trees, and accessed through a gate. The upper reservoir with its dam is owned by the Longsight Angler’s Association, who have been fishing there since the 1960s. A delightful walk on public footpaths follows Quarlton Brook, the source of the former water supply for Quarlton Vale. See a suggestion for a walk in the access details below.
Access
Park on Bolton Road at Edgeworth. Pass behind the Barlow Institute (see our page on it here) to enter the public footpath in the woodlands. There is a public footpath that leads to a small reservoir. This then continues to the surviving upper reservoir of Quarlton Vale. Continue to follow the path to reach the chimney in its small woodland (there is an unlocked gate to enter the enclosure). The path then continues into the small modern housing development that covers the site of the works. The walk can be made circular by then turning right onto Bolton Road and heading back to the Barlow Institute.
Site visited by A. and R. Bowden 2026
Nearby
Turton Bottoms Packhorse Bridge
References
The Lost Textile Mills of Turton and Edgworth (1700-2000) Richard Horrocks (2022) RH Publishing. This book gives an excellent insight into the textile mills of the vicinity. It is in print and available as paperback or ebook.
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