Middle Mill

Middle Mill was situated on the River Colne just below the Parsonage. We don't know when it was originally built but it appears on the 1793 map which accompanied the canal proposal. At this time it was occupied by William Heywood and was known as Heywood's Mill. An announcement of his bankruptcy hearing in 1807, the Leeds Mercury describe Heywood as a 'Cotton Spinner, Dealer and Chapman '.

The early 19th century was a difficult time for the cotton industry due to the American independence and ongoing wars with France. Heywood's Mill closed down and became derelict. By 1841 the woollen industry was booming and the mill was rebuilt as a woollen mill known as 'Middle Mill'.

We can only assume that the mill continued to operate successfully into the 20th century. In Bygone Marsden (1942), Lewis Buckley Whitehead writes of Middle Mill,'...with varying fortunes from fire and water it has served its day and generation up to the present'.

In the early 1950s the Huddersfield Chronicle regularly carried adverts for F. Jackson Haulage with Middle Mill as their address. In 1951 the mill was owned by Arthur Patrick Leahy 'and there seven women and two men employed there.' From 1967 onwards the mill was occupied by Theaker-Cousins (Engineers) who advertised for textile workers including 'twisters and cone winders, one Reeler and Hank bundler'.

By 1989 the building was derelict and owned by a scrap dealer who was reported to be planning to convert the mill to 'provide old people's accommodation'. This was unsuccessful and, although in 1995 the Huddersfield Chronicle reported that pressure from campaigners had prevented the mill from being demolished, it was demolished the following year and the site was developed for housing.