DOBROYD MILLS
Dobroyd Lane
Todmorden
Map Ref. SD 932238 (lower)
Map Ref. SD 931238 (upper)
Part of the Lower Mill
Known occupiers
1794-1822
GREENWOOD Samuel
1804-1809
DAWSON John
1804-1837
COCKCROFT George
c1812
MARLAND John
1821-1825
GAUKROGER & HORSFALL
GAUKROGER Titus
1832-1879
FIELDEN Bros.
c1841
Upper Mill demolished
1880
Not listed in rate books
Demolished
Notes
Before 1800 there were two mills at Dobroyd, upper and lower. John Travis tells us “Dobroyd-lane led to two old mills and to a roller maker’s works, once occupied by John Marland, and afterwards by Joseph Hirst.”
It is now almost impossible to determine who occupied which mill until the railway was built about 1840. The railway line cut through the land, leaving the lower mill intact. The upper mill had to be demolished, although the dams are still in evidence. John Travis says: “THE MARLANDS had a workshop at Higher Dobroyd where there were dams and a water wheel in a building that had probably been used in the woollen trade, which stood where the railway line now passes through the site, and on which the lower warehouse stands, which then was a farm house and barn contiguous to the workshop. Here the iron-workers plied their trade about 1812 and afterwards moved to WATERSTALLS.”
By 1832, the Fielden Brothers of WATERSIDE MILL had acquired the lower mill. George Cockcroft, a butcher and piece-maker of Dobroyd Lane Bottom, must have been working the higher mill as he continues to appear in various Trade Directories until 1837. By 1841 he seems to have given up the manufacturing business. Samuel Greenwood, who was manufacturing cotton at Dobroyd before 1794, was still there in 1822 and then disappears from the Directories. If George Cockcroft did run the upper mill, then Samuel Greenwood may have run the lower mill, followed by Gaukroger & Horsfall, and later acquired by the Fielden Brothers.
Dobroyd Lane bottom with the house of John Fielden MP to the right and George Cockcroft's property to the left. This lane led to the 2 mills.
1794
Samuel Greenwood, occupier of Dobroyd Mill owned by Robert Atkinson, supported the bill for the Rochdale Canal.
Land Tax Assessments 1796, 1797 and 1803
Owned by Robert Atkinson, occupied by Samuel Greenwood, Dobroyd, tax £1.0s.2d.
Dean’s Manchester Directory 1804
George Cockcroft, fustian, Todmorden, attending Manchester markets
1809
Will of John Dawson, cotton spinner of Dobroyd
Extract of will of John Dawson
1769-1809
This is the last will and testament of me, John Dawson of Dobroyd in Todmorden in the Parish of Rochdale and County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinner, as follows: Whereas I have a third part, and George Cockcroft hath two thirds parts, of the machinery in the factory at Dobroyd aforesaid, and George Cockcroft hath a lease of the said factory for a term of years not yet expired; and we made a verbal agreement that we should work the said machinery together as one concern and join at all expenses, profits and losses in proportion to our respective shares therein, so long as we should carry on the concern. And it was also agreed that I should have liberty to continue the said concern during the whole of the term of his lease, or draw out at any sooner time, the machinery being valued at a fair price and George Cockcroft to pay me the price so set upon my third part thereof. Now I do will that my Executors hereinafter named do continue the said business until the first day of May in the year 1811 if they find it convenient so to do.
|
The site of the Upper Mill before the railway arrived
Crompton’s 1811 spindle enquiry
Dobroyd Upper Factory, 2328 mule spindles; 6 x 19doz. 4 x 20doz.
1812-13
George Cockcroft, Dobroyd, appears in Jeremiah Jackson’s accounts book
Leigh’s Directory 1818
George Cockcroft, cotton manufacturer and butcher, Dobroyd.
Samuel Greenwood & Sons, cotton manufacturers, Dobroyd.
1821
Gaukroger & Horsfall, Dobroyd, appear in Jeremiah Jackson’s account book.
Baines 1822
George Cockcroft, Dobroyd, cotton manufacturer and butcher.
Samuel Greenwood & Sons, cotton manufacturers, Dobroyd.
Baines 1824
George Cockcroft, calico & fustian manufacturers
Pigot & Deane 1824-25
Titus Gaukroger, Dobroyd
Baines 1825
George Cockcroft, calico and fustian manufacturers
Baines 1828
George Cockcroft, fustian manufacturer, Dobroyd
Pigot 1828-29
George Cockcroft, fustian etc. manufacturer
Parson & White 1830
George Cockcroft senior, cotton manufacturer.
Lower Mill with a railway track running
into the warehouse
Fielden papers 1832
Dobroyd Mill valuation: cotton preparation, 1,512 mule spindles, 1.5hp. water and 1hp steam engine, buildings and power valued at £950, machinery at £489
Pigot 1834
George Cockcroft, manufacturers of cotton goods
Baines 1837
George Cockcroft, cotton manufacturers, Dobroyd
1841 census
George Cockcroft, Dobroyd, aged 70, butcher
Fielden papers 1856
Dobroyd Mill used for cop waste breaking-up, employed 3 hands, powered by steam and water.
Todmorden Rates Book 1860-65
Owned and occupied by Fielden Bros. Dobroyd; cotton mill; part empty; rateable value £61.18s.6d. New warehouse £176.18s.8d.
Todmorden Rates Book 1866-79
Owned and occupied by Fielden Bros. Dobroyd; cotton mill; part empty; rateable value £38.9s.0d.
Todmorden Rates Book 1880
Not listed
|