The land of Quarry Bank Mill was owned by the Earl of Stamford who had little use for it. It was no use for farming as in was in a hollow in the land. The land was also flat which would have made it easy to build on. He charged just £50 for the lease of the land and a yearly rent of two pounds eight shillings. This was very cheap. Samuel Greg also bought a number of large fields and four cottages with permission to have his servants and apprentices to live of the land. One consideration that led Samuel Greg to build a mill at Styal was that it was cheap to own.
Greg chose the site of Quarry Bank Mill mainly because of the availability of water from the river Bollin. This mill was run by water power. Samuel Greg had searched for a fall in the river by searching sites that had once been corn grinding mills. Greg also obtained the water rights with either side of his land so no one else could set up a mill and deprive Quarry Bank Mill of water power. The mill race extends a quarter of a mile further back than it does today. Once the Weir was in place partially damming the river, it held back a reservoir of water so it was not necessary to have such a long mill race. The water came along the head race, turned and escaped back to the river through the tail race that went through a tunnel in the mill. A consideration that led Samuel Greg to build a mill at Styal was because of the good source of water from the River Bollin.
Sketch plan to show the flow of water powering the mill
The first Mill had its water frame spinning machines powered by an over-shot wheel
There was an increasing amount of cotton imported into Britain because of the new machinery. The import of raw cotton had risen from 4 million pounds weight to 31 million pounds in just twenty years. More and more people wanted cotton clothes so this made it a very profitable business. In the 18th century value of exported cotton rose from £23,253 to £540, 6501 so Samuel Greg knew that it was a profitable business.
Arkwright had invented a water powered spinning frame machine. This machine increased the speed of production of cotton so more could be made each day than average. It made as much cotton thread a day as forty spinners could make by hand. This saved labour costs and it was extremely efficient. By using this machine Samuel Greg would produce a very high profit although it was illegal to use in before 1785. Samuel Greg was willing to take the risk of being caught and fined. He got away with it. Therefore he used the latest technology available.
Most of the cotton came from the USA. Once the American war of independence was over trade between the two countries picked up. Cotton plants only grow in hot environments and the UK was too cold to grow any. Cotton would come from India, China, Africa, Egypt as well as the USA. Samuel Greg was one of first importers of American cotton using the Rathbone family who were shipping merchants in Liverpool.
Samuel Greg decided to build a mill at Styal because it was close to Liverpool and Manchester. Liverpool, with good transport links became the chief port through which cotton was imported. In 1793 there were more boats bringing cotton to Liverpool than going to London with it. London was the centre of importing raw cotton and then Liverpool took over as the chief importer. The river Bollin was not suitable for boats but it was only seven miles to Broadheath staging post on the Bridgewater canal, linking Liverpool and Manchester. This was the main transport route for the raw cotton coming to Styal from Liverpool. A toll road linked Broadheath and Styal and that part of the journey would have been made by horse and cart. One consideration which led Samuel
Greg to build mill at Styal was that it was it had good transport links.
Samuel Greg worked out a cheap way of transporting his goods. From Liverpool, cotton came to Styal along the New Bridgewater canal. It was off loaded at Broadheath on the canal where he had a warehouse. It then came by cart along the seven mile toll road to Styal. Spun cotton was returned to the canal by the same road and then taken on along the same road and then taken on along the canal to Manchester, the centre of the cotton business. Canal transport was the cheapest at 10s 6d a tonne compared with transport on the river Mersey which was 12s a tonne or by carriage which was 40s a tonne. Thomas Tonge, who lived in the village of Styal when he was a boy, sent back memories from the USA of carting the cotton along the toll road. A consideration that led Samuel Greg to build a mill at Styal was that it was cheap to transport his goods.
One problem which Samuel Greg encountered was that there was a lack of work force in the area because it was in the country. Greg found it easy to obtain cheap labour by using pauper children from the workhouse. At first he housed them in local farm houses but then in 1790 he opened the apprentice house, the mill where up to 90 children were to live. He also started to build Styal village as a factory colony to house his workers.
Styal had several advantages for the building of a cotton mill. The rover Bollin had a fall of water enough to provide water to power the wheel. The out crop of Sandifield provided building material for good foundation and there was a field for an apprentice house where brick makers could make bricks to build a mill and then later the village of Styal.
First building where the wheel is today
