Monument record 2608/19 - Croft Mill

Site of a 18th century three storeyed brick built silk mill. The ceiling heights of 2 metres suggest it was originally built for hand throwing. Demolished 1988. Macclesfield was one of two silk production centres in Cheshire. Silk buttons had been made here since Elizabethan times. Silk throwing (Twisting silk threads together) began as a domestic industry and became a mechanised process with the use of water powered machinery in the mid 18th century. The industrial revolution introduced power weaving in the late 19th century and many large mills were built at this time.