Building record 2608/32/2 - Alma Mill, Pickford Street

Built in 1820 by John Brocklehurst to weave as well as spin silk. It is described as a typical example of early mill architecture and has a multi-storeyed engine house. It was acquired in 1864 by Josiah Smale & Son, as part of the Bollin Mills Complex. 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.