Monument record 2608/39 - Button Mill

Site of a water powered textile mill built in 1744, by Charles Roe. Button Mill was the first powered silk throwing mill in Macclesfield, and was built to house Lombe's Italian throwing machinery. It was 4 storeys high and powered by a 9.23m undershot waterwheel. It is represented on Charles Roe's monument, Christ Church, Macclesfield. Macclesfield was one of two silk production centres in Cheshire. Silk throwing (Twisting silk threads together) began as a domestic industry. The quality of the thread produced by this process was not suitable for using as weft ( the threads that go across the loom) it was only used as warp (the vertical threads on a loom). This meant that the organzine thread used for weft had to imported from Italy. The water powered machinery used in Italy was a closely guarded secret. It was eventually copied by John Lombe who then patented this design in Britain. The patent expired in 1732 and the machinery began to appear in textile mills across Britain.