Building record 2608/46 - Brookside Mill

Typical early 19th century mill construction, with stone foundation walls used as a damp course. There was a warehouse extension built shortly after the erection of the main mill. It was acquired by Josiah Smale and Co. between 1872 and 1885. 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.