MILL AND BOON

PLAN TO BOOST TOWN WITH BUZZING NEW NEIGHBOURHOOD" AS HISTORIC PICTURES REVEALED

- CHRIS SLATER

AMAZING newly-unearthed pictures show Stockport's landmark viaduct being built over a historic mill which is set to become the heart of a buzzing new neighbourhood’

Weir Mill, on the banks of the River Mersey in the town centre, is currently the subject of a huge renovation project. The mill buildings are being restored and transformed into new homes. Two new-build blocks, including a 14-storey tower, have also been erected on the site.

Once complete, they will see the creation of 253 apartments, 87 in the historic mill buildings and 166 in the new builds.

It will also boast new independent bars, eateries, coffee shops and stores as well as two new public squares and green space in what bosses and council chiefs say will become a vibrant’ new atea.

The original mill, sometimes referred to as Wear Mill, dating back to 1790 when it was built by cotton manufacturer John Collier, was deemed to be a local icon of the industrial revolution’

It was water-powered, standing just 500 metres from the source of the Mersey, at the confluence on the River Tame and River Goyt.

Very little is documented about the original 1790 building, which was destroyed in a devastating fire in 1831, started by a spark from the boiler house lighting some nearby hessian.

The fire gutted the original mill, with reports that not a single item of machinery was salvaged.

A neighbouring building, described as the New Mill) built just a few years previously in 1828, was salvaged.