page_title: Murrays' Mills
section_title: Expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Murrays' Mills / History / Expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: The interior of the quadrangle of en:Murray's Mills in en:Ancoats, en:Manchester. In the foreground is the private basin attached to the en:Rochdale Canal.
context_page_description: Murrays' Mills is a complex of former cotton mills on land between Jersey Street and the Rochdale Canal in the district of Ancoats, Manchester, England. The mills were built for brothers Adam and George Murray.
  The first mill on the site, Old Mill, was begun in 1797, and is the world's oldest surviving urban steam-powered cotton spinning factory. After Old Mill opened, the company continued to expand and prosper, and by 1806 the complex was the largest in the world, employing about 1,000 people at its peak: Decker Mill was opened in 1802, New Mill in 1804, Little Mill in 1822, and Doubling and Fireproof Mill in 1842. The main complex formed a quadrangle surrounding a private canal basin linked under the road to the Rochdale Canal, which opened in 1804. The canal basin was used to deliver raw cotton and coal and to transport spun cotton away from the complex.
  In 1898, A&G Murray became part of the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association Limited. The mill complex began to decline in the early 20th century as the canal basin was filled in and Little Mill burnt down. The mill was replaced with the earliest mill in Greater Manchester that was built to use mains electricity.
context_section_description: During the early to mid-19th century there were several periods of depression and prosperity in the cotton trade. In this period, A & G Murray would have been less affected by these changes due to the size of the firm. In 1817, engineers William Fairbairn and his partner James Lillie updated the complex.  The contract, Fairbairn's first as a millwright, involved the replacement of line shafting in the complex, with wrought iron line-shafting designed to work at higher speeds. Adam Murray died in 1818 and his brother George continued to run the firm. By 1818, the firm had nearly tripled in value since 1809 to £59,000.
  Additionally, the firm also expanded beyond Bengal Street further along the strip of land between Jersey Street and the Rochdale Canal.  Little Mill was built on the corner of Jersey Street and Bengal Street around 1822. It was originally six storeys high, but an additional three storeys were added at an unknown later date. The building covered 644 square metres (6,930 sq ft) and just over half of this area would have been occupied by a gasometer house which would have supplied the complex with gas used for lighting. The mill was linked to New Mill via a tunnel which may have carried the gas supply. Engineer Joshua Field visited the mill in 1821 and commented "they spin the finest thread". He also noted that the furnace which provided steam to drive the engines had been fitted with a "smoke burner" to "lessen the consumption of fuel", also having the effect of reducing the amount of smoke produced.
  Despite the continued expansion, by 1824 competitors McConnel and Kennedy had overtaken the Murrays as Manchester's biggest cotton spinners.  In 1833 A & G Murray were employing only 841 people, a reduction in workforce George Murray attributed to "recent improvement in the firm's machinery".
  In 1842, Doubling Mill and Fireproof Mill were built on the corner of Redhill Street and Bengal Street. Doubling Mill is five storeys high with an engine house designed to contain a 40 hp beam engine. Doubling Mill was used for doubling – the process of combining two or more lengths of yarn into a single thread – cotton produced in the company's earlier mills, giving the mill its name. Fireproof Mill, again as its name suggests, was designed to be fireproof by using cast-iron beams and columns rather than timber; it was the first mill in the mill complex to have been built to resist fire. The mill is four storeys high and may have been used as a warehouse. The two new mills were also linked to the original complex by tunnels under Bengal Street. The firm "doubled more or less" in size during the early to mid nineteenth century and expanded into the fine yarn markets around Nottingham, the growth of the firm led to the creation of the Doubling and Fireproof Mills.
  In December 1852, the mill complex was valued at £75,000; when George Murray died in 1855, two of his three sons – James and Benjamin – inherited the complex. By 1881, A & G Murray had become registered as a limited liability company and the running of it was mostly in the hands of manager Herbert Dixon, who had joined the company in 1876, as the Murray family played less of a role. Under Dixon the company modernised and used new technology and was the reason for the firm's continued success. The use of new, more efficient technologies resulted in the further reduction of the workforce so that by 1897, A & G Murray only employed 500 people. In 1887, Fireproof Mill and Doubling Mill were leased by A & G Murray Ltd to C E Bennet.
  In September 1898, A & G Murray was "voluntarily wound up and conveyed to the Fine Cotton Spinners' and Doublers' Association Limited (FCSDA)".  The association had been an idea on the part of Dixon and Scott Lings to form an association of cotton spinners.  Thirty-one other cotton spinners also joined the association.  The association had the advantage of great size in comparison to the competition, and had the necessary clout to secure raw materials.  With Dixon as its Managing Director until 1917, by the 1920s, the FCSDA was the largest and
caption: The interior of the quadrangle of Murrays' Mills. In the foreground is the private basin attached to the Rochdale Canal.
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