Login   |   Register   |   
Photos of Wigan
Photos of Wigan



Wigan Album

Orrell

17 Comments

Aerial photo of Sandbrook Spinning Mill, Orrell, c1957.
Aerial photo of Sandbrook Spinning Mill, Orrell, c1957.
Photo: Derek Finch
Views: 9,499
Item #: 1585
Aerial photo of Sandbrook Spinning Mill, Orrell, c1957.

At that time I believe it was owned and operated by George Brown and his son, Alan.

Comment by: Alan Liptrot on 1st January 2008 at 15:33

This is not correct. Mr George Brown did not own the mill, he was the Overlooker. He was also my Grandfather and, as a child, I used to take him his dinner to the mill. I do not know who owned the mill, I believe it was a Manchester company.

Comment by: Fred Mason on 24th November 2008 at 16:39

Very interesting stuff. I grew up in Norley/Orrell and was 11 years old in 1957 but I cannot remember this mill. Can anyone enlghten me as to exactly where it is/was, say from the White Swan on Fleet Street???

Comment by: Dennis Dickinson on 27th April 2009 at 01:44

The Sandbrook Mill was between St James Road & Sandbrook Road. There was a footpath which went from Sandbrook Road to St James Road, next to the railway line. The footpath seperated the railway line from the Mill.

Comment by: Fred Mason on 29th April 2009 at 17:51

Thanks, Dennis,

This is the far side of Orrell from where I lived, so never went up that way much, but I was born in Billinge Hospital though and used to go up Billinge Hill quite a lot as kid.

Comment by: vicki brown on 26th October 2009 at 14:22

i can spot my house there at the bottom right! end of mill road :)

Comment by: Mike Sharkey on 4th November 2009 at 23:34

I can see the house that i grew up in on there too! End terrace on St James's Rd. You can just make out the back alley which now leads on to Millcroft Ave.
Regarding the First post in this thread, Alan Liptrot?
Are you the same Alan that lives behind the vets..... Regan's Brick?
If so hows your Barry, not seen him in years.

Comment by: Paul Watkinson on 10th February 2011 at 05:29

I remember one night standing in my parents bedroom on Sandbrook road watching it burn. probably about 1962

Comment by: Monty B on 19th March 2011 at 17:36

What an astonishingly beautiful mill. Quite remarkable!

Comment by: Duncan on 29th March 2011 at 10:49

The mill also got on fire sometime in the early 70s and again I think one night in around 1978 during the fire brigade strike of that year, remember the green godesses were called out.

Comment by: MONTY BROWN on 10th June 2011 at 20:41

Takes me back to my childhood days. Playful merriment was to be had amongst the grounds of the old mill. Oh the stories i could tell.

Comment by: Jeff Brown on 26th June 2011 at 20:34

The mill was owned by Manchester consortium and my grandfather, George Brown was Mill Manager with his son Alan, my father, as Deputy Manager.

Comment by: Robin Grainger on 15th November 2011 at 12:26

I was brought up at 74 St James Rd and our back came out onto Mill Rd. I remember the paper mill (as we called it) and the old railway house were we used to make dens!! happy days.

Comment by: colin sharkey on 16th February 2012 at 22:13

hello mike sharkey (brother) we used to walk up the line to the pub queens arms lol happy days

Comment by: colin sharkey on 16th February 2012 at 23:58

This picture take me back to my childhood days aswell we all used to play around the papermill,the line we used to walk up was always muddy in the winter and the fence was made out of old railway sleepers just across the railway lines was the coal yard and the place we called the lodge some people used to fish in there lol a few years ago i went back for a walk it was all filled in lol yes i did jump over the railway wall to get there, we all must of done that the top of the wall is so smooth with us all doing that. we used to jump over that wall to go on the school field to play footy i bet you cant do that now (all fenced in)

Comment by: Ellen on 7th May 2013 at 20:46

This brings back memories of walking to school along Sandbrook Road, when UGS was in it's last three school years at that site. Happy days. Thanks for posting, Derek.

Comment by: Allison McDermott on 16th August 2020 at 09:29

My uncle John Winstanley and Aunty Joyce Winstanley lived at number 30 St James Road - many happy days spent there. I lived on Sandbrook road looking over the mill from the back of the house. Used to walk along the line side through from queens arms to the end of mill lane. The good old days now everything is housing

Comment by: Robin Grainger on 15th April 2023 at 19:48

We used to live at 74 St James Rd and our back garden came out on Mill Rd.
We knew it as the paper mill and I can remember the sleepers making a wall between the road and the railway house and garden.
Playmates were Julie and Lynn Blackburn and Lesley Ackerly who all lived on Mill Rd.
Stanley and Eric (I think Winstanley) were a bit older than us so we didn't hang around with them.
I can't imagine how many footballs must be down the banking (in the brambles) near the lines after playing in the Secondary Modern hockey goals.

Leave a comment?

* Enter the 5 digit code to the right of the input box. Don't worry if you make a mistake, you will get another chance. Your comments won't be lost.