Marvel's Mill

Marvel's Mill or Marvell's Mill on the River Nene in Northampton, England, was the world's second factory for spinning cotton, the first to be operated as a water mill, and the first to be driven by an inanimate power-source. Opened by Edward Cave in 1742, it was one of the Paul-Wyatt cotton mills that used the roller spinning machinery invented by Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, which had first been used in their Upper Priory Cotton Mill in Birmingham in the summer of 1741.

Marvel's Mill had a long history as a water-powered gristmill, being identified as Merewyns mill as early as 1253. Originally owned by Northampton's Priory of St Andrew, its ownership was taken up by the town of Northampton after the dissolution of the monasteries, and it was leased to a succession of tenants.

In 1742 the mill was acquired by Edward Cave, the publisher of The Gentleman's Magazine, who had become involved in the development of Lewis Paul and John Wyatt's newly invented roller-spinning machinery through the mutual acquaintance of the writer Samuel Johnson, and who had acquired a licence to operate five of Paul's machines with a total of 250 spindles at £3 per spindle. Cave purchased Marvell's Mill after being offered other mills in Romsey and Gloucester. After demolishing the existing corn mill, he erected a new building to house the spinning machinery, with outbuildings for boiling lye for bleaching, and a smith's workshop for maintaining the spindles.

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