New Mills
| New Mills | |
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 Torr Vale Mill in 1982 when the mill was still in use |
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 New Mills
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| New Mills shown within Derbyshire | |
| Population | 9,521 (Parish, 2011) |
| OS grid reference | SJ995855 |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | HIGH PEAK |
| Postcode district | SK22 |
| Dialling code | 01663 |
| Police | Derbyshire |
| Fire | Derbyshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
New Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England, approximately 8 miles (13 km) south-east of and 15 miles (24 km) from Manchester. It lies at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, close to the border of Cheshire. The town stands above the Torrs, a 70 feet (21 m) deep gorge, cut through Woodhead Hill Sandstone of the Carboniferous period. It is on the north-western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of approximately 10,000. New Mills can refer to the built-up area that includes Newtown and Low Leighton, or the civil parish that includes the villages and hamlets of Whitle, Thornsett, Hague Bar, Rowarth, Brookbottom, Gowhole, and most of Birch Vale.
New Mills was first noted for coal mining, and then for cotton spinning and then bleaching and calico printing. New Mills was served by the Peak Forest Canal, three railway lines and the A6 trunk road. Redundant mills were bought up in the mid-twentieth century by a children's sweet manufacturer, Swizzels Matlow, famous for Love Hearts and Drumsticks. New Mills was a stronghold of Methodism.
New Mills is in the area formerly known as Bowden Middlecale which was a grouping of ten hamlets. The name of New Mylne (New Mills) was given to it from a corn-mill, erected in 1391, near to the present Salem Mill on the River Sett in the hamlet of Ollersett. This was adjacent to a convenient bridge over the Sett. By the late sixteenth century the name was applied to the group of houses that grew up round it. Coal mining was the first industry of the area, with up to 40 small pits and mines exploiting the Yard Seam. The climate, good construction stone and the availability of stable land by fast-flowing water was ideal for cotton spinning. Cotton mills and print-works were built in the Torrs Gorge from 1788. Dwellings were built on the sides of the gorge, sometimes with one home built on top of another, both being entered at their respective street levels. Examples still exist on Station Road and Meal Street.
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Wikipedia