Maple Mill, Oldham

It was designed as a double mill by P.S.Stott, in 1904. The first mill was built then and the second mill in 1915. It worked as a mule spinning mill.

It was taken over by Fine Spinners and Doublers in the 1950s.

Maple Mill was sold to Courtaulds in 1964. In 1968, Maple Mill was selected by Courtaulds to receive the first top secret BD 200s, Open End Spinning machines from Czechoslovakia. These were experimental, and coming without documentation were difficult to operate. Simply, they were designed for Uzbek cotton not the American cotton or synthetics used in Oldham. A research visit by Courtaulds staff to Ústí nad Labem in August 1968, was interrupted by Soviet tanks putting down the Prague Spring uprising. Later a body of Czech technicians was based at Maple Mill, until the problems had been resolved. This was a rare example of cross Iron Curtain co-operation.^[5] Courtaulds ceased cotton spinning at the mill in 1991, but it was re-opened a year later by Wills Fabrics Ltd who continued spinning and weaving on the site until the company went into administration 1998.

It was bought by Vance Miller and used to manufacture and market fitted kitchens and furniture.

In 2006 the Greater Manchester Police and Trading Standards raided the Maple Mill offices and factory of Vance Miller. As a result of the raids four people, including Miller, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud in what was one of Tradings Standards' biggest ever operations.^[6] The company was able to continue trading despite Trading Standards seizing property in a bid to pursue its case against the company.

On 21 February 2007, under the General Product Safety Regulations Act 2005, Trading Standards Officers in Oldham ordered Vance Miller, again trading from Maple Mill, to immediately withdraw four types of minibikes from sale. The products failed national safety provisions.^[7]

On 21 April 2009, a fire started near the diesel generator of the kitchen factory (Maple No.2) and ignited the contents of propane cylinders and pallets.^[8] Sixty firefighters used ten fire engines and "a number of specialist appliances, including two aerial appliances, to contain the fire."^[8] Fire Service spokesman Paul Duggan said: "The fire is thought to have started in a diesel generator then spread to some wooden pallets and propane cylinders nearby, some of which exploded as a result. There were people inside at the time but there were no reported injuries or any reports of anyone missing." Local townspeople near the area had been left without water or very little^[9] The building is burnt out. The fire was the largest incident attended by Greater Manchester Fire Service for several years. At the height of the fire, a total of 34 fire appliances from across Manchester attended including three aerial appliances, Hose Layers and High Volume Pumping Units. The Fire Service were in continuous attendance for two weeks.

On 30 September 2016 a fire devastated the first floor of Maple No.1 mill.^[10]

On the morning of 15 December 2016 another fire started at the Maple No.1.^[11] The fire started on the top floor of the mill.^[12] Around 70 firefighters attended, with nearby properties evacuated.^[11] The building was declared to be structurally unstable as a result of the fire,^[13] during which large parts of the building collapsed, and work to demolish unsafe portions of the mill began on 16 December,^[14] expected to take three days.^[12] Although the mill was vacant, some people may have been sleeping inside it.^[11][15] People living in caravans had been seen at the site since September 2016,^[15][14] with Vance Miller saying that the fire would not have started if travellers had been evicted from the site.^[12] Fire crews left the mill on 24 December, nine days after the fire started; most of the mill was demolished, with only a tower remaining.^[16]

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• List of mills in Oldham