Heritage Trails, Anchor Mills Interactive Map, Mile End Mill
Mile End Mill
Built between 1899 and 1900, the Mile End Mill was constructed just after the Clarks’ and Coats’ family businesses merged in 1896, along with Jonas Brook & Bros., to form J. & P. Coats.
It was designed by W. J. Morley of Bradford, and is Grade A listed. The nearby free-standing octagonal brick chimney stack was also designed by Morley, and is the only surviving stack in both the Anchor and Ferguslie sites. The chimney stack is Category B listed, and is now put to use as antennae facilities for the mobile phone industry.
The Mile End Mill’s main operation related to the twisting process in thread manufacture, in which at least two yarns were combined to make thread strong enough and controllable enough for sewing. The now famous ‘invisible thread’ was invented here, though much secrecy surrounded the invention during its early years.
By 1993, the Mile End Mill time as a working mill was ended, and the refurbished building now houses a large numbers of offices, a child care nursery and a gym facility.
