The
Torrs - Part II
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This weir at the upstream
end of the walkway was created to channel a flow to the Torr Vale
Mill site, initially to drive a water wheel for motive power and
also possibly for process use. In the top right corner of the
picture the wall and railings by the sluice gates can be just
made out.
Further upstream, the remains
of the older weir serving the Rock Mill complex.
Through an arch of the viaduct
carrying Union Road over the Torrs we can see, halfway up the
rock wall, a climber engrossed in his sport. At the base of an
arch an engraved stone records that it was laid by James Hibbert
Esq JP, June 21st 1883.
Just above the Union Road
viaduct an older low level bridge spans the Goyt in front of another
weir at the confluence with the River Sett and serving Torr Top
Mill, the last major mill in the Torrs. Recorded on a local map
in 1794 the five storey mill was burnt out in December 1912 and
never rebuilt.
....
There appears to be some
industrial archaeology underway on the Torr Top Mill site judging
by the careful trenches and collections of 'finds' behind the
security screens.
Looking back downstream
from the confluence, the Union Road viaduct towering over the
low level bridge which could have been the original crossing point
between the banks.
Upstream from the Torrs
the railway viaduct spanning the broader valley ...
... with a local train on
its way to Edale and Sheffield.
Back through the Torrs and
upstream on the River Sett this low level bridge at the start
of the Sett Valley Way to Hayfield, which goes along the disused
railway line and where more Cotton Mills thrived alongside the
river in the early Industrial period.
Back up in the town, at
the head of an old lane down to the Torrs, a rebuilt weavers cottage
where, before power weaving became available, hand-loom weavers
worked the thread from the mill's spinning machines into cloth.
Looking across the roofs
of a higher part of New Mills to where the headwaters of the River
Sett rise on Kinder Scout, with the Kinder Downfall visible left
of centre on the skyline.
Heading back home, a nearly
haze free view looking west over the Cheshire Plain.
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