Children of The Mill by David Hanson

To accompany the second series of The Mill, a book has been released which explores the lives of the apprentices at Quarry Bank, from the beginnings of the apprentice system in the 1790s, to its end in 1847. The book is called Children of The Mill, by David Hanson. Back in July we held a…

Apprentices vs workers

Now that the cataloguing volunteers have worked their way through the vast amount of Greg letters, they have shifted their focus towards documents relating to the business. One such document was written by Robert Hyde Greg titled “List of apprentices and their value as compared with other workers”, dated December 1837. As the title suggests,…

A day in the life of… Helen and her many guises

This is a special Monday morning treat for you – a ”behind-the-scenes” glimpse into the world of one our Machine Demonstrators/ Apprentice House Interpreters – Helen Mackey… In 1784 Samuel Greg, originally from Belfast, founded Quarry Bank Mill. In 1984, I was born. As the token Northern Irish employee, I like to think that Samuel…

The ‘real’ Esther Price

If you’ve been watching The Mill you’ll know that Esther Price’s story is central to the series.  As I’ve been discussing here on the blog, with most historical dramas some parts of the truth are adapted to make the story seem more compelling or to fit in with story lines –  and so I wanted the opportunity…

The fact that inspired the fiction…

For the past couple of posts I’ve been talking about The Mill on Channel 4 and how the archive material here at Quarry Bank was the fact that inspired the series. This week I decided to take a trip to the archive to see Ally, our Collection and Archive Officer, to find out exactly what…

Apprentice life at Quarry Bank

So who watched The Mill last night on Channel 4? If you did you’ll already have seen that the plight of the apprentices is a central part of the story – but what was life really like for the apprentices of Quarry Bank? Between 1790 and the 1830s approximately one-third of Samuel Greg’s workforce were…

The Mill on Channel 4 – Series 1

I have some seriously exciting news for you all this week! Back in February Channel 4 filmed their first ever factually inspired historical drama series at Quarry Bank, in conjunction with Darlow Smithson Productions. After five months of us staff and volunteers itching with impatience, the show is airing on Sunday 28th July at 8pm! The…