River Irwell

A Memory of Ramsbottom.

This is the weir on the River Irwell where it swings round and is bridged by the road up to Peel Brow. The mills on the right are on Kenyon Street. There were cotton weaving mills, towel mills and soap works. The Church spire is St. Paul's Church. I used to go past here everyday on my way to the railways station to catch the train to school in Haslingden. Sometimes the river was very low and a bit smelly and at other times it was a raging torrent. Just a little further down stream the river skirts round what was Ramsbottom Paper Mill, where my father worked, and on past Ramsbottom Cricket Club at Acre Bottom.