Britannia Emery Mills down at Hulme Hall Road

Hulme Hall Road Bridge 1897

It’s a while since I visited Hulme Hall Road and that warehouse which suffered a devasting fire back in the summer.

At the time I ran a series of stories prompted by Andy Robertson’s pictures which he took at regular intervals recording the demolition of the building and yesterday he went back but mainly to solve a little mystery.

“My daughter alerted me to this picture showing the construction of Hulme Hall Bridge in 1897.

She wondered if ‘our building’ Excelsior was on it. 

Hulme Hall Road, 1930

We could not get or heads round it so I decided to go and have a look.

The frontage of the Emery Mill still remains.

 Since 1897 the buildings where the two men are standing has been demolished and replaced by a larger building which joins the Britannia on its right and goes all the way down Hulme Hall Road joining that building on extreme right of photo.

The 1930 aerial photo illustrates this.

Hulme Hall Bridge, 2015

Thomas Goldsworthy was here from at least 1870 to 1946 manufacturing glass and emery cloths, glass and sand papers and knife polish.”

Research by Andy Robertson


Pictures; Hulme Hall Road Bridge, 1897, H Entwistle, m60918, and aerial View of Hulme, Chester Road, and Hulme Hall Road, 1930 A W Hobart, m67731, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and the same scene 2015, Andy Robertson