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Was built in 1853 consisting of a weaving shed and warehouse with a cotton waste and sweeping store made of wood that adjoined the loom shed. The Blackthorn Spinning Company was formed in February 1875 to purchase and work Blackthorn Mill .In 1879 a notice appeared in the local press stating the intention of the Company to wind up the company. In 1885 Messer's Jackson & Hoyle Confectioners and sugar boilers took over the mill employing 60 people. The business of Jackson & Hoyle however was put up for sale when they went bankrupt in 1885. In 1883 part of the land was sold to Messer's Smith & Boocock to be used as a builders yard. In 1904 the mill was sold to Mr Harrison Cowgill Joiner and Builder who was building a new row of houses using the masonry from Blackthorn Mill of which at that time a good portion of the mill had already been demolished. Blackthorn Mill chimney was demolished by explosives on June 6th 1904, and the mills date stone was built into the gable end of Gordon Street.
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Accidents and Fires at Blackthorn Mill.
August 1863 A spur wheel broke in several places one piece was hurled through a window into the road close by.
1872 A man named Robert Abbott who had been imported from Cambridgeshire to work at the mill, met with almost instant death whilst working in the scutching room on the second storey. He was literally torn to pieces and part of his body was thrown through a window. It seems he had been trying to put on a strap.
November 1888 Robert Rigby an employee of Jackson and Hoyle walked under a loaded trolley of coal, containing two hundred weights, being hoisted up to the engine house, which was on the second storey of the mill. As Rigby passed beneath the winding chain broke, he was it by the falling trolley severely injuring him.
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