There were two possibilities in the village at that time one of which was Know Mill. It seems there has been a mill on that site for a considerable time. It was situated at the bottom of Hob Lane, closed in 1959 and demolished in the 1960s. The business transferred to Bury. Traces of it can be seen when the water level in the Wayoh reservoir is low as it occupied the land under what is now the small end of the reservoir.

It was connected to the railway at Entwistle by an overhead bucket system which carried coal down to the mill and also a system of rail trucks on a rack and pinion system which took goods from the mill to be transported from Entwistle station. Workers from the village walked to the mill and some workers came from Darwen on the train. In later years a bus service came through the village and turned round at the top of Hob Lane, the workers continuing down Hob Lane on foot.

The other print works were at Quarlton Vale. The stone chimney and the reservoir are all that remain. At the time of the outbreak of World War 1 Quarlton Vale was owned by the Calico Printers Association but in 1916 was sold to Thomas Clarke. Turton Local History society gives a detailed account of its history in their publication “Quarlton, a quiet corner of Bolton-le-Moors” by J J Francis.

Margaret Ollerton

Know Mill Print Works – publisher unknown