The Silk Road

Today I am taking the 'silk road' down to Macclesfield to carry out some research on the Silk Mills there. One of my current projects is contributing to a local conservation area appraisal for Middleton, Greater Manchester.

It's great to be involved with my own locality. The appraisal is aimed at defininig a place which has special architectural or historic interest which is worth enhancing and preserving. Middleton is an oasis of historic interest in an area which has been affected by the industrial revolution. Part of Middleton's story is silk weaving and we potentially have a number of surviving weaving cottages. Thus the trip down to Macclesfield. The aim is to try and establish the form that a weavers cottage might take as opposed to a normal weaving cottage (eg for cotton). This might give us some clues as to the origin of some of our historic buildings. The photo is taken from the Macclesfield Silk Museum's excellent website