Oldham rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of
textile manufacture. It was a
boomtown of the
Industrial Revolution, and amongst the first ever
industrialised towns, rapidly becoming "one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England", spinning
Oldham counts, the coarser counts of cotton. Oldham's soils were too thin and poor to sustain
crop growing, and so for decades prior to
industrialisation the area was used for grazing
sheep, which provided the raw material for a local
woollen weaving trade. The first mill, Lees Hall, was built by William Clegg in about 1778. Within a year, 11 other mills had been constructed, but by 1818 there were only 19 of these privately owned mills. This was due in a large part to the formation of
limited liability companies known as
Oldham Limiteds. In 1851, over 30% of Oldham's population was employed within the textile sector, compared to 5% across
Great Britain. At its zenith, it was the most productive
cotton spinning mill town in the world. By 1871 Oldham had more
spindles than any country in the world except the United States, and in 1909, was spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined. By 1911 there were 16.4 million spindles in Oldham, compared with a total of 58 million in the United Kingdom and 143.5 million in the world; in 1928, with the construction of the UK's largest textile factory Oldham reached its manufacturing zenith. Fox mill was erected in 1908. Fox Mill, Hollinwood was one of 104 mills bought by the LCC, and one of the 53 mills that survived through to 1950.
Courtaulds used Fox mill to spin
Rayon until 1989 when the market collapsed. It was bought by J.D. Williams a
mail-order company. The mill is now demolished and housing is on the site. == Architecture ==