Demolition of 1850s Blackburn mill underway
A crowd gathered yesterday in Ewood, Blackburn, to witness an historic occasion: the demolition of the landmark Albion Mill, which dates back to the 1850s.
Albion Mill started operations as a textile factory back in 1856 and closed its doors almost 120 years later in 1975, due to a lack of orders. In recent years the mill had fallen into disrepair.
The crowd gathered to watch the six-strong demolition contractor team from Manchester-based, Northbank Demolition, begin their work. They started the process of dismantling the building using a high reach machine. It is expected that the demolition process will take a month and it will take a further seven or eight months to clear the site.
Paul Richards, who is heading up the Northbank Demolition team, commented: "We expect this part of the job to take around three to four weeks" He went on to add: "The bricks are all high-quality and handmade and will be cleaned up, recycled and resold."
In recent years the building had been used by various community groups but it closed to the public in 2008. It has not yet been announced what the site will be used for once cleared.
