Explore Quarry Bank's thriving industrial history

Things to see and do

• The Cotton MIll

  Watch machinery in action. Feel the floors shake beneath your feet. Get a feel for what it was like for workers in the hot conditions of the mill. And discover the story of mill owner Samuel Greg.

• Quarry Bank House

  Wander through the Georgian rooms of the mill owner's home and enter the world of Hannah and Samuel Greg. Discover Hannah’s interests in education, self-improvement and debate. Find out about her wider social life and dinner parties. 

• Apprentice House 

  Join a guided tour and discover where the child apprentices lived, ate and slept after a long day at the mill. Find out about 19th-century cures for everything from headaches to lost limbs. 

  Timed tickets for Apprentice House tours need to be collected from the Visitor Reception building. 

• Styal Village

  The village in Styal was built by Samuel Greg to house his workers. Alongside cottages and rows of two-up-two-down terraces, he also built shops and social spaces. By providing his workers with accommodation to live on site, this helped the mill owner to ensure efficient, cost-effective labour.  

  By 1840, Styal had transformed into a large and thriving village with 300 tenants. Almost everyone who lived in Styal village was employed by the Gregs, however not all of them worked inside the mill. Tenants also included gardeners, farmers, estate labourers, a shopkeeper, a village butchers and at one point, up to eight shoemakers. Alongside them were mechanics, engineers, bookkeepers, clerks and the mill manager.  

  The rows of two-up-two-down terraced cottages in the village are typical examples of workers’ cottages built during this period. Two families occupied each cottage – one family lived in the main house while the other family lived in the cellar.   

  Up to 14 people were once recorded as living in one cottage, however the average total household numbered around seven. Each cottage also had its own privy and allotment, and there was also a village green, a school and a village shop. This made Styal village a more appealing place to live, when compared to the streets of nearby Manchester. 

• Worker’s Cottage 

  Explore a two-up-two-down cottage and see how the mill workers lived in a village built for them by mill owner Samuel Greg. Uncover history spanning from the 1820s through to the 1970s. Cross the cobbled streets to visit the Styal Village Hub. 

  Timed tickets for Worker’s Cottage tours need to be collected from the Visitor Reception.