Waterside

The three cottages in the centre of the picture were the homes and workplaces of the entrepreneurial Fielden family who moved there from Edge End in 1782. The various stages of expansion can be seen in the five-storey building which was a spinning mill. The square chimney type structure was a dust tower used in conjunction with the spinning process. The building on the extreme left, originally one of their warehouses, became the Municipal Technical Institute from 1898. The public clock on the roof of the building was surmounted by an ornamental cupola and weathervane in the form of a sailing ship.