Christy.

Christy was established in 1850, when Henry Christy visited the Palace of the Sultan in Constantinople. He bought back with him a sample of a hand made, loop pile fabric which was new to the western world. His brother, Richard Christy analysed how to mechanically reproduce the loop pile, and patented a machine to produce terry towelling on a large scale.

The first Christy towels were shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace, where a set was presented to Queen Victoria. She liked them so much she immediately ordered more. The ’Royal Turkish Towels’ had arrived.

As England’s original towel manufacturer the brand is now synonymous with quality and is one of the worlds leading manufacturers in high quality towles and linen.

The mill in Tameside is the original birthplace of Christys and the company has remained here since 1850, although in recent years the site has become mothballed in sections due to it being more cost effective to produce its products abroad.

Christys has and impressive pedigree and produced towels for Wimbledon they even produced the towels for the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.

We have drove past this place so many times it is untrue and always seeing the gates open the chances of seeing the place dwindled.

But fortune favors the bold and one sunny February morning we decided to have a quick look as we where in the area, much to our surprise it was walk in access and everywhere open!

Not ones to miss and opportunity we casually walked in and begun to explore this legendary place, unsure what to expect we moved round in stealth mode but soon realised we where the only ones in there.

Although certain sections are very much active the majority of the site is mothballed and hosts the biggest looms we have ever seen as well as a rather extensive collection of towels and sewing machines.

In some ways this place is like walking into Robert Fletchers Mill in Oldham, power still on running water and so on, the highlight of the trip though was discovering the attic space above the main factory, it is filled wall to wall with records and accounts of there hundreds if not thousands of clients as well as rare sample products.

A truly spectacular place, perfectly preserved and filled with fantastic remnants of the past.