The north west of England has many iconic images, but none quite grab the attention as much as the old cotton and textile Mills that pepper the landscape between here and Yorkshire.

Once the absolute hub of commerce and right at the heart of the communities, they have now taken on new lives.

The mills these days generally fall into two categories, either  bright refurbished properties making the most out of the residential and leisure opportunities, or more sadly, the dilapidated run down husk of an industrial past that will never be recreated.

I have focused some attention on the new stuff in past articles, but this little piece is dedicated to one of the older mills in this area, and one that has been pretty much an eyesore for as long as I can remember - the infamous Eckersley Mill.

The mill is huge and there are part of it that are occupied as the image below shows:

However, this is very much the minority situation, the real look of the mill is around the back, out of sight, that is where you can capture the real look of the mill

As you can see, these areas have had little or any work done to them in years and the Decay is now setting in. The windows are rotten and falling to pieces and the green mould matches the trees which sprout from the guttering.

The old impressive windows that must have flooded the working areas with light are all now boarded up securely and form a great contrast with the red brickwork.

I particularly like just how intricate the brick and stone work was on these old mills - this was the original "Goods Entrance" but the weeds and bushes are now taking over.

I suppose we should take heart that even though they have suffered neglect and been left to decay, there are still some parts that offer people the chance to set up and grow a business - small units still operate at ground level.

The good news for Eckersley Mill is that the refurbishment of the "street facing" units continues and in time hopefully some real investment may come along for the older parts too.

It would be a real shame to lose this massively impressive building, but then again the decay is not something that the town needs either. Fingers crossed for its future.