[5] It is a Grade II listed building[4] on the A6, Wellington Road South, between the town centre and Stockport railway station.

In the early 18th century, England was not capable of producing silk of sufficient quality to be used as the warp in woven fabrics.

By 1772 the boom had turned to bust, possibly due to cheaper foreign imports; by the late 1770s trade had recovered.

On 21 July 1784, Samuel Oldknow arrived in Stockport and bought a house and warehouse on Hillgate, he gave out 530 lengths of cotton warp to the local hand loom weavers who returned the woven pieces, these he traded through a London agent.

The combination of a good water power site (described by Rodgers as "by far the finest of any site within the lowland" [of the Manchester region][9] ) and a large female and child workforce[citation needed] used to textile factory work meant Stockport was well placed to take advantage of the phenomenal expansion in cotton processing in the late 18th century.

Power came from an undershot water wheel in a deep pit, fed by a tunnel from the River Goyt.

[10] In 1796, James Harrisson drove a wide cut from the Tame which fed several mills in the Park, Portwood.

In the early 19th century the number of hatters in the area began to increase, and a reputation for quality work was created.

By the latter part of the century hatting had changed from a manual to a mechanised process, and was one of Stockport's primary employers; the area, with nearby Denton, was the leading national centre.

The First World War cut off overseas markets, which established local industries and eroded Stockport's eminence.

Wellington Mill was built in 1830 by Thomas Marsland (1777–1854) whose wealth was founded on a major calico printing concern in Stockport.

Thomas entered the business producing a blue-dye and Turkey red then moved into calico printing which was described by Baines as the largest in Europe.

[13] When completed the building was occupied by a partnership between Marsland and two of his sons-in-law, Richard Hole and Alexander Lingard.

When the business was established in 1834–6 he removed himself from the partnership and a third son-in-law, William Courteney Cruttenden joined the firm.

In 1872 he leased the building to John and George Walthew a spinning and doubling sewing cotton firm.

[15] Wellington Mill was part of the industrial complex of the Marsland family, build on land adjacent to their printing works, as such additions have been made, and subsequently demolished.

It is made up of a series of six-segment, bolted, cast-iron, two-centred arches of 33 feet (10 m) radius, with an offset of 27 inches (690 mm).

[20] The main power shaft entered the mill on the first floor through the south wall of bay 15.

[citation needed] In 1966, the largest of the region's remaining felt hat manufacturers, Battersby & Co, T & W Lees, J. Moores & Sons, and Joseph Wilson & Sons, merged with Christy & Co to form Associated British Hat Manufacturers, leaving Christy's and Wilson's (at Denton) as the last two factories in production.