[3] It lies on undulating ground,[4] on the course of the Rochdale Canal and north bank of the River Medlock.

Historically a part of Lancashire, until the 19th century Failsworth was a small agricultural township linked, ecclesiastically, with the parish of Manchester.

[4] Farming was the main industry of this rural area, with locals supplementing their incomes by hand-loom weaving in the domestic system.

The introduction of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution facilitated a process of unplanned urbanisation in the area, giving rise to Failsworth as a mill town, marked architecturally by several large redbrick cotton mills.

[7][8] By 1871 Oldham had more spindles than any country in the world except the United States, and in 1909, was spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined.

Later, purchased by the Andrew Design Procurment in 1919 who occupied the site for eight years until 1927 with their moderate success to re-establish the mill.

The Bank of England set up the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in 1929 to attempt to rationalise and save the industry.

[10] It was powered by a marine type vertical triple expansion engines built by Buckley & Taylor of Oldham in 1906 with 1800 installed horsepower.