Torr Vale Mill was just one of several cotton mills located in the deep gorge below the town of New Mills, and the only one to have survived in the cotton industry from its construction in the Eighteenth Century into the Twenty-first Century. In fact Torr Vale Mill is the only mill that still remains in the gorge, the rest having been destroyed by one means or another.

Torr Vale Mill's long unbroken history in the cotton industry, lasting more than 200 years, has guaranteed it a place in the record books as being the only mill in England to have remained continuously in the cotton manufacturing industry for such a length of time.

Many of the mills in New Mills and in the gorge sprang up in the late 1700s, water power was the 'in-thing' and the fast running rivers of the Goyt and Sett were perfect for this task. The fact that the gorge made construction, and later transportation of goods, difficult didn't seem to deter anyone at the time.

Torr Vale Mill's history started in 1788 when a lease was granted for land and development of the mill. The mill, like the others in the area, was solely water powered and remained so until 1856 when the mill first started using steam power. The advent of steam power did not mean the demise of water as a source of energy, as the steam engine and water wheels were coupled together to provide the power for the mill.

Electricity arrived at the mill in 1931 but it wasn't until 1940 that the use of water as a source of power ended, and it was 1952 before the steam engine was finally retired.

The mill viewed today would be unrecognisable to the original occupiers. The original mill was fairly small by comparison and although parts of the original mill still survive, the bulk of the mill was rebuilt in the second have of the Nineteenth Century into what one sees today, with further minor additions and changes happening in the twentieth century.

Torr Vale Mill finally closed down towards the end of the year 2000, having just survived into the Twenty-first Century, giving it a textile history that spanned four centuries.

This is not the end of the story for Torr Vale Mill as there are ambitious plans to redevelop the mill into a centre for community use, therefore guaranteeing it's future for a few more years, and who knows, maybe its future history will span another four centuries.