The Silk Museum and Paradise Mill tell the story of Macclesfield’s world-renowned silk industry.

The museum has an internationally significant collection of silk textiles and machinery with a pattern book archive of nearly 1,000 volumes. It also displays the ancient Egyptian artefacts collected by Macclesfield silk heiress, Marianne Brocklehurst.

Paradise Mill is a beautifully preserved working silk mill, with 26 restored jacquard looms. A visit offers the opportunity to step back in time to Macclesfield in the 1930s. The mill was built in 1860 and was operated by tie manufacturers Cartwright and Sheldon until it closed in 1981. The mill is currently closed to the public for essential building work, but tours are due to recommence in the autumn.

This summer, we are offering tours of the Silk Museum itself, with our expert guides covering all this interesting social history, stories about our innovative industrial heritage also of some of the people who worked here.
Tours can be booked here.