Murray's Mills are amongst the world's earliest steam-powered cotton spinning factories.  They were constructed for Adam and George Murray, Scottish machine makers and cotton spinners, between 1797 and 1804 and employed over 1200 people.  Visitors from Europe and North America came to Manchester, the first city of the Industrial Revolution, to marvel at its technology, its buildings and its new way of life. 

The original complex consisted of six buildings grouped around an open quadrangle.  The extended old mill forms the south side and New Mill the north side, each with a detached engine house.  Warehousing and offices occupied the Murray Street block to the west, its great gate providing the only entrance and exit for pedestrians and waggons.

The central canal basin linked to the Rochdale Canal by a tunnel, provided access for barges carrying coal, raw cotton. and finished thread.  The last Bengal Street block completed the square to the east.

Cotton spinning continued at the mills for 150 years.  The second half of the 20th Century saw their decline and decay.  Murray's Mills were known to be of National Historic Significance.  In 1998 Ancoats Buildings Preservaton Trust initiated their rescue, supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and Manchester City Council, the Trust led a programme of permanent repair which was completed in July 2006.