Samuel Oldknow was born October 5, 1756 Anderton, near Chorley, Lancashire. He served an apprenticeship in his uncle's draper's shop at Nottingham, he then moved to Stockport where he established a mill in the 1780's for the manufacture of muslin. He also built a house on Higher Hillgate which was next to his mill (still there, No. 27). Muslin is a finely-woven white cloth and it was mainly used to make curtains, sheets and dresses. In 1793 Oldknow opened another mill at Mellor and this was at the same time that he was the chief promoter for the construction of the Peak Forest Canal and Tramway to supply limestone and coal to a battery of lime kilns that he was to build at Marple.