Details
679/4/401 OLD LANE
24-JUL-80 (South side)
BOWLING DYKE MILL AT EAST END OF DEAN
CLOUGH MILLS
GV II
Spinning Mill, 1849 and 1851, for James Akroyd and Sons, in coursed dressed stone with pitched slate roofs, built in two phases.
PLAN: it is aligned east-west facing towards the Hebble Brook to the south. It has six storeys and uses fireproof construction.
EXTERIOR: The south elevation of the eastern, 1849, block has 19 windows and the western, 1851, block 17 windows: the join between the two is shown by a gap in the windows equivalent to one bay. The 5th bay from the left has taking-in doors (now windows), and from the 9th to the 13th bay there is a single storey section breaking slightly forward with arcade openings in ashlar dressings, the central one an entrance and the two to either side converted to windows with small-paned glazing: this was the boiler house, with shaved piers to accommodate the larger boilers inserted in 1894. Entrances are irregularly spaced along the ground floor and include an original arched entrance. The east elevation has 4 windows, with an additional 2 windows in the gable and a later single storey flat-roofed extension. The north elevation onto Old Lane is punctuated by two large and two smaller horseshoe-shaped towers housing the stairs and toilets respectively, arranged from the left, toilet tower, stair tower, toilet tower, stair tower. The toilet towers have small vents on each floor, while the stair towers have 3 windows, one to each side and one on the outer face. The gap in windows marking the two parts of the building is apparent to the right of an added square metal shaft carrying a lift which rises above the roof line. The stair and toilet towers have string courses and the building has a moulded cornice with a plain band architrave. The stair towers rise above the roof line, and the toilet towers have water tanks set back into the roof. Owing to the rise in ground level to the north and west, there are only 4 storeys to the north side. At the western end of the building is a large added lift tower in glass and steel rising above the roof line and connecting with a high level footbridge with 'D' Mill. A number of openings have been altered at ground floor level.
INTERIOR: cast iron columns survive, with cast iron beams and brick jack-arch ceilings exposed in some areas, hidden above suspended ceilings in others. The beams are of an unusual and rarely surviving type where the top flange is reduced to a square bulb rather than being rectangular. Suspended floors over the boiler house use a cast-iron grid frame supporting a flagged floor with cast-iron bridging joists for extra support; the columns are visible in the reception area. The exposed roof structure is a triangulated frame type consisting of wrought iron sections of a type first used in 1838 to cover the train sheds at Euston Station, later spreading to other sorts of building.
HISTORY: James Akroyd and Sons occupied a mill in the Hebble valley north of Halifax from 1815. Several buildings including a spinning mill (Fearnley Mill) and a warehouse (Crossley Mill), were built by Akroyds in the 1830s, while the original Bowling Dyke Mill, a spinning mill, was destroyed by fire in 1847. It was quickly rebuilt, with a first phase to the east opened in 1849 and a second phase to the west in 1851. The eastern end housed a new engine house and boiler house. The double beam engine that powered the mill appears to have been supplied by the engineering firm of Wren and Bennett of Manchester, who may also have influenced the engineering of the building. This engine was replaced in 1894 by a Musgrave inverted vertical, with replacement of the boilers at the same time.
The Akroyds were engaged in worsted manufacture and their complex spread over a considerable area to the east and north of the Crossley complex at Dean Clough, including the Haley Hill complex and Copley Mill. Akroyds, along with Crossleys, were major industrialists and benefactors of Halifax. Their business suffered decline from the 1890s, and after various parts of the site passed into different ownerships, Bowling Dyke Mill, along with other buildings in the vicinity, eventually became part of the Dean Clough complex in the late C20.
Reasons for Designation
Bowling Dyke Mill, Dean Clough, a spinning mill built in 1849 and 1851 for James Akroyd, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architecture: it is a relatively plain but impressive example of mill architecture with elegant stair and toilet towers
* Group Value: It is a major component of the Bowling Dyke integrated complex of James Akroyd's worsted manufacturing enterprise in Halifax
* Technological interest: It contains features of technological interest in its roof and floor structures, including an early example of a roof type and a rare modification of beam type
* Intactness: although converted to office use, it retains its character and internal evidence of its original use, including cast iron columns, wrought iron roof structure, fireproof ceiling construction and taking in-doors.
Listing NGR: SE0919825767
