Details
SJ99SW
701-0/1/228
Bredbury
STOCKPORT ROAD WEST, (South side(off))
Pear New Mill
(Formerly Listed as: Bredbury STOCKPORT, STOCKPORT ROAD WEST Pear Mill)
20/06/91
II*
Cotton mill. Built 1908-1912. By A.H. Stott and Sons of Manchester, completed by Philip Sidney Stott.The mill site comprises a single-storey office building at the site entrance and separate mill with attached engine house and chimney.
EXTERIOR: main mill: steel girders for frame, cast-iron columns, concrete floors, clad in red Accrington brick, 4:1 English bond. An imposing building of rectangular plan, six storeys, attached two storey carding rooms (possibly additions of 1917), and three storey reception and warehousing. The 'signature architecture' theme is carried through to highly decorated door lintels in moulded terracotta, especially to the engine house. Tall nine-pane segmental-arched windows, round arches to top storey, with characteristic terracotta details including decorative bands, lintels, eaves cornices; flat roof with corner towers on which are mounted concrete pear-shaped finials; south east corner water and stair tower has oval top storey windows, brick pilasters and bands, elaborate parapet, pear shaped roof. Tall brick stack with pilasters and moulded crown, probably stone detailing.
INTERIOR not inspected but reported to have had a fine engine room lined in white glazed brick. The office building has similar decorative terracotta, not examined in detail.
HISTORY: planned as a double mill but the second part was not built, (see below), the engine was a twin Manhattan Compound made 1912 by George Saxon of Manchester, with 23' diameter fly wheel and 26 ropes, the flywheel had 73 rope grooves and has 15' wide, probably the widest in a cotton mill. The mill had 52 pairs of spinning mules with a total of 137,312 spindles, and employed approximately 300 people. In 1929 the mill was acquired by Combined Egyptian Mills, a large merger of 15 small companies controlling at least 30 mills. The building was modernised in the late 1950s when electrically-driven ring frames were installed and in 1965 it was taken over by Carrington Vyella. The mill closed in 1978 and is now in multiple occupation.
EXTRA INFORMATION: the mill was designed by Abraham Stott junior. His father founded the firm in 1847 and retired in 1884; Jesse and Abraham junior continued the business, while their brother, Philip Sidney, set up a separate practise. As with other architects, the firm was actively involved in the promotion of new mill building "companies" at this time. In 1907 Abraham promoted the company, making contact with men involved in the cotton trade who were willing to finance and direct the new company. The six directors, including AH Stott himself by 1909, were all local men and involved in other mill , developments. It proved difficult to raise sufficient capital at the end of the Edwardian cotton boom and by 1912 a new board of directors bought the unfinished mill from the liquidators; A.H. Stott was dismissed with accusations of extravagance, and his brother, Philip Sidney, (one of the most prolific mill architects) was responsible for the finishing stages, including the office building.
The building is representative of the mills built by the limited liability companies (the 'Oldham Limiteds' and the 'Stockport Limiteds') which were a dominant force in the industry by the late C19. The history of the founding of Pear Mill is published in Holden, 1987-88. A very fine example of an early C20 mill which illustrates the refinement of mill architecture at that period, the signature theme being typical of the style used by .the new limited companies.
(Manchester Region History Review: Vol.1, No.2: Holden RN: Pear Mill 1907-1929; a Stockport Cotton Spinning Company: 1987-1988: 23)
Listing NGR: SJ9119690793
