Adelphi Mill

Reasons for Designation

* The good level of survival of the 1856 mill complex. * The good level of survival of the1907 engine house. * The evidence in the building for the process flow and power provision. * The group value with grade ll Clarence Mill, erected by the same cotton manufacturers. * Externally very impressive, in terms of scale, masonry, elevational treatment

Details

BOLLINGTON

202/0/10011 Adelphi Mill 18-DEC-07

GV II BUILDING: Cotton spinning mill now divided into commercial units.

DATE: Erected for Swindells Brothers in 1856 with C19 and early C20 additions.

MATERIALS: It is constructed of ashlar, sandstone blocks with slate covered roofs.

PLAN: Rectangular in plan with engine houses (1856 and 1907), boiler house, truncated chimney and cotton store at the north end.

EXTERIOR: The substantial main range is six storeys in height and 30 bays in length on the west front. A shallow parapet conceals a multi-valley roof. The main entrance is at the north end with a rusticated portico, raised on four steps, formed of three round headed arches. The arch to the south has been blocked by the addition of a lift shaft, dated to 1919 by a date stone on its west face. The north west corner is surmounted by a square, corner tower which has octagonal corner turrets, corbelled out. There is a further original entrance door, in the 10th bay from the north end. Square headed window openings, with stone sills, contain many renewed frames in UPVC. Three dry chute toilet blocks are spaced evenly along the main range. On the east side evidence of taking in opening towards the centre of the range.

At the south end there is a two-storey, three-bay addition with the inscription '1824' in the stone lintel of the central entrance doorway. Italianate in feel, its window bays are recessed and the sills form part of projecting string courses, the upper one of which is on corbels. Window openings have some alterations and the frames have been renewed with UPVC, retaining the metal fascia of the original central mullions.

At the north end there is an attached chimney base, square in plan, with moulded plinth and cornice, surmounted by the moulded plinth of an octagonal chimney - the shaft has been removed. The ventilation arches in the north and south faces have been converted to form doorways. Adjoining the north end of the mill is the tall, gabled, engine house and a three bay, two storey, boiler house, with arched openings to the east. Further north, adjoining the boiler house, is a three storey cotton store. Its windows opening are square headed; save those on at first floor level the east side, which are round. A smithy adjoining the cotton store to the east has been reduced in height. A 1907 engine house, three storeys in height and square in plan, adjoins the north east corner of the mill.

INTERIOR: The interior of the mill has been subdivided into offices and industrial units, concealing much of the historic fabric, save for the ground floor. Construction on the upper floors is traditional - timber bridging beams supported by three rows of cast iron columns, but at ground floor level the building is 'fireproof' in form, where the cast-iron columns support cast-iron beams spanned by brick. jack arches. At first floor level an area of metal sheeting, which acted as fireproofing, is visible lining the ceiling. At same point, and also on the fourth floor, substantial cast iron blocks that formed bearing housing for drive shafting survive. No parts of the steam engines or boilers survive, but in the 1856 engine house the walls carry evidence in the form of stone blocks which supported the engine and drive. The cotton store has a roof comprising cast-iron plate and wrought iron rod trusses.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: To the east of the main range there are wrought iron railings on a stone plinth with stone gate piers. Also, on the canal bank, the cast-iron base plate of a canal-side crane survives. On the east bank there is the more substantial remains of a crane, being the lower portion of a circular shaft formed of a wrought iron frame lined with timber.

HISTORY: Bollington, a small Cheshire village, blessed with full flowing Pennine streams, and benefiting after 1831 from the Macclesfield Canal, was a considerable centre of cotton spinning, boasting numerous cotton mills of all scales.

Adelphi Mill was erected, on the banks of the Macclesfield Canal, for the spinning of cotton yarn by the Swindells brothers, George and Martin ('adelphi' is the Greek for 'brothers'). George took on the management of the new factory and so it was his name that is said to have been inscribed over the main entrance. The Swindells are a significant family in the history of the Cheshire textile industry and had already owned in Bollington the Rainow and Ingersley Vale Mills, with the Fernley family and later the Higher and Lower Mills with the Olivers. They owned Clarence Mill, on the canal side north of the Adelphi, and ran to the two factories in tandem. In 1898 the Swindells amalgamated with the Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers Ltd. and occupied Waterhouse Mill in Bollington in addition to the two they already occupied. Adelphi was converted for the throwing and spinning of silk and man-made fibres in the mid C20. Subsequently the mill became part of the Courtaulds textile empire but closed in 1975.

By the time of the publication of the 1875 Ordnance Survey map Adelphi Mill had been carefully extended southwards by 18m; the original gable end now forming an internal partition. The 1875 map also shows the boiler and engine houses in their position at the north end of the mill and cranes, for loading raw materials from canal barges, are shown canal-side: the base of one still survives. The mill tower above the north west corner originally had a simple parapet and a shallow hipped roof but no turrets. These were added after 1905, possibly in 1919 when the lift shaft was added at the north end. A three-storey extension, for initially for blowing but used later for gassing and winding, was added to the south end in 1924. In 1907 a new engine house was added to the north east corner of the mill and a substantial vertical engine installed.

The lodge to the north of the mill has been enlarged and extended since 1875. In the early C20 a cotton warehouse was erected to the west of the mill.

After closure the mill chimney was reduced in height to its base and, in the 1980s, the mill floors were divided into industrial units and offices. For a brief period the north end of the building was converted to a hotel. It was at this time that an entrance was created through the base of the chimney.

SOURCES: Calladine, A. and Fricker, J. 1993. East Cheshire Textile Mills Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. London: HMSO.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION

Adelphi Mill is listed in Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* The good level of survival of the 1856 mill complex. * The good level of survival of the1907 engine house. * The evidence in the building for the process flow and power provision. * The group value with grade ll Clarence Mill, erected by the same cotton manufacturers. * Externally very impressive, in terms of scale, masonry, elevational treatment

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

500565

Legacy System:

LBS

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