E Mill

Details

679/4/426 DEAN CLOUGH 07-APR-82 DEAN CLOUGH E Mill (Formerly listed as: OLD LANE DEAN CLOUGH DEAN CLOUGH MILLS, H AND I BLOCK) (Formerly listed as: OLD LANE DEAN CLOUGH CROSSLEY MILLS, H AND I BLOCK)

GV II Spinning mill, 1857, by Roger Ives for Crossley and Sons, in hammer dressed stone with ashlar dressings. Plan: it is aligned north-south, has 24 windows and is four bays wide. It has 8 storeys plus a basement. EXTERIOR: There is a modillion cornice and parapet defined by pilaster strips and on the east side a centrally placed lavatory tower with paired round-arched openings on each floor set in a giant blind arch, repeated on each face. The cornice and parapet continue round the tower and it is topped by a water tank set in a further stage with two round-arched openings on each side, a further cornice and a pyramidal roof with ball finial. On the outer face of this top stage is the date of 1857. The ground floor on the east side is occupied by a single storey extension. At the south end this extends for six windows eastwards and has a flat roof supporting a later bridge leading from 'D' Mill; at the east end is a single round-arched window. The remainder of the extension is lower with a separate pitched roof running north-south. It has five windows at the southern end, then a vehicle entrance. The northern section is a later addition, with a corrugated iron upper section and an open front to the east. The south end has an iron fire escape leading from the top to the first floor. The north end has taking-in doors on each floor with 2 windows to the left and one to the right, with an entrance to the left on the ground floor. Some windows are altered and most are reglazed.

Extending from the north end of the west side is a long covered entrance tunnel leading down to an arched doorway to the basement. At the outer end is a two-storey block with two paired first floor windows and five ashlar piers below supporting steel beams, the openings between having metal grill gates. The entrance, to the west, is open on the ground floor, with a 2-light window above. The wall is blind to the south and has a series of low arches to the north. INTERIOR: The interior has been converted to offices but evidence of the fireproof construction method remains in the double rows of cast iron columns supporting brick arches, though these are largely concealed by false ceilings. The basement area is present beneath the extension to the east and below the roadway between 'E' and 'D' Mills. It has been converted to a theatre and incorporates the original cobbled roadway at this lower level that originally separated 'D' Mill from the buildings to the west. The upper roadway, dating probably to the mid C19, is supported on substantial stone arches and retains the tracks of a rail track that ran from a tunnel under Old Lane through the site. There is a collection of steel plates for drops, labelled 'sand stone', 'lime stone', 'inclosed', 'enclosed', some sand stone some lime stone', some lime stone some sand stone', 'inclosed for some reason', and 'enclosed for some reason', all aligned within the rail tracks.

HISTORY: John Crossley leased a water-powered mill at Dean Clough from the Waterhouse family in 1822, but he and his brothers had been carrying out worsted spinning there since 1802. The mill stood at the eastern end of a mill dam formed from a leat from the Hebble Brook which runs to the south of the site. From 1841 onwards the Crossley family began building a series of engine powered spinning mills and weaving sheds at Dean Clough, used in the manufacture of carpets for which they became famous.

The original 1792 mill was demolished to make way for 'E' Mill, completed in 1857. It was designed by Roger Ives, a Halifax architect who began designing for Dean Clough in the 1850s, his first building being 'D' Mill. 'E' Mill was powered by an internal engine in the south-east corner of the building, with a boiler house immediately to the east feeding to a chimney to the north against a retaining wall to Old Lane.

Further mills, sheds and other associated buildings were constructed through the C19, and continuing development in the C20 finally ended in 1982 when final carpet production ceased after a gradual run-down following the merger of John Crossley & Sons with Carpet Trade Holdings and the Carpet Trades Manufacturing Company of Kidderminster. The building is now converted for office use.

Reasons for designation 'E' Mill at Dean Clough, Halifax is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Industrial complex: It is part of the integrated complex of mill structures at Dean Clough for the manufacture of carpets in the C19 and C20 * Historic interest: It is on the site of the original 1792 water powered mill and is a significant step in the development of Dean Clough * Architecture: It is architecturally accomplished and the most imposing of the mill structures at Dean Clough * Original features: It retains significant original features including taking-in doors and cast iron columns * Early features: The basement theatre area contains evidence of earlier ground levels beneath the later boiler house and road

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

447614

Legacy System:

LBS

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