Lower Paradise Mill

Summary

Silk mill of c1862 (with late C19 and early C20 alterations and renewals) of brick with unusual double-pile roof of Welsh slate, four-storeyed and thirteen bays long and retaining historic silk-spinning machinery including Jacquard looms.

Reasons for Designation

Lower Paradise Mill, a silk mill of c.1862, with late C19 and early C20 alterations and renewals, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Age and rarity: as an increasingly rare example of an 1860s textile mill, but of relatively late date for this type of construction.
* Interior features: notably the design suite, Director’s Office, structural timbers and remnants of the power suite.
* Machinery: in particular the hand looms and Jacquard machines in the attic.
* Group value: for its strong visual and physical relationship with the adjacent Upper Paradise Mill (NHLE 1220886) and its contribution to the urban environment of Macclesfield, a noted historical centre of silk production.

History

A cotton mill stood on this site by at least 1791, and by 1824 the adjacent Upper mill (qv) had been built. In 1862 John Bagshaw, a Manchester cotton manufacturer, bought the land and replaced the C18 mill with Lower mill. The mill was rented to silk manufacturers and to cotton manufacturers David Hooton and John Hockenhull, who bought it in 1870. The OS map surveyed 1871-2 shows both C19 mills (but not named), separated by an entry, and with a small outshut to the N which appears not to have been full height as its removal has left no scar on the gable above the now-attached Sunday school. By this date the block attached to the NE corner of the mill (marked on an early C20 plan as containing the engine, boiler and chimney) had also been built, presumably replacing an earlier power suite for Upper mill. The yard between the mill and the engine & boiler house was subsequently infilled with a three-storey concrete-framed flat-roofed extension*, and the chimney has been truncated at eaves level.

The current forecourt was in the 1870s a triangle of land separated from the mill by a ginnel, with buildings between the ginnel and Park Lane. By the 1896/7 survey, the buildings to the front had been cleared, and the adjacent chapel built. Lower and Upper Paradise Mills were now shown as a single block; this may date the three-bay tower which houses the current entrance and stair, although it appears to be integral to the construction of Lower mill and the step in the front elevation is never marked on any historic map, so it might be original. Lower mill’s original spiral staircase was replaced in 1949, probably with the existing concrete stair*. James Kershaw rented rooms in the mill in 1880, at which time 'He produced nothing but new style, and in less than six months had at least 100 looms in full work', using new modern machinery. By 1891 the mills were exclusively used for silk manufacturing. The firm of Cartwright and Sheldon rented room in the mill from 1912, and acquired it in 1920. As well as having old looms repaired and new ones made, they bought six second-hand looms and Jacquard machines from J & F Jackson of Sutton Mills in Macclesfield. By the 1930s some 70 looms were in use on the top floor of Lower Paradise Mill, where there is sufficient headroom in the roof space. Hand weaving using Jacquards continued on this site until 1981, after which the attic became a museum.

Details

Silk mill of c1862, with late C19 and early C20 alterations and renewals.

MATERIALS: brick with Welsh slate roofs, and an internal structure of timber beams carried on cast-iron columns.

PLAN: four-storeyed, thirteen-window range, with the three right-hand bays projecting and housing an entrance and staircase. A three-storey infill rear extension connects with an engine and boiler house and a square chimney in the NE corner. In the SE corner the two southernmost bays are not full depth but slightly recessed. It has an unusual double-pile roof.

EXTERIOR: the mill is set at an angle to Park Lane, the SW corner meeting it where the mill adjoins Upper Paradise Mill (qv).

The mill is built of red brick in English Garden Wall bond, variable but predominantly with headers every sixth course. Windows* have been renewed throughout but the original openings are intact with segmental-arched brick heads and stone sills. The entrance is at the far right, with a c1930 surround* in artificial stone. The roof is concealed by a parapet with alternate stone copings raised by a single course of bricks and slightly overlapping their lower neighbours. A fire escape* has been added spanning bays 1-3, and a porch* added to an inserted ground-floor opening in bay 3. The entrance block has been raised a storey in the right hand two bays, in a different brick with windows aligned with those below, and at the extreme right by another blank storey housing lift gear*. The left hand return is abutted by the adjacent single storey Sunday school; behind the ridge of its roof is a now-infilled central first floor window opening. Other than inserted openings to the left at ground and first floor, the gable is blank and flat-topped at the level of the ridge of the two roofs. The E wall is abutted by buildings and a monopitch roof slopes back from this to the infill extension; the concrete frame of the extension rises above this to second floor, with a brick parapet. Raking concrete struts* run to the flat roof from posts* and an eaves-rail* fixed to the third floor wall of the mill, which has no parapet on this elevation. To the left of the windows adjacent to the extension is a blank bay before the wall steps back; on the return are smaller windows, suggesting this was the original location of sanitary facilities. The roofs are hipped at the S end, with clay ridge tiles and some lead hips and valleys, and numerous rooflights. The S elevation abuts Upper mill at the left and at the right are inserted windows* with timber cladding* between them.

INTERIOR: the internal structure is of timber beams carried on a central row of slender circular cast-iron columns 22ft (6.7m) from the walls, and a roof spanned by trusses with king posts either side of a central valley, with struts. The columns are fixed via metal shoes bolted to the underside of the beams, and via metal footplates resting on the beam below, abutted by floorboards. The attic has the most interest; here the roof timbers are all exposed, as is the underside of the cast iron valley gutter. About 20 looms with Jacquard machines attached above are fixed to the floor and roof via a timber framework, and various other machines for winding, spooling and other functions are also installed. At the S end the design office has been altered for the museum use but survives well with its glazed tongue-and-groove partition. In the SE corner is the Directors’ office which is lined with tongue-and-groove and retains historic furniture including a desk and a safe. Adjacent to this is the ‘National’ time clock for punching in and out. At second floor the beams are boxed-in and tension rods have been added to the underside, fixed by shoes bolted into the sides of the beam at the ends and either side of the columns. The first-and-ground-floor beams are exposed. Nearly all of the structural timbers are hewn, and various notches and mortices indicate that some have been reused, possibly from the C18 mill. The boiler and engine house has been heavily altered but there are traces of power transmission including bearing-boxes in walls and some possible line-shaft hangers.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: wrought iron railings at the back-of-pavement with decorative cast ball-flower finials.

*EXCLUSIONS: Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest: the three-storey infill extension to the E of the four-storey range (including the concrete raking struts, posts and eaves-rail attached to the E wall); the concrete staircase in the SW corner; replacement windows; the artificial stone surround to the main entrance door; the external metal fire escape; the ground floor porch; C20 lift car and winding mechanism; the inserted windows and timber cladding of the S elevation.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

391072

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Calladine, A, Fricker, J et al, East Cheshire Textile Mills, (1993)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cheshire, (2011), 464
Norris, Jill, The last handloom weavers, (1984)

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.