Burley Mills Main Range

Details

LEEDS

SE2634 KIRKSTALL ROAD 714-1/27/926 (South side) 01/11/91 Burley Mills: main range

GV II

Main range of worsted fulling, carding and scribbling mill. 1799, altered 1822, restored 1918. By James Graham. For the firm of Wormald, Gott and Wormald with alterations 1822 for Thomas Stansfield and Co and restoration after a fire in 1918. Coursed squared gritstone, dressed stone to door surrounds and quoins have light herring-bone tooling, grey slate and asbestos roofs, ashlar bridge with brick and concrete parapet. The range comprises the 3-storey, 15-window block spanning the millrace with the access road along the east side carried on a bridge of 2 wide and 1 narrow arches over the mill goit; attached to the SW side a 1-and-a-half-storey square-plan small annexe with, on the west side, the 2-storey, 4-window former engine house. Facade of 3-storey block: north gable end has central double doors, cased on outside but original inside face visible (see interior), voussoirs to wedge lintel, large quoins, 3 loading doorways above, the top doorway having a solid lintel; flanking tall windows in stone surrounds, 6-pane frames; corner chimney left; south gable: 4-windows wide, doorway with tie-stone jambs far right. Left and right returns: large windows, most with 16-pane frames, the central top 2 panes hinged, surrounds with tie-stone jambs and projecting sills; stone gutter brackets, gable copings, roof lights, ventilators to ridge and water tanks at NW and SE corners. South facade of annexe: central doorway with overlight flanked by large blocked windows, narrow probably inserted window above, gable coping. South facade of engine house: retains 4 tall round-arched openings with well-cut voussoirs on south side, obscured by C20 lean-to; left return: stub of stack at north end. INTERIOR: 3-storey block: north doorway has plank doors with strap hinges; original stone stairs to right of entrance, brick window reveals, cast-iron columns and girders supporting floors, C20 roof structure of closely spaced queen posts with splayed braces and collars. Fire damage in former engine house. The main range is part of the important mill group which includes the spinning shop, weaving sheds and drying house (qv), the entrance range and cottages having been demolished

mid C20; the mill race weir and sluices to NW (qv) are also part of this complex. HISTORICAL NOTE: the partners Wormald and Gott built the first woollen mill in Leeds at Bean Ing from 1792 (demolished). The Burley (or Dobbie) mills were begun in 1799 for the processing of long-fibred worsted wool from East Anglia into blankets. Benjamin Gott's business moved to Armley Mills (qv) and by 1822 Burley was occupied by Thomas Stansfield and Co, worsted manufacturers and stuff merchants. By 1867 the mill was also used by a firm of flax spinners and from 1897 the buildings were divided between several industries including a currier (leather dresser). The main range was damaged by fire in 1918 and the roof probably dates from that period. (RCHME Initial survey on Burley Mills; Ward MF (PhD thesis, University of Leeds): Industrial devel'ment & location in Leeds N of R Aire, 1775-1914: 1972-; Hudson P: The West Riding Wool Textile Industry: 1975-: 180).



Listing NGR: SE2698134793

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

465931

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Ward, M F, Industrial Development and Location in Leeds North of the River Aire 1775-1914, (1973), 180
Hudson, P, The West Riding Wool Textile Industry A Catalogue of Business Records from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century, (1975)

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.