Summary
Wood Bottom Mill is a former textile mill with its origins in the late eighteenth century and with additions and adaptations throughout the nineteenth century, constructed in stone with mainly stone slate roofs.
Reasons for Designation
Wood Bottom Mill, a late-C18 to late-C19 textile mill, constructed of stone, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Industrial context: Wood Bottom Mill is a good example of a small integrated mill, representing the development of the industry throughout the C19, contrasting with larger complexes in the Colne Valley and providing an alternative narrative for the pattern of growth of the industry;
* Architecture: the buildings on the site, which survive in the main in their nineteenth century form, can be identified in terms of their original function and form a coherent group in a physically constricted site;
* Adaptation: the different uses to which Wood Bottom Mill has adapted throughout its history as a textile mill are reflected both in the historic record and in the surviving buildings, adding to their special interest.
History
The first mill at Wood Bottom was described as over a century old in 1862, and in 1794 there was a fulling, scribbling and carding mill with dyehouse and a dyewood chipping and rasping mill on the site. Leeds merchant John Plowes married the daughter of the owner and let it out in 1796. It was sold in 1802, and in 1806 six cotton-spinning throstles were installed. By the mid-nineteenth century the mill was operated by Joseph Armitage and Sons and the 1854 O.S. 1:10560 map shows a long range at the site that no longer survives. Fires in 1860, 1862, 1866 and 1868 led to the rebuilding of various elements including a warehouse, workshops, the old mill and the fulling mill, and further alterations took place in the 1880s. At this time production may have been rag grinding or carbonising for reclaimed wool. Production had ceased by the beginning of the twentieth century and the mill is marked as disused on the 1932 O.S. 1:2500 map.
The former mill pond was to the south and fed into the fulling mill at its west end. The surviving buildings are now in one ownership, with some elements tenanted. The northern range, formerly two storey, has been partially reduced to one storey and curtailed.
Details
Former textile mill of 1862 and later, with C21 alterations and now in multiple use.
MATERIALS: the buildings are in coursed gritstone with mainly stone slate roofs, some re-roofed with modern materials, and with some brick rebuilding.
PLAN: the buildings occupy a narrow steep-sided site alongside the River Colne which runs from south to north. A three storey former fulling mill is aligned east-west at the southern end of the site, with a parallel, two-storey shorter warehouse block projecting northwards from the west end; two adjacent single storey sections extend north from the warehouse. Two former cottages, now unoccupied and reroofed, lie to the east, and the chimney is set in the valley side to the east of the fulling mill.
EXTERIOR: the south elevation of the fulling mill has three storeys and nine bays, with the loss of the ground floor to the right (east) where the ground rises. The windows are mainly six-pane timber framed replacements with stone cills and lintels and a top storey lintel band. At the west end there is an archway for a former water wheel. The eaves are dentilled and there are kneelers and gable copings. The north elevation has two storeys and five bays to the eastern end. There is an inserted vehicle entrance to the left, and the right hand bay has a first floor taking in door with a cast iron hoist bracket to one side, above an entrance. The windows are similar to those on the south side. A two storey gabled range is attached to the west end of the north side, occupying the remaining four bays of the fulling mill. This, the willeying room and warehouse, was rebuilt in 1862. The gable faces east and has a raised entrance to the right of two windows. The first floor has two windows to the right of a taking in door. Attached to the north is a single storey range with its gable end to the north, rebuilt in brick and containing a vehicle entrance. This was previously two storey; the scar of the former upper floor is visible on the side of the warehouse building. Attached to the left (east) and extending north from the warehouse is a later single storey building with a mono-pitch corrugated roof, three windows along its east side and a vehicle entrance at the north end.
To the north-east of the fulling mill is a short row of former cottages, now storage, partly built into the valley side. The roof is corrugated with a mono-pitch and there are two six-light stone mullioned windows on the west side. The chimney lies south of the cottages, and is octagonal with a moulded cap. It is built into the valley side and previously had a flue running under the access road from the mill buildings, now collapsed.
INTERIORS: the ground floor of the fulling mill was not accessed but was seen to have a brick arched ceiling. The first floor (ground floor to east end) is an open shed used as a workshop, with a stone flagged floor and timber beamed ceiling. The second floor is similar, used as a storage area. The roof covering has been renewed but the trusses are original with a king post structure. The two-storey warehouse or willeying room has cast iron columns with some evidence of line shafting supporting a brick arched ceiling on the ground floor and a timber ceiling on the first floor. Other interiors were without features of interest.
