Summary
Small, single celled building with an ornate entrance elevation. Thought to have been built after 1838 as a mortuary for a worker's mutual society serving the mill workers of New York flax mill and others of the local community.
Reasons for Designation
* Architecture: particularly for its western elevation featuring an unusually designed pediment and high quality stonework;
* Social history: as a structure built for a workers' mutual benefit society.
History
Francis Thorpe, the owner of New York flax mill, developed a welfare system for his workers: financially supporting a scheme providing free medical treatment; running a clothing club (buying clothing and other textiles at wholesale prices and selling them on to his staff at cost price); and paying school fees of children who worked part time at the mill. In New York there were also two mutual benefit societies which Thorpe is thought to have helped to establish (although they were open to the whole community and were not funded by his firm). These societies were a Cow Club and the Burial Club. The latter, established in 1838, provided a death benefit of £5 to its members whose 480 members were aged between one and forty-five years, paying an average annual contribution of 1 shilling 3.5 pence. The building is thought to be a mortuary, paid for by the club to provide a place to store the recently deceased prior to burial. It is not known when this use ceased, but it may have become disused after 1883 when New York Mill closed.
Details
Mortuary, mid-C19 for the New York Burial Club.
Sources
Books and journals
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
The listed building is shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.
End of official list entry
