Description

LEEDS

SE2734 CANAL ROAD
714-1/28/916 (West side (off))
19/10/51 Armley Mills, main range
(Formerly Listed as:
CANAL ROAD, Armley
Armley Mills incl mill houses to SE,
chimney to E, & sluices & bridge
west)

GV II*

Formerly known as: KIRKSTALL ROAD.
Corn mill, later woollen mill, with outbuildings, now Leeds
Industrial Museum premises. Corn mill 1797; woollen mill 1805
onwards, for Benjamin Gott; outbuildings mid C19; roof
repaired 1929. Coursed squared stone and ashlar, hipped slate
roof, moulded cornice and blocking course.
L-plan, 23 bays to 4-storey north-south range (woollen mill)
and a 6-bay easterly projection at south end which is built
into the ground slope and therefore 2 storeys on south side
(corn mill). Water wheel (restored), wheel pit and
single-storey shed of coursed squared sandstone with gabled
slate roof incorporating corn mill remains against north side
of corn mill wing; tall single-storey engine house attached to
north end of main range and remains of mill building attached
to east with a cast-iron bollard standing against the south
east corner.
The main range and outbuildings straddle the mill race, the
tail race bridge on which the structures stand is also
included. Main range facades: thick glazing bars to 3 x 3
light window frames, the central pane pivoted, plain sills and
lintels; on the west side the central 9 windows have
continuous sill bands, 2nd-storey sill band on east side. At
water level on west side round-arched openings with finely-cut
voussoirs and iron grilles allow head race flow to corn mill
water wheel (right) and site of woollen mill water wheels
(left); on the east side the tail race emerges through 2
segmental arches and a third arch, left, obscured by later
platform construction.
East wing facades: north side fenestration as main range but
with square blocked windows under eaves; south face: corn mill
entrance left, first-floor walkway above, steep flight of
stone steps against west gable down to north side ground
level; museum entrance links to warehouse.
INTERIOR: lower floor of corn mill range retains early
cruciform section cast-iron columns, part of upper floor

ceiling retains sheet-iron cladding nailed to underside of
joists in 1807. Main range: the cylindrical cast-iron columns
and T-section cast-iron beams support shallow brick-arched
floors and are the earliest surviving example of this form of
fire-proof construction; the roof rebuilt 1929.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the site of Armley Mills dates from the C16
as a corn and fulling mill. In 1788 Colonel Thomas Lloyd
bought the mill and rebuilt it as the largest woollen mills in
the world with 18 fulling stocks and 50 looms, managed by
Israel Burrows and Christopher Hill. The foundations of the
main range are probably of this date; the corn mill was
rebuilt at the same time but burnt down in 1797, the rebuild
of that date survives.
Benjamin Gott rented the mills from Lloyd while Bean Ing mill
was being rebuilt after a fire in 1799, in 1804 he agreed to
buy the buildings but a major fire destroyed Lloyd's new
structure. Gott's new Armley Mills was built on the same site,
powered by 2 water wheels approx 5.5m (18 feet) in diameter
and approx 8.7m (28 and a half feet) long and fitted with
gearing which enabled them to exceed the output of steam
engines until c1840. The mill contained fulling stocks
extending down the centre of the ground floor, scribbling and
carding machines on the 2nd and 3rd floors and mechanics
workshops on the top floor. Corn milling ceased c1810 and the
building was adapted to textile use. The beam engine house was
added c1850 by Gott's sons John and William, and the mill
extensively reordered at that time.
By the 1880s the premises were used by a variety of textile
manufacturers and in 1969 Leeds City purchased the buildings
for an industrial museum after a period of neglect.
(Brears P: Armley Mills, The Leeds Industrial Museum
guidebook; Leeds Industrial Museum: Fitzgerald R, Keeper of
Industrial Archaeology (pers. comm.)).

Listing NGR: SE2756434137

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Leeds Industrial Museum at Wikipedia
• Leeds Industrial Museum official website
• Wikidata Q4793646

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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