24 Winchester Street, Whitchurch, Hampshire

Summary

House, 1820, probably built for the manager of Whitchurch Silk Mill.

Description

House, probably built for the mill manager of Whitchurch Silk Mill, 1820.

MATERIALS: mixed soft red brick with a rendered plinth and slate roofs.

PLAN: the L-shaped plan house stands on the southern side of Winchester Street, with the main elevation facing north-east and separated from the street by a narrow pavement. It has a central staircase plan with an open well stair. The rear of the house faces on to the silk mill and grounds. The roofs are hipped, with a cat slide to the rear.

EXTERIOR: the main elevation is symmetrical, built of brick in Flemish bond, and is of three bays over two storeys. The entrance has a moulded timber architrave with very slender pilasters, beneath a flat timber canopy supported on slender barley twist cast iron shafts. The front door has seven panels of which the two upper lights are glazed, and is inset into timber panelled linings. The first floor has three sash windows with ten over ten panes, under segmental arches. All sash windows, apart from the south-eastern elevation, have slender glazing bars and are recessed into the brickwork. Later C19 ground floor bay windows have hipped slate roofs, and paired sash windows between decorative pilasters.

The south-western elevation abuts the later cottage (26 Winchester Street, not included in the listing). It has a single first floor horned sash window with three over three panes under a segmental arch. This window was probably inserted when the cottage was built. The north-western elevation is of two bays with ground and first floor sash windows of eight over eight panes; one with a replacement timber lintel, and the rest under segmental arches. At the rear the south-western elevation has a single eight over eight sash window, again under a segmental arch.

There is a cogged eaves course of angled bricks; this has been altered or repaired on the north-western elevation. Guttering is cast iron and supported by iron support stays. An internal brick chimney stack stands on the ridge of both the south-eastern and north-western elevations. On the ground floor at the rear there is an outshut with a tin and slate roof.

INTERIOR: the house has some C19 panelling and a fireplace in rear morning room. The sitting room and dinning rooms have C20 fireplace surrounds and ceiling mouldings. Two of the bedrooms have C19 small cast iron grates with plain surrounds. It has a dogleg stair which has been altered and repaired.

History

Whitchurch Mill was built in 1813-15 as a water-powered sawmill and furniture factory for William Hayter, ironfounder, brushmaker, dealer and chapman, along with other buildings. It was converted to a silk mill in 1817 by William Maddick, silk manufacturer, who altered the main mill buildings, and added to the site.The mill stands between the River Test and a stream to the north on land owned by the Dean and Chapter of Winchester. The site was originally a meadow, and there is no evidence for an earlier mill.

No. 24 Winchester Street was built by Maddick in 1820, probably as a house for the mill manager. Prior to the construction of the present 24 Winchester Street, a plan based on the Barnes survey of 1819 shows a small counting house or office occupied the site as part of the wider Whitchurch Mill industrial complex built by William Hayter in 1813-15. It may have been used by someone who would have been responsible for security and looking after the horses. The Morning Chronicle of 6 April 1821 describes no. 24 Winchester Street as newly built (Deveson et al, 2016, forthcoming, ii), and a copy of the sale deed shows its L-shaped plan in c1846. A contemporary sales brochure described the house as containing four large bed chambers, two good sitting rooms, a water closet, and domestic offices. During the C19 the house was extended at the rear and bay windows were added to the front elevation. Between 1850 and 1873 another cottage (no. 26 Winchester Street, not included in the listing) was built and attached to the rear of the house. Although originally part of the mill complex, no. 24 Winchester Street has been in separate ownership since 1956.

MILL HISTORY

In 1813 the copyhold was acquired by Henry Hayter, a local ‘ironmonger, glass and hardware man’ (Deveson et al, 2016, forthcoming, p.1) and during the period 1813-15 his son, William Hayter, built a water-powered sawmill, furniture factory, and foundry. William's bankruptcy forced the auction of the site in 1816. As well as the buildings and fabric, the sale included; an iron foundry and forge bellows, wagons and carts; eight cart horses and harness, ploughs and drills, and a quantity of materials including mahogany for cabinet making. These diverse materials give an indication of the Hayters’ range of trades and stock of materials, and the functions of the various buildings at the mill.

Although it had been intended to demolish the buildings, in 1817 the property was assigned to William Maddick, a well-established manufacturer based in London. The mill was originally a two-storey building with tall, central cart entrances to a drive-through loading bay, a similar arrangement to that of a barn. Maddick converted the building into three storeys and filled in the open central space, to provide the necessary floor space for weaving on the lower and middle floors, and for lighter weight powered winding equipment on the top floor. He also increased the water supply to drive more spinning and winding machines by damming the river. In addition, he created another mill pond, which was controlled by a series of sluices. These gates are indicated on the 1839 copy plan based on the Barnes survey of 1819 (Deveson et al, 2016, forthcoming). It was not until later in the C19 that the looms were water-powered. Maddick’s tenure was a success story and he retained the copyhold for some 27 years with tenants or managers continuing to run the business in Whitchurch.

In 1846 the Dean and Chapter sold the freehold of the mill to the resident manager, William Chappell. He developed a highly successful business, achieved full employment and was trading extensively, in London, Essex and the Midlands, in particular Coventry. Whitchurch Silk Mill was now the sole surviving mill of its type in Hampshire. The core business was still silk throwing, but records now suggest weaving was also being undertaken on site. Weaving facilities were built using the eastern part of what had been the foundry (the site of which is now partially occupied by Tacklers and Weavers Cottages), and Hayter and Maddick's early C19 building near the river (from 1962 remodelled as the visitors’ centre and shop using original bricks and windows). The silk trade reached a peak by the 1860s after which the Cobden/Chevalier Free Trade Treaty heralded a decline, and in 1886, the business was sold to John Hide, a shopkeeper and draper. His family connection to Burberry’s began a long and lucrative association with the firm and ensured the Mills survival. Weaving fabrics on power looms now replaced the previous throwing business, and the ‘outbuildings’ were by now used for other purposes. Hide was also dyeing silk in the building alongside the millpond (the building adapted in the later C20 as the Silk Mill shop). By 1921 Whitchurch Silk Mill was the sole representative of the silk industry in Hampshire. It remained in the Hide family until 1956, when it was acquired by Stephen Walters. At that time there were 15 looms on the lower floor. He managed the mill until 1971 when it was bought by Ede and Ravenscroft, robe makers.

When it finally closed for business in 1985, the mill was bought and restored by the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust. The Whitchurch Silk Mill Trust was established in 1990 to secure its future as a working mill and museum. Today (2016) weaving continues, using C19 the original tappet and dobby looms installed between 1890 and 1960.

The List entry for Whitchurch Silk Mill (National Heritage List for England reference 1092645) provides a full summary of the history of the site. For further detailed history see Deveson et al (2015), and Browne (2015).

Reasons for Listing

24 Winchester Street, probably built as the mill manager's house in 1820 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

*Architectural interest: an example of an architecturally polite, late Georgian house associated with an industrial site, in this case the pedimented Georgian mill building;

*Historical interest: the house originally served as the Whitchurch Mill manager's residence;

*Group value: the house has group value with Whitchurch Silk Mill (NHLE 1092645, Grade II*) and is part of the wider historic mill site.

External Links

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