Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 31/08/2016

919/44/1153

RUTH STREET
NEWSOME
NEWSOME MILLS

(Formerly listed as: RUTH STREET, NEWSOME TOWER AND ADJACENT ARCHWAY TO NEWSOME MILL)

29-SEP-1978

II

Mill building of hammer dressed stone, late C19, with associated ancillary buildings.

PLAN: main mill building is triple-span, 16 windows long, 3 bays wide with 2 windows to each bay, four storeys.

ELEVATIONS: to Ruth Street, ground floor windows not seen, 1st floor windows are 8 lights, 2nd floor are 6 lights and 3rd floor also 6 light but shorter. Slate roof: most slates removed to storage. Left return: 3 bays each with 2 windows as at the front, round window in each gable end. Clock tower at left side. Rear elevation has pillars to ground floor, formerly leading to weaving sheds, now blocked.

At the right end of the mill are weaving sheds, single storey, in hammer dressed stone, of the same date. 8 windows, one altered and all blocked, to the front. Right return: 3 bays with north lights, entrance in the left bay, 2 windows in the central bay and single window to the right. Roof slates removed exposing roof structure. Rear: breeze block walls formerly linking to other buildings which are now demolished.

MILL INTERIOR: four floors each with a double row of cast iron columns supporting steel frames and original wooden floors. Evidence of line shafting at the top of the columns. King post roof structure to each bay with north lights. Some original wood and glass partitions on 3rd floor.

TOWER EXTERIOR: hammer dressed stone of 6 storeys, surmounted by water tank. Lower 4 storeys have paired arched windows with plain voussoirs and keystones, crowned by a moulded cornice. The 4th floor has 2 windows with moulded impost band and moulded voussoirs, set in sunk panel, and with heavier moulded cornice. 5th floor has angle pilasters taking full entablature, and clocks on each face, with moulded voussoirs and ornamental spandrels.

TOWER INTERIOR: the tower houses the stairs for the adjoining mill building. Stone stairs rise around a central lift to the 3rd floor. A spiral wrought iron stair rises to the 4th floor which houses a bell inscribed with a date of 1887. Wooden stair to 5th floor.

ARCHWAY: Tuscan pilasters with entasis, taking full entablature and blocking course, inscribed "Newsome Mills". Frieze inscribed "Established 1827" in relief. Cast iron gates with ornamental spear finials.

LODGE: to left of the archway, single storey with hipped roof, arched entrance and double arched window facing mill building.

OFFICE: two storeys with hipped slate roof and central stack. Arched entrance to right, two ground floor windows, single light round arched window above entrance and 2-light arched window to centre first floor. Right return has entrance to left and 2 single pane sash windows to ground and first floor.

HISTORY: The first woollen mill on the site at Newsome was founded by John Taylor in 1827. This building burnt down in 1872 and in 1873 Ephraim Beaumont Taylor went into partnership with Joshua Littlewood, to form Taylor & Littlewood, under which name the firm operated as a worsted mill until its closure in 1983. The current mill buildings must have been constructed soon after, and by 1893 occupied the whole block with integrated mill, weaving sheds, clock tower, ancillary and administrative buildings. After the closure of the mill, most of the buildings were let out as business units until the site was sold in 2006. The boiler house and chimney were already lost by then, and the greater part of the weaving sheds and some of the ancillary buildings were subsequently demolished to make way for housing.

Reasons for Designation Decision
Newsome Mills is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* The structures form the major part of a significant worsted textile complex of the second half of the nineteenth century, an industry which was an important specialism within the nationally important textile industry
* The tower and archway are of architectural interest, being well executed and decoratively detailed, as well as being the centre around which the other buildings are grouped
* They demonstrate in their form and construction their original function
* They are largely unaltered both externally and internally.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26525589

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)