Description

CHESTER CITY (EM)

SJ4166 STEAM MILL STREET 1932-1/6/267 (West side) 06/11/89 Former Steam Flour Mill at SJ 4127 6662

GV II

Former steam-powered flour mill, now warehouse and workshop. c1785 and early and mid C19, with chimney above roof-level, boilerhouse and engine house since demolished. Brown brick in irregular English garden wall bond; grey slate roofs. PLAN/EXTERIOR: erected in 3 phases, the present building is U-shaped; the middle wing facing Steam Mill Street stands in the position of the Steam Mill shown on Weston's map of Chester dated 1789 and incorporates what may be original cast-iron columns and beams; the 4-storey north wing facing the Chester Canal is probably early C19; the external features of the middle and south wings are probably 1840s. The square internal chimney below roof level survives at the junction of the middle and south wings. The building is functional with no applied ornament. Stone sills and cambered brick window-heads; some openings are bricked up and a few are altered; those in the middle and south wings have 36-72 pane cast-iron windows, some with hoppers of 4-panes and some with inserted casements; a round-arched window in gable of loft; the north wing has no sills and replaced 2-pane horizontally-sliding sashes. The eaves and verges of the north wing are simply corbelled in brick; the middle and south wings have stone-coped parapet gables. INTERIOR: the north wing could not be inspected; the middle wing is of 4 bays with round cast-iron columns carrying heavy T-shaped iron beams some with damaged webs; the webs form shallow triangles, increasing in depth towards the centre of span. The south wing has large timber beams on inserted riveted stanchions and a goods lift in a shaft dated 1898. The external walls are up to 3 feet (1m) thick. Of prime interest are the very early establishment of a steam-powered canal-side flour mill and the cast-iron columns and beams. (Map of the Loyal City of Chester: Surveyed by Samuel Weston; Engraved by James Hunter: 1789-; Ordnance Survey Town Map of Chester: 1875-).

Listing NGR: SJ4127066620

External Links

• Wikidata Q26656637

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Recommended Books

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)