Swan Meadow works western mill number 1, Eckersley Mills, Douglas, Wigan

Summary

A cotton mill (part of an integrated complex), comprising a spinning block, boiler house, chimney and reeling block of 1884 and part of a weaving shed of 1886, all in an Italianate style of red brick with buff sandstone dressings, and part of an 1860s boiler house, part of a weaving shed of 1905, and a winding and reeling block of 1906; all by AH Stott and Sons for ffarington Eckersley and Co, with later alterations.

Description

MATERIALS: red brick with plinth to spinning block of blue engineering brick and stone, and some Huncoat (Accrington) brick to the weaving shed, sandstone dressings and slate roofs, timber windows, cast-iron columns, rolled-iron beams, common-brick floor arches.

PLAN: comprising spinning block aligned north-south with integral engine house, associated boiler houses, chimney, reeling and winding rooms to the north, weaving shed to the west and elements of former weaving shed to the south and east; all these elements formerly comprising a single functional entity.

DESCRIPTION: forming the north-western component of an important group of cotton mills and associated structures on this site, which are collectively a very striking feature comprising a substantial part of the Wigan Pier Conservation Area.

SPINNING BLOCK:
Exterior
This is of four storeys and 23 x eight-bays, in an Italianate style, of brick in English Garden Wall bond with a strongly battered plinth, sill-bands to the ground and third floors, stone parapet coping and panelled pilasters to the corners and the entrance bay, terminating in dentilled cornices and raised parapets.

The front faces east and is asymmetrical with long spinning rooms to the left separated by a two-window entrance bay from short preparation rooms to the right (16:2:5 windows respectively). The entrance-bay pilasters are linked by a stone balustrade and Flemish gable dated 1884. The entrance has a pilastered doorway and shouldered side windows under a stone entablature with segmental pediment, and pairs of segmental-headed windows above with stepped jambs, stone sills and imposts. The main ranges to left and right are very regularly fenestrated, with large segmental-headed windows on all floors, all with arched brick heads, and keystones and stone imposts to all third-floor windows. Bays (from the left) 7, 15 and 21 have inserted ground-floor doorways, with a later concrete ramp to bay 15 (the concrete ramp is excluded from the listing) and large later brick ramp to bay 21 (the brick ramp is excluded from the listing). Windows mostly have six or nine panes, some with opening casements. The slate roof has longitudinal ridges with hipped ends and stone-coped brick cross-walls.

The south end has 3+3 windows separated by a prominent latrine turret with paired lancet windows, third-floor plat band, and side returns of three small windows with stone sills and imposts. Bay 2 has a cast-iron fire escape. The plinth has some stone vents.

The rear matches the front with a projecting full-height engine house opposing the front entrance, with the same detailing and a full-width round-headed window rising from first to second floor with pilaster jambs, moulded stone head with large keystone and wooden two-light joinery with circular tracery. Bays 10 and 11 are obscured at ground-floor level by a lean-to connection to the 1905 weaving shed. A cast-iron fire escape spans bays 2 to 4.

The seven-window north end has a turret in bay 8 similar to that of the south end, and a first-floor loading door in bay 2. Bay 4’s ground-floor is windowless, while bays 2 and 5 to 7 have bricked-up ground-floor windows, with no plinth to bays 5 to 7. There is a single-storey square brick-built addition in bays 6 and 7 that is excluded from the listng.

Interior
Cast-iron columns support longitudinal rolled-iron inverted-T girders, which each support two iron cross-beams, which in turn support cross-wise plastered brick jack-arches running width-ways (every other arch therefore having a column), which are covered by concrete floors above. In the north end, there are also some additional girders connecting the cross-beams, but without supporting columns. Many columns retain seatings for fixing power-transmission equipment. The top floor has columns without seatings, but also has power transfer boxes within the walls. The columns here support cross-wise heads clasping timber tie-beams which also rest on stone corbels between the window heads. The roof timbers also survive and there is some survival of rainwater and sprinkler pipework.

A stone staircase accesses the roof. A doorway between the two ends of the mill has moulded stone corbels forming shoulders, and there is a similar doorway on the stairs (blocked). The engine house retains the massive brick engine beds (with a network of passages), together with some of the protective balustrading, power-transfer boxes and iron and stone structural supports for the engines.

WEAVING SHED:
Exterior
Parallel to the rear of spinning block, and linked to it, is a single-storey weaving shed with north-light roof, built of red brick and narrowing towards the south. Its east wall (common brick) has a sawtooth profile with nine gables (of an original 17), and is partially obscured at the south end by a lean-to connection to the spinning block. The west wall is of common brick with Accrington brick parapet and is largely blind but has some blocked openings, and plat bands. It is currently (2022) scaffolded, and reduced in height at the south end. The north end is obscured by the attached 1906 winding block to the north. The south wall is of breezeblocks between exposed (formerly internal) iron columns and steel beams. The south roof pitch has no slates.

Interior
The structure comprises steel beams supported by iron columns (some with seatings for power transmission fittings). Some of the beams support further short columns to timber purlins. The roof retains some north-light glazing and timber lining.

‘NEW’ REELING AND WINDING BLOCK:
Exterior
Integrated to the north of the weaving shed, and of two storeys in red brick, with a flat roof and a taller lifting room in the south-east corner. Fronting north onto Pottery Road is a 21-window range plus twin-arched full-height engine house at the left. The main range has stone ground-floor sills, dentilled brick ground-floor lintel band and concrete sill and head bands to the first floor. Ground-floor windows (from the left) 1, 14 and 16 are bricked up and there are entrances in bays 8 and 12. The dentilled band continues on the original brickwork of the engine house, which now has bricked-up arches and also has a brick corbelled and dentilled cornice. The left angle oversails the adjacent 1884 reeling room.

The cornice continues on the east return which is abutted at ground-floor by the 1884 reeling room, and has first-floor windows asymmetrically arranged (from the left) 3:5:3. At the left is a wide flat-topped gable to the lifting room, which has a hipped slate roof and clerestorey north and south returns, with corrugated iron roofs to the aisles.

The south wall is mostly abutted by the 1905 weaving shed, but its east end has stacked loading doors with some lifting gear in situ. The south-east corner is supported by a square cast-iron column with capital.

The west wall is of 11 bays with sill and head bands, but no dentillation. The ground-floor openings are mostly blocked or altered.

Interior
Large-diameter iron columns at the north end of the adjacent weaving shed support the south wall. Construction is of steel beams supported by columns, with tiled concrete floors. The full-height lifting room has timber queen-post trusses off the beams, and a roof lantern with wooden shutters. A small fireplace (blocked) with stone lintel survives on the ground floor.

1884 REELING ROOM:
This abuts to the east of the new reeling and winding block, and is single-storey with hipped slate roofs (over-felted) and brick walls with stone dressings. The narrow south wall has detailing similar to the spinning block, comprising corner pilasters, cornice, bands and moulded corbelled over-door, and an added two-storey tower attached to the front. The east and west walls are abutted by other buildings. The north wall faces onto Pottery Road and has similar detailing across a five-window frontage. It also has decorative stone vents matching those of the spinning block’s plinth.

BOILER HOUSES AND CHIMNEYS:
Abutting to the east of the 1884 reeling room is the western boiler house, which is single-storey with a hipped slate roof of two pans (over-felted) and with an altered frontage. The east wall is the exposed interior of the former west wall of the Old Mill boiler house. To the north stands a truncated octagonal chimney around 12m tall.

To the east stands the eastern half of the former boiler house of Old Mill, also single-storey and with over-felted hipped slate roofs, an altered glazed-timber south wall and plain brick east wall with some arched openings, including to a set-back narrower range to the north. In the north-west corner is the stump of a former circular chimney (which was originally central to this boiler house).

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES:
The yard between the west end of the spinning block and the weaving shed is stone-setted. The 1886 weaving shed extension partially survives in the buildings of the Swan Meadow Industrial Estate, including its west and north walls, and some of the roof structure and columns (both bearing seatings for power transmission fittings) of its north and west bays. The walls have a blue plinth, corner pilasters matching those of the spinning block and reeling room, recessed panels with cogged brick decoration and arched rainwater outlets. The attached industrial estate building complex is excluded from the listing.

History

Swan Meadow western mill number 1 (early in its life sometimes also referred to as New Throstle mill) was built in 1884 as part of a westward expansion of the existing works of James Eckersley and Sons (established in 1823). In 1883 the firm established a separate company called ffarington Eckersley and Co Ltd (which merged with James Eckersley in 1900 to form Eckersleys Cotton Trust, known from 1918 as Eckersleys Ltd). The new enterprise built some of the earliest mills specifically for ring spinning, and additional weaving capacity, to the west of the existing mills. Prolific mill designers Stott and Sons were commissioned, and applied modern fireproof construction techniques (the site had suffered a disastrous fire to Old Mill in 1880, which was also rebuilt by Stotts).

Western mill number 1 included a detached range to the north housing its boiler house and chimney, and a reeling block. It is a relatively rare survival of its double brick-arch construction (which is a version of that patented by AH Stott senior in 1871). The mill’s own boiler house and chimney were built to the west of a detached boiler house and chimney built between 1860 and 1872 to serve Old Mill. After Old Mill received further new boiler and engine houses in 1894, the 1860s boiler house is thought to have supplemented number 1 mill’s own boiler house.

An 1886 extension to an 1840s weaving shed also occupied the space between western mills 1 and 2, and until 1905 this was the only weaving mill serving all three western spinning blocks (as well as the site’s older mills). A further weaving shed was added to the west of number 1 mill in 1905. In 1906 this was extended to the north with a two-storey ‘new’ reeling and winding block.

Western mills 2 (National Heritage List for England – NHLE - entry 1384528) and 3 (NHLE 1384529) were added in 1888 and 1900, each using a further evolution in construction technology. The complex was also expanded with a new office block (1904, extended with a north-light winding room in 1912 – NHLE 1384531) and, unusually, a purpose-built on-site workers’ welfare building (around 1918, NHLE 1384530) with dining rooms and entertainment hall.

The original 1840s weaving shed, Jenny Mill (1823), Old Mill and Large Mill (1842) were largely demolished in the 1960s as part of a rationalisation programme. A late-C20 industrial estate partly replaced, but incorporates some elements of, the 1886 weaving shed extension. The former Old Mill chimney was taken down to a stump prior to listing in 1994, and the western half of its boiler house largely demolished after a C21 fire. Number 1 mill’s chimney was reduced in height early in the C21, and 8 of 17 bays of the narrower south end of the 1905 weaving shed were demolished in 2019.

Eckersleys’ colossal works were, at the height of production in the 1920s, one of the largest integrated textile manufactories in the country, operating more than 250,000 spindles and 1,650 looms in 6 spinning and 2 weaving mills on a site of approximately 51,000 sqm, and employing over 3,000 people. The company were the largest ring-spinners in the country from 1888 to 1918, and operated here until 1968. Atypically, as well as the mills, from the late-C19 the site accommodated allotment gardens, and (after the First World War) bowling greens and other sports grounds, as well as the welfare building. James and Nathaniel Eckersley also built several streets of houses (now demolished) and the Church of SS James and Thomas (NHLE 1384468) in nearby Poolstock for their workers.

In framed ring spinning, the drawing and twisting of a roving, and winding the resultant yarn onto a spindle, are a continuous process. This is more efficient than spinning mules, which draw and twist with one stroke, and wind on a return stroke. Although largely rejected in Lancashire after its invention in the USA in 1929, it was reintroduced to the English industry in the 1870s by textile-machine maker Samuel Brooks of Gorton (Manchester). Over the next 30 years or so it largely replaced the similar throstle-frames which had developed here (and had been used, for example, at Wigan’s Gidlow works of 1868, NHLE 1384455).

Wigan’s early adoption of ring spinning reflects the availability of women in its workforce. With mule spinning largely done by men the C19 textile industry consistently employed around 60 per cent women overall, and in cotton weaving. However, in the decades before 1914, ring spinning was almost an exclusively female occupation. Also, fewer men were employed in weaving where other ‘men’s work’ was available – such as Wigan’s coal mining. Eckersleys’ workforce was remarkably female-dominated, with women making up around 95% of the total.

AH Stott and Sons of Oldham was a practice of engineering architects responsible for designing around 20% of all new cotton spinning mills in Lancashire between 1880 and 1914. The founder Abraham Henthorn Stott (1822 to 1904) was joined in partnership by sons Jesse (1853 to 1917) in 1875 and Abraham Henthorn Stott junior (1856 to 1931) in 1877. The two Abrahams in particular were responsible for a number of innovations in construction, notably employing various configurations of metal beams and brick arches for fire resistance. Their brother Philip Sidney Stott (1858 to 1937) was a partner from 1881 to 1884 (when Abraham senior also retired), and then set up a rival practice. The partners also became directors and shareholders in several mill-building companies (known as ‘the limiteds’) which in the later-C19 and early-C20 were the principal builders of new mills.

Reasons for Listing

Swan Meadow works western mill number 1, an integrated cotton mill including a spinning block, boiler house, chimney and reeling block of 1884, part of a weaving shed of 1886, an 1860s boiler house, part of a weaving shed of 1905 and a winding and reeling block of 1906, by AH Stott and Sons, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is an impressive example of cotton mill architecture, designed by prolific and innovative architect AH Stott junior, with notable Italianate detailing in particular expressing the entrance bay and integrated engine house of the spinning block, and repeated on smaller contemporary elements such as the reeling block and surviving portions of the weaving shed extension;

* it retains most elements of an integrated mill complex with a legible process flow, including the relatively rare survival of weaving blocks, boiler houses, chimneys and blocks for winding and reeling;

* it is a relatively rare surviving example of its double jack-arch construction (patented by the architects) and, together with mills 2 and 3 on this site, contributes to displaying important stages in improvements to mill construction techniques during the late C19, ranging from iron framing with brick arches to steel framing with concrete floors.

Historic interest:

* Eckersleys’ workforce was remarkably female-dominated, with ring-spinning being an almost exclusively female occupation, and led to the site’s early adoption of this improved technology;

* together with the other surviving historic buildings on the site it expresses the firm’s substantial late-C19 and early-C20 investment and expansion that created one of the largest integrated textile production sites in the country.

Group value:

* it is a key component of Eckersleys’ Swan Meadow works and has strong visual and functional group value with mills 2 and 3, the workers’ welfare building and the gatehouse, office and winding block.

External Links

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