Description

679/0/10350 OLD LANE
01-MAR-11 MILL HOUSE

GV II
Office suite and dwelling house, c.1840s.

MATERIALS: narrow coursed stone 'bricks' with a grey slate hipped roof.

PLAN: Built on steeply sloping ground, it has a front range running east-west of three storeys, and a side wing running back northwards from the east end, which has two storeys towards the rear where the ground is higher. A stable block formerly ran behind the main range.

EXTERIOR: A modillion cornice runs under the eaves and there is a band at first and second floor levels.
The front range has seven bays, the outer two slightly stepped forward. The ground floor windows are all small-paned replacements with bottom-opening lights. The first and second floor windows have larger panes, with mullioned 3-light windows on the outer bays. The left return (west side) has a single large window at ground floor and second floor height, with an additional small window towards the rear of the ground floor, and is blank on the first floor. The right return (east side) extends back to form the domestic wing of the building, which has three bays with a central entrance at first floor level. The windows on the first and second floors are similar to those in the outer bays of the front range, apart from the lower right, which is altered to have two lights rather than three. There is a smaller window above the entrance. The double door has a rectangular overlight and a plain architrave and is approached from a set of stone steps with an iron handrail sweeping up from the front of the building to a balcony in front of the door. To the left of the steps there is a ground floor with a small-paned window to the left and an entrance to the right; a basement level with a three-light mullioned window extends below the window. To the right of the steps the ground level is built up so that the first floor becomes the ground level.

To the right the remains of a former building can be identified, extending to the retaining wall of Old Lane to the north. The scars of the stable block that ran to the north, behind the front range, are also visible against the retaining wall.

INTERIOR: The ground floor of the front range is in use as a nursery and its interior has not been inspected.

The side wing, the former house part, retains a number of original doors, architraves and cornices. The central corridor has an arched entrance leading to the former office area of the building, and some other openings also have moulded arches with imposts. There has been internal alteration with some rooms subdivided or opened out, and only one fireplace was seen, with a blue marble surround.

HISTORY: John Crossley leased a water-powered mill at Dean Clough from the Waterhouse family in 1822, but he and his brothers had been carrying out worsted spinning and dyeing there since 1802. The mill stood at the eastern end of a mill dam formed from a leat from the Hebble Brook which runs to the south of the site. From 1841 onwards the Crossley family began building a series of engine powered spinning mills and weaving sheds at Dean Clough, used in the manufacture of carpets for which they became famous.

The first mill erected on the Dean Clough site by the Crossley family was 'A' Mill, a spinning mill for carpet manufacture built in 1841. 'A' Mill originally overlooked the mill dam, and was excavated out of the slope to the north, utilising the quarried stone in its building fabric. The engine room and boiler house were housed in the east end of the mill. The construction of 'B' Mill followed soon after in 1844, adjoining 'A' Mill to the west and more than doubling the capacity of the works.

Mill House was certainly in existence by 1849, shown on a map of that date, and may be earlier. An Insurance Plan of 1837 depicts a building in the same position and with a similar footprint to part of the later house, but it is not named. The part of the building apparently in existence by 1837 is the east-west range running alongside the main road through the Dean Clough complex, while a north-south wing to the east is at a higher level and has a domestic frontage. An account written in 1948 describes it as the house in which John Crossley, one of the sons of the founder, lived, which later became the wages office of the firm. It seems likely that Mill House had a dual function for much of the second half of the C19.

Construction of powered weaving sheds and further spinning mills together with other associated buildings at Dean Clough followed through the C19, with continuing development in the C20. This finally ended in 1982 when carpet production ceased after a gradual run-down following the merger of John Crossley & Sons with Carpet Trade Holdings and the Carpet Trades Manufacturing Company of Kidderminster.

Stables and other outbuildings that, from 1849, ran behind (north) of the house were removed in the mid-C20 (post 1933). The front ground floor range, formerly offices, is now a children's nursery, while the rest of the building is in use as artists studios.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
Mill House, Dean Clough, an office block and domestic house of the first half of the C19, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architecture: the building successfully combines its dual functions of offices and dwelling in an integrated design while maintaining a distinction between the two
* Integrated industrial site: as an office suite, Mill House is an essential element in the integrated site at Dean Clough, taking its place among the range of building types on the site
* Industrial context: Dean Clough was a nationally important carpet factory, and Mill House has its place within that context
* Historic interest: the building has interest both as part of the early phase of development at Dean Clough, and as a reflection of the personal involvement of the owner who chose to live on site

Reasons for Listing

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External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26675359

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

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets