The Freemasons Arms Public House

KNUTSFORD

SJ7478 SILKMILL STREET 792-1/3/102 (North side) 24/07/89 The Freemasons Arms Public House

GV II

Silk mill, now public house. Built as a silk mill in 1754; converted into 3 dwellings in 1818; converted into a public house in the 1890s. Painted brick with Welsh slate roof. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, 5-window range, and 1 blocked window. 2 entrances, with windows each side and between them. 6-panelled doors in steep pedimented cases, probably surviving from conversion as dwellings in 1818. 2-pane sash window to left and between the doorways, tripartite sash to right with rusticated stuccoed head, inserted on conversion to use as public house. Upper windows in left-hand unit are 16-pane sashes with flat-arched brick heads, paired 4-pane sashes to right with rusticated stuccoed heads. Blocked windows in centre, to right of left-hand doorway. Simply moulded wood eaves cornice. End wall and axial stack, one breaking the front slope of the roof. INTERIOR: the basic C18 structure survives intact; the 3 cottages each had one room, entrance hall and stairs; the latter survive in part, one with original rail, balusters and string. Several panelled doors in pegged surrounds. HISTORY: the building is of special interest in that it demonstrates clearly the 3 phases of its development, each with features of some quality. It is also a significant (and rare) relic of Knutsford's silk industry.

Listing NGR: SJ7513878640