Union Mill

An 18th-century flour mill, constructed around 1830 coinciding with the Macclesfield Canal’s creation, stands as a disused example of industrial architecture. The building is primarily brick with a Welsh slate roof, although a portion has been replaced with a flat roof following a fire circa 1970. It comprises five storeys and measures 17 bays by 3.

The canal-side elevation features an internal engine house to the right, marked externally by a round-arched window spanning two lower floors. A former boiler house adjoins to the right with a round-headed window in its gable. A corner circular section stack, originally capped, rises above the engine house bay. Most windows have been replaced with casements in original openings, but some original or early 36-pane sash windows remain on the upper floor. A recessed fourth bay, originally for loading, has renewed windows but retains massive cast-iron lintels. A heavily rusticated round-headed arch marks the canal branch’s entrance in the eighth bay. A two-window, two-storeyed range is attached to the left. Coped gables flank the building, with the western gable raised into a pediment to conceal a ridge clerestory; this clerestory formerly ran the length of the mill. Decorative brick eaves cornices and parapets are present throughout, featuring openwork iron brattishing. Central loading openings in the eastern gable wall are punctuated by a two-storeyed extension.

The rear elevation exhibits regular fenestration, with original small-paned sashes on the upper floor and renewed two-pane casements elsewhere. An original loading bay is visible in bay 14, with possible loading or fire doors in bays 7 and 8. An added lift shaft projects from the centre.

Internally, the mill is divided laterally by fire-proof walls on each floor, separating different processing areas. Construction techniques vary; the western section features brick arches carried on two rows of cast-iron columns, while the eastern section uses timber beams supported by cast-iron columns. The eastern section contains cast-iron brackets on columns, apparently to secure tension rods, some of which remain on lower floors. The engine house bay to the west is also separated by a fire-proof wall and is characterized by brick-arched ceiling construction. A queen-post roof structure covers the whole building, although portions were replaced after the 1970 fire.

The mill exemplifies a large processing unit integrated with the canal system and is historically significant as the first producer of the Hovis brand of flour in 1886. Following 1914, it was used as the tin and bag-making works for Hovis.