Copley Mills

Copley Mills is a cotton mill built in the second quarter of the 19th century, with an engine house added in 1871. It is constructed from watershot stone and features a graduated stone slate roof. The mill has a fire-proof floor construction supported by cylindrical cast iron columns. It measures 45 by 11 bays and stands four to five storeys tall, with an engine house and chimney located to the southwest and an office wing to the northeast. Each bay contains a 20th-century casement window on every floor, featuring plain stone lintels and sills. The original hipped roof has been partly replaced by a later flat roof. The engine house includes a dated timber pediment on console brackets above a large doorway, while the side windows are round-headed with keystones. The northeast and northwest sides have large blocked elliptical-arched carriageways, and there is a stone inscribed "COPLEY MILLS." The octagonal tapering chimney shaft, likely from 1871, is also a notable feature. The mill was associated with James Wilkinson, a cotton spinner, from at least 1832.