Oakwood Mill

Oakwood Mill is a former cotton spinning mill, now used for various light-industrial purposes as of September 1991. The front range, built in 1856, and the rear range, built in 1857, were constructed as a specialized spinning mill for the Staley Mill Company. The building is made of coursed millstone rubble, with mostly flat roofs, and pitched roofs covered in Welsh slate. It is fireproofed throughout. The south range, which was a former warehouse, has three storeys, while the spinning mill to the north has four storeys. The main structures form a T-plan overall, with the warehouse featuring 19 window bays and the mill having 28 window bays, all with lintels and sills, generally with six panes. The building has a plain parapet, and the principal rusticated arch is mutilated, although a smaller secondary entrance to the office remains intact. The north end wall of the mill includes an integral privy block marked by three slit windows on each floor, occupying one full window bay. The carding sheds, under three hipped roofs, are two storeys high with six window bays each. The adjacent engine house features pilasters, a plain parapet, and a dentilled string above the impost level of a central large round-headed end opening, which is partly infilled with brick. The flat-headed side windows still retain some original glazing. The boiler house has two tiers of two round-headed windows at the north end, which are partly obscured by a late 20th-century addition, and an octagonal stack with a string set high and an intact cap. At the southeast junction of the mill and warehouse stands a crenellated clock tower dated 1857. Inside, the mill is fireproofed, featuring brick arches on iron girders and circular-section columns with fluted capitals. Some floors in the warehouse are flagged, while others have been re-boarded. The engine house has white reflective wall tiles, and its roof is constructed with queen-post and arch brace construction. The boiler house has a brick arched ceiling.