Former Spinning Mill, Low Mill

Low Mill was a cotton spinning mill originally built in 1784 by Thomas Hodgson. Following fire damage, it was rebuilt in 1838 by an architect whose name is not recorded. The building is now converted to domestic dwellings.

The mill is constructed of squared sandstone with slate roofs and is aligned approximately north-south in a linear plan. It rises to four storeys with an attic.

The west elevation contains 10 bays with windows having plain reveals and small panes, some of which are horizontally-pivoted casements. The central bay houses the front entrance to the mill, which is topped by a gabled attic dormer with a modern porch. At the right end of the elevation, where ground level is higher, a round stair turret extends upwards and supports a cast iron sprinkler tank. The door at the foot of the turret has a round-headed fanlight with rusticated voussoirs and jambs. Windows in the turret are narrower than those elsewhere on the front elevation. The lower part of the turret is flanked by 1990s domestic extensions on its south-west and south sides.

The left return is stepped and comprises the gable end of the four-storey with attic former engine house, to which is attached the gable end of a three-storey former engine house. The left half of this latter engine house has 1990s-built domestic buildings attached.

The rear (east) elevation is complex, comprising several elements: 1990s-built domestic buildings at the north end; a narrow single-bay two-storey with attic and half-dormer originally the smaller of two engine houses; the two-bay four-storey with attic engine house; a flat-roofed three-storey four-bay slightly projecting range; behind which is a flat-roofed four-storey range of the same width; a single-storey three-bay lean-to porch; behind which is a four-bay four-storey range with narrow windows to the left; and the four-storey former turbine water pipe house with a semi-circular ground-floor door, flanking windows, and a long narrow round-headed half-dormer.

The south return is built against rising ground and displays only the upper floors to the gable end of the former turbine water pipe house.

Internally, the spinning mill has been converted into domestic accommodation on all floors. The ground floor shows brick jack arches visible to the ceiling.

The modern attached buildings to the north of the spinning mill, the modern constructions at the south-west and south sides attached to the south of the spinning mill, the three ranges forming three sides of a quadrangle to the north-west, the former apprentice house (now Mill Acre Court), the former manager's house (now Bank House), Number 49 Low Mill, and the arch and wall to the north of the spinning mill are excluded from the listing.