Thorn Emi Works

Thorn EMI Works, formerly known as Hanover Street Mills, is a cotton spinning mill built around 1825, which has since been enlarged, altered, and reduced. It is now used as an electric lamp factory. The building is constructed of red brick in English garden wall bond, with sandstone dressings, and features mostly slate roofs, although some areas now have corrugated sheet roofing. The structure consists of two blocks aligned on a north-south axis; the northern block has three storeys and 14 windows, while the southern block has four storeys and 11 windows. These blocks are linked at the corners and include a single-storey section on the east side of the north block.

All windows are vertical-rectangular with raised sills and wedge lintels. The windows in the north range and its single-storey front block are larger, but all have altered glazing. The right-hand end windows and the top corner of the north block have been rebuilt in 20th-century brick. The south end wall of the south block features three gables, and the rear has a square turret, while the rear of the north block includes a modern addition.

Inside, the partition wall between the north block and its side range is supported by a unique colonnade of 13 cast-iron fluted Doric columns. The rest of the structure comprises four rows of simple cast-iron columns with trumpet-shaped caps that support timber beams. The roof has been reconstructed after fire damage and now includes a double row of columns in the centre, with charred fishbone-strut trusses at the north end. A staircase located at the south-west corner ascends around the flue of a former chimney stack and features an original 63-pane stair window. The south block originally had open-arcading on the ground floor of the west side, while the upper floors are now partitioned. The attic contains a double row of slender cast-iron columns with linking iron saddles that support timber beams and king-post roof trusses.

The mill was first built by Francis Sleddon, who went bankrupt in 1844. It was later purchased by the Birley Brothers and was damaged by fire in 1873.