Holmes Mill, Clitheroe

Holmes Mill, Clitheroe

Holmes Mill is a cotton spinning mill built in the early 1820s and extended in the early 1830s, 1840s and again in the 1850s with the addition of a weaving shed. The architect is unknown. The mill is built predominantly of random limestone rubble with sandstone dressings beneath pitched slate roofs.

The complex is sub-rectangular in plan with a yard along the east side and most buildings lying to the west of the yard. From south to north, the buildings consist of the 1820s spinning block and size house, a 1910 boiler house with an earlier single-storey building and the mill chimney to its rear, a 1910 engine house, an 1830s beam engine house with the New Mill spinning block to its rear, and the partially rebuilt 1850s weaving shed. A single-storey gatehouse stands on the east side of the yard opposite the 1820s block.

The 1820s Spinning Block and Size House is a three-storey block of 16 bays with a latrine turret on the west gable. Windows have nine panes throughout the block and there are pedestrian entrances on both the north and south elevations. A three-storey two-bay outshot is attached to the block's north elevation with loading doors and a winch on its east elevation and blocked upper-storey windows on its west elevation. Attached to the east end of the main block is a four-storey office and warehouse extension of 1848, one bay wide with four bays to its gable end. Windows are largely of nine panes and there are loading doors to all upper floors. Internally, the building reportedly has columns of fluted late-Georgian design.

The 1910 Boiler House is a single-storey building with timber and glass doors to its east elevation above which is a narrow window. The south elevation is of coursed rock-faced limestone with windows of four panes. The rear gable is of snecked limestone and has a pedestrian door and flue connections. Attached to the rear of the boiler house is a lower single-storey range building with roof lights running its full length. There is a blocked pedestrian door from the street in its west gable end.

The 1910 Engine House is a single-storey building with timber doors beneath a fanlight to its east elevation and roof lights along its length. The building has been truncated at its west end by a brick wall within which is a blocked arched doorway. Internally, the engine house retains the Clayton, Goodfellow & Company cross-compound horizontal engine of 1910/11. The original wall stencilling above the dado survives. The engine is a Blackburn-built horizontal cross-compound type, numbers 544-5, with cylinders of 15 inches and 30 inches by 36 inches stroke. It is fitted with Corliss valves on the high-pressure end with Craig's valve gear, governor-controlled trip gear, and a slide valve on the low-pressure end. Steam pressure is circa 70 psi; at 68 rpm it develops approximately 350 indicated horsepower maximum. The flywheel measures 12 feet 6 inches in diameter. Two unusual features are a rope guide near the second motion wheel installed to prevent the driving ropes jumping grooves in the event of surging, and a feed pump on the low-pressure slide valve rod. The engine retains much of its original paintwork and lining out.

The 1830s Spinning Block and Beam Engine House is a three-storey plus attic block of 13 bays with windows largely of five panes to the long elevations. The west gable end has four-pane windows to each floor, one eight-pane window to the second floor, and a metal fire escape between the second and first floors. Internally, the spinning block reportedly incorporates later cylindrical-designed columns without lineshaft bearing faces, but supporting beams with clear line shaft hanger positions and some shafting still survives in places. The mill chimney projects through the roof of the later boiler house. Now truncated slightly, the circular chimney has a stone-built lower half and brick-built upper half with a number of metal strap bands.

The former beam engine house is attached to the east of this block, has a hipped roof, and stands slightly taller than the spinning block. It is one bay wide and has a wide recessed door beneath a tall round-arched window at its east end. To the right of the former beam engine house there is a recessed doorway and loading bay.

The 1850s Weaving Shed is a large single-storey building. While it retains its historic scale, it has been largely rebuilt and re-roofed in the latter quarter of the 20th century. Its west wall retains unusual triangular vents with gothic detailing externally.

The Gatehouse is a single-storey range beneath a pitched roof, rendered throughout. There is a door in the west elevation and windows are of differing sizes and styles.