Britannia Mill

Britannia Mill is an integrated cotton spinning and weaving mill built in 1845-6, with alterations made in the 1860s and 1890s. The buildings are constructed mainly of local yellow sandstone, squared and laid in courses, with Welsh slate roofs.

The mill faces New Line to the north and is bounded to the south by the disused Rochdale-Bacup railway line and to the east by a row of terraced houses and modern industrial and commercial property. The surviving buildings include a four-storey spinning block built of water-shot and random masonry, with gables facing New Line and a single-storey office to the west; a two-storey preparation and cloth warehouse to the east; a ten-bay weaving shed to the rear of the warehouse block, incorporating an engine house; a square chimney between the weaving shed and spinning block; and a two-storey warehouse to the west of Deansgreave Road. To the north of New Line is a stone-lined reservoir with sluices, fed by a stream that is culverted beneath the mill and which supplied the boilers.

Spinning Block

The spinning block is a rectangular structure of 13 by 5 bays measuring approximately 138 by 76 feet (42.1 by 23.2 metres), with stone walls laid in water-shot style using a lime mortar. The windows are typically large rectangular openings with replacement timber units. Each window has a plain flush stone surround with a projecting sill. The roof is of slate with some glazing in the valley.

The north elevation has two equal gables. At the left are three second-floor windows and, between these, two ground-to-first-floor arched windows, the left-hand one altered to a loading door. Between the two tall engine-house windows is a blocked rectangular opening with heavy stone block surrounds, originally for the framing of the internal steam engine. To the right are three vertical rows of openings: four windows at the left, to the right-of-centre an arched doorway with two loading doors above, and at the right, three unevenly-spaced windows. The first-floor loading door has a projecting steel beam, and above the second-floor door is an iron hoisting point. These two openings have complete stone surrounds, and there are numerous structural ties across the elevation. At the right is a single-storey lean-to with a quoined, arched doorway and a canted bay window.

The west elevation has regularly-spaced windows across three floors and the exposed basement, with the exception of the two left-hand first-floor bays which are blind. The central bay has fire doors in the openings leading onto an ornate five-stage iron fire escape initialled 'AS Co' in the spandrels of the brackets supporting each landing. Basement doors are found in bays 6 and 13. On the ground floor, bays 1 to 4 (from the left) are obscured by the single-storey lean-to. This is in two parts: of coursed stone at the left with three large rectangular windows (including two four-light timber sliding sashes) and a small high-level window, with a square cast-iron rainwater pipe. The right-hand part is dashed, with two large four-light timber sliding-sash windows in stone-quoined surrounds, a small basement window, stone quoins and stone gutter corbels. The roof is of slate, smaller to the right and larger at the left.

The south elevation is built in uncoursed sandstone rubble with flush sills and has five equally-spaced windows across each of the ground, first and second floors, and in the basement, stone-blocked openings within the western three bays and bricked-up eastern openings.

The east elevation is partially obscured by adjacent buildings, but has a window to the centre of each of its ten exposed bays, on each of its four floors, except for an inserted ground-floor doorway in Bay 7 and a blocked doorway in Bay 9. Bay 11 is concealed externally by a later brick lift shaft, and Bays 12 and 13 are abutted by the preparation block.

Internally, a substantial cross wall divides the northern two bays from the rest of the floor, at ground and first-floor levels. Circulation is via a north-south corridor accessed from the doorway in the right-hand front gable. There is an internal stair tower to the west of this, with a quarter-turn stone stair, and separate stairs to the basement. The corridor ramps upwards to the ground floor, with double doors through the cross wall. The original engine house in the ground and first floor behind the left-hand front gable now has modern subdivisions, but retains evidence for the engine-deck level, framing for a steam engine and transmission of power from this house to the spinning floors. The construction is of hollow circular cast-iron columns (some with ornate spandrel brackets) supporting exposed timber beams and ceiling joists, and timber floors (a rubber floor covering has been applied to the basement and first floor). At basement level a tunnel runs to the western warehouse, accessed from Bay 2 of the west wall, and probably lit by the low-level window in the western lean-to. There is considerable evidence for power transmission, with unusually-placed line shaft hanger fixings, wall-mounted bearing boxes, in-situ line-shafting with rope-wheels and an integral top-end bearing in one of the attic columns. The attic has only one central row of columns, and is boarded below the rafters. The trusses are of composite king-bolt type, with the principal rafters mounted in cast-iron shoes, and with two diagonal struts. The interior of the front portion of the lean-to was not accessible, but the rear portion retains office fittings and timber panelling to the window reveals.

Warehouse and Preparation Block

The principal north elevation is of roughly squared and coursed sandstone blocks, varying in size and colour between different parts of the elevation, with slate roofs. The block is of two storeys with varying eaves height, and at the extreme right it abuts the spinning block. At the left is a taller 10-bay preparation block with large rectangular windows (two with stone transoms), and loading doors to both floors in Bay 6, the first-floor door retaining a wrought-iron railing and timber roller shutter. There is a long continuous rooflight across this pitch. To the right is an infill bay which is blind at first floor and has a central ground-floor loading door, with partly-blocked basement door at the right. To the right of this are four equal bays with windows at ground and first floor, and two wide sliding basement doors. In the three right-hand bays there is a third sliding basement door and a smaller pedestrian door, and above these, non-aligned ground and first-floor loading doors, and two ground-floor windows with larger first-floor windows aligned above them.

The east gable elevation is of similar construction to the north and has a first-floor loading doorway, blocked in two phases with stone and brick, with a monolithic sandstone surround, and a cast-iron pulley wheel housing in the wall above. There are also a brick-blocked ground-floor doorway and small brick-blocked apertures below the loading door, and a tall modern loading entrance with steel roller shutter. To the left of this elevation is the single-storey gable of a rear extension to the preparation block. This is obscured at ground level by a later brick lean-to, but the visible area is of coursed sandstone, with raised stone copings.

The south elevation is obscured at basement and ground-floor levels by abutting buildings. The left-hand six bays are set back, with first-floor windows. The projecting bays to the right are externally rendered, and blind at the left where the ridge is at the same level as the left-hand bays. The taller section to the right has a central hoist-tower, externally clad in roofing felt and timber battens, with two equally-spaced windows to either side. There is a long continuous rooflight in this pitch. The south elevation of the preparation block extension is abutted by the weaving shed, but its southern roof pitch also has a continuous rooflight.

Internally, the interiors of the lower warehouse are continuous at ground and first floor, with a cross-wall in the basement aligned with one of the original construction breaks. The walls are unrendered but painted, with timber floors except for the basement which has concrete. There is a stone staircase in the north-west corner, and timber beams with cast-iron columns. Blocked large round-arched openings in the south wall indicate the position of former boiler-houses. There is some evidence for power transmission in the form of cast-iron bearing boxes and trimmers. The roof is of similar form to the spinning block, but underdrawn at rafter level with hardboard, and with some shipping and assembly marks. In the taller preparation block the roof is of steel lattice trusses and the first floor has no columns, while the rest of the construction is similar to the warehouse and spinning blocks.

Weaving Shed

The ground rises slightly to the south-east, and the south elevation and lower portions of the east elevation are thus partly obscured. The north elevation abuts the preparation and warehouse block, and the west elevation is largely obscured by a modern infill covering the yard between the spinning and weaving blocks. Where visible however the walls are constructed of random sandstone rubble, with a very slight batter. The west parapet wall has multiple asymmetrical flat-topped gables, reflecting the north-light multi-span roof behind. High-level cast-iron plates mark internal fixings for bevel gears. The east wall has a flat-topped brick parapet, with a wide external cast-iron gutter.

Internally, the weaving shed is of rough sandstone rubble, but with the south and east walls having a single-skin brick facing at the lowest three feet (0.91 metres) of the wall, capped by an in-situ timber dado rail for part of the south wall, and below a rendered wall above. The shed has ten transverse bays, all of eleven feet (3.35 metres) width with the exception of the north-central bay, which is fifteen feet (4.57 metres) wide and has a symmetrical pitched roof of similar height to the adjacent bays. The longitudinal bays vary from twenty-one feet (6.40 metres) to twenty-three feet (7.01 metres) wide. The roof is carried on hollow cylindrical cast-iron columns, with the fourth row from the south end of the shed having been removed completely. Iron straining rods between columns effectively form tie beams to the timber trusses above. The roof itself is of asymmetrical design, in all but the north-central longitudinal bay, with a glazed steeper north pitch. Its construction is somewhat unusual, comprising a mixture of iron and timber members and channel-section valley beams with rectangular-section principal timber rafters. The north pitches have continuous glazing bands comprising three-light timber panels placed between each principal rafter. The south pitches are sealed in almost every instance by lateral timber plank cladding, but beneath this in some areas are lath and plaster ceilings. The wider bay has a symmetrical roof. There is considerable evidence for power transmission, including a wall-head aperture with large dressed sandstone block surround and a number of ornate cast-iron pilasters rebated within the wall to carry line shafting, one of which retains its bearing plate.

Engine House

The engine house of 1868 stands within the north-west corner of the weaving shed. It is of sandstone construction, two storeys high, with a slate roof that is hipped to the east and gabled to the west. Above the weaving shed roof, the east elevation has a large round-arched window, blocked with brick. The south elevation has a blocked beam socket and two bearing boxes. The west wall is built of large squared blocks to the left, and sandstone rubble to the right, with the gable in brick. The north elevation is concealed behind a lean-to roof.

Internally the north elevation has largely been removed but in the remaining stub walls at either side are large bearing boxes and the jamb and springing for a full-height arched opening. Also retained are wall-head cast-iron cross beams, timber-panelled reveals to the high-level window, and a timber water gauge. The engine bed has been removed and a concrete floor laid. To the north the interiors of the economiser retain brick flues capped with sandstone flags.

Chimney

The chimney is square in plan and survives to full height, tapering to the top which is coped. It is constructed in coursed sandstone blocks finished externally in rock-faced style with tooled margins, with iron bands at regular intervals.

Western Warehouse

Separated from the rest of the complex by Deansgreave Road, this comprises a sandstone rubble 8 by 5 bay single-storey warehouse with a basement, with projecting quoins to each elevation and a double-span Welsh slate roof with long glazing bands on the inner pitch of both spans. The north elevation has a wide, quoined loading doorway at the left with a substantial cast-iron lintel. To the right are four ground-floor windows and four basement windows, the centre two with lower lintels. The roof is hipped. On the east return are similar windows but with basement lights only in the left-hand six bays, taller at either end and in the third bay from the left. The south elevation is partly obscured by abutting single storey buildings, but has vertical gables. The west elevation is blind. A tunnel from the spinning block affords access under Deansgreave Road into the fourth bay from the north end of the basement. The interior was not inspected.

Reservoir

To the north of New Line, the reservoir is trapezoidal in plan and still in water. It is stone-lined with sluices in the south-west corner, where the stream which feeds it emerges from the culvert under the mill.